I think Ender's Game and Songmaster are the best things Card ever wrote. It's really impossible to make a good and faithful film adaptation of either, for many reasons. This turns out to be, and really must have set out to be, more of a riff on the story told in the novel than an adaptation. It's solid and enjoyable though, with some nice battleroom and simulator action sequences. Asa Butterfield's somewhat limited acting range is a little too apparent at times; Aramis Knight in the role of Bean is the standout for me.

My Movie Rating: 7 / 10

Glossy, fast-paced, but underwhelming, the ideas of Card's novel do not seem to translate well to the medium of film.

My Movie Rating: 5 / 10

For me, Asa Butterfield is too old to play the main role Ender. The original novel is excellent, though this movie is not bad.

My Movie Rating: 7 / 10

Oh my god. So many feelings about this one. So much to unpack. Ender is probably my favourite character of all time. There's so much I love about that book and the first couple of sequels. And I've wanted to see it on the screen for so long, even knowing that no adaptation could ever really do it justice. And this was stuck in development limbo for such a long time that I had all but given up hope of it ever happening.

Well, here we are and this is the movie we got. And there's a lot to like about it. Asa's lovely to look at, and he plays a good older Ender. Most of the important scenes are here and some of them are done quite well. And some of the scenes even resonate emotionally, though it's hard to tell if that's just because I know the book so well and I'm already so invested in the characters and their story.

But at the same time there is so much lacking. And not just in the sense that they had to cut stuff out because you have to cut stuff out of every novel to make it into a film. It almost seemed like they tried to fit too much into the movie, so as a result they're treating everything very superficially. All the scenes are there, but if you haven't read the book I can't see how you could possibly understand what they mean or why they are important.

I don't know. I couldn't not watch this movie. I needed to see it and I'm glad I did and I enjoyed some of it. But ultimately it's a failure. I don't know if it could have been anything other than a failure.

My Movie Rating: 5 / 10

Having read two of the Enders books this was a pale imitation. Definitely not one of Asa Butterfield's better films. The story was told in a way that anyone not having read the books would be hard put to make head or tail of it. The battle games were not given sufficient explanation as to the rules of play. Most of the actors supposedly playing children were too old for their parts.

To cap it all the DVD, while having two commentaries, had no interview with Asa. Boo.

My Movie Rating: 5 / 10