Ender's Game [2 Discs] [Blu-ray/DVD]

Director: Gavin Hood Gavin Hood

Overview

A brilliant young strategist rises to the top of his class in Battle School while training to defend Earth against hostile aliens intent on exterminating the entire human race in this sci-fi epic based on the celebrated novel. In the not-too-distant future, our planet has come under attack from a malevolent race of aliens known as the Formics. Incredibly, fearless International Fleet Commander Mazer Rackham (Ben Kingsley) sent them fleeing back into the stars, becoming a living legend in the process. But decorated Colonel Hyrum Graff (Harrison Ford) knows that the Formics will soon return even stronger than they were before, and he's determined to find a new hero who can meet them head on. Enter Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield), a modest young man with vast untapped potential. Upon being recruited into Battle School, Ender partakes in a grueling series of simulations, effortlessly mastering every challenge presented to him. Celebrated by his peers and respected by his superiors, Ender is quickly promoted to Command School, where the one and only Mazer Rackham provides him with the knowledge and tools needed to save mankind from certain extinction. As the final battle approaches, Ender prepares to embrace his destiny as one of the greatest heroes in the history of planet Earth.

Product Details

Release Date:	02/11/2014
UPC:	0025192217067
Original Release:	2013
Rating:	PG-13
Source:	LIONSGATE - 600000-AEC LGE
Region Code:	1
Sound:	[Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	1:54:00
Sales rank:	18,557

Special Features

Audio Commentary; "Ender's World: The making of Ender's Game"; Featurette (Blu-ray exclusive); "Inside the mind game" featurette (Blu-ray exclusive); Deleted/extended scenes with optional Audio Commentary by Gavin Hood

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Harrison Ford	Colonel Hyram Graff
Asa Butterfield	Ender
Hailee Steinfeld	Petra Arkanian
Abigail Breslin	Valentine Wiggin
Moisés Arias	Bonzo,Actor
Suraj Parthasarathy	Alai
Conor Carroll	Bernard
Khylin Rhambo	Dink
Aramis Knight	Bean
Ben Kingsley	Mazer Rackham
Viola Davis	Major Gwen Anderson
Nonso Anozie	Sergeant Dap
Tony Mirrcandani	Admiral Chjamrajnager
Edrick Browne	Eros Tech Officer Hendee
Han Soto	Lieutenant Soto
Jasmine Kaur	Professor
Wendy Miklovic	Female Doctor
Kyle Clements	Young Mazer Rackham
Brandon Soo Hoo	Fly Molo
Andrea Powell	Theresa Wiggin
Stevie Ray Dallimore	John Wiggin
Cameron Gaskins	Slattery (Leopard Army)
Caleb Thaggard	Stilson
Chris Coakley	Stilson Buddy #1
Chase Walker	Stilson Buddy #2
Gavin Hood	Giant
Jimmy Pinchak	Peter Wiggin
James Horner	Composer
Steve Jablonsky	Composer

Technical Credits

Gavin Hood

Gavin Hood	Director,Screenwriter
Orson Scott Card	Producer
Linda McDonough	Producer
Roberto Orci	Producer
Gigi Pritzker	Producer
Robert Chartoff	Producer
Alex Kurtzman	Producer
Lynn Hendee	Producer
Ed Ulbrich	Producer
Bill Lischak	Executive Producer
Cliff Plumer	Executive Producer
Mandy Safavi	Executive Producer
Deborah Del Prete	Executive Producer
David Coatsworth	Executive Producer
Ivy Zhong	Executive Producer
Ted Ravinett	Executive Producer
Dane A. Davis	Sound/Sound Designer
John Papsidera	Casting
Kate Dowd	Casting
Jay Meagher	Sound Mixer
Garrett Warren	Second Unit Director,Stunts
Yves De Bono	Special Effects Supervisor
David A. Whittaker	Sound Effects
Michael C. Schapiro	Sound Effects
Anne Rapp	Script Supervisor
Alex Martin	Digital Effects
Danetracks, Inc.	Sound Editor,Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

Based on a novel by Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game takes place in a futuristic Earth that is still reeling from an alien attack five decades earlier. Convinced the aliens (called 'Formics') still present a threat, the International Military, led by Col. Hyrum Graff (Harrison Ford), have launched an operation to train the best and brightest young children in the hope of finding a mind capable of winning the next great war between humans and Formics. Graff becomes convinced this mind belongs to Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield), a brilliant misfit with just the right balance of compassion and killer instincts. Graff's hunch leads Ender to battle school, where he is tasked with mastering difficult war games, completing intellectual and psychological tests, and establishing himself as a respected leader among his peers. Eventually, he is expected to command his own fleet of soldiers in a very real war. If Ender's Game is anything, it's efficient. The film feels like a series of strategic moves designed to produce the optimal outcome, much like its protagonist acts on the battlefield. While it fails to impart the same level of emotional impact as its source novel, director Gavin Hood (X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Rendition) has a no-nonsense approach that refuses to condescend to a young audience by whitewashing matters of war, politics, or the training of young children to become soldiers. Although the movie suffers from a weak script, Butterfield and his co-stars, most notably Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit), do admirable work with the material. Butterfield's smallest gestures -- a ghost of a smile here, a furrowed brow there, his unfailingly tense posture -- give Ender's Game some much needed soul. While his role is small, Suraj Partha also excels as the serious, loyal soldier Alai. Another challenge presented by the book: Most of the story takes place in battle school and revolves around rival teams of children ("armies") playing simulated war games in a lavish zero-gravity training room. This could have easily dragged, but Hood, if anything, amps up the pace and turns the games into some of the film's most interesting scenes. Battle school is a world with its own internal politics: those within the child armies, and those within the higher ranks. Harrison Ford, Viola Davis, and Ben Kingsley make up those higher ranks. Surprisingly, it's the veteran actors' performances that highlight the screenplay's weaknesses. Davis is largely relegated to mournful glances in Ender's direction as he is stripped, piece by piece, of his innocence, while Ford alternates awkwardly between gruff yet benevolent father figure and cold, unfeeling military strategist. Kingsley, in the role of a legendary war hero named Mazer Rackham, has a complicated facial tattoo that seems to exist to imply battle-hardened moral ambiguity in place of an actual performance. Despite its drawbacks, Ender's Game is a visually spectacular, tightly paced film that is certainly a win in terms of adapting a seriously complicated novel.