This was such a funny movie. I expected a ridculous B-movie like the first one, but they went a completely different way.
A way of over the top comedy and parody-like jokes. I liked it so much more than the first one because it stopped trying so hard. The amount of big names working on such a movie was fun to see as well.
"In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him."
Ender's Game is a movie with many flaws, but many qualities as well. Keep in mind that it is hard to just categorize it as a good or bad movie because of that.
No real spoilers ahead.
Story:
Like someone pointed out here before me, the reason why kids are necessary and why that's humanities only hope is left completely unexplained. The lack of other commanders, besides the one in training school, is pretty odd to say the least as well. In 50 years not 1 trainee from the academy passed the test. So what happened to all those failed kids? Especially the ones that did get to the final test. They know a secret that cannot be known to society (about the hero commander.)
There was no real character development in this movie at all except for the main character, and his development was very thin. The 2 friends he made do not have much in common with him, nor do they have any reason to like him. Especially the girl, since she is in a winning team for a while. After Ender's 'problem' with the Salamander leader, he feels bad about it. But as soon this part is over he never seems to look back at it or takes any lesson from it.
On the brightside, the massive plottwist in the end was surprising. After watching a movie with a rather unsurprising (but not boring) story development, I did not expect that. They could've singled out the emotional/psychological aspect after this part a bit more to make up for some lacking character development earlier.
Visuals:
Special Effects were lovely. A real sci-fi feel with great spacey environments that didn't feel unrealistic or cheap. The funniest thing was how they could've had computer games with about the same graphics we have now :P
I really loved how they did the battle scenes between plains and fighters, both in air as in space. You really got sucked into the battle field, and lost the feeling you were watching at a screen like happens so often with big battle scenes with lots of SFX.
Music:
This has to be adressed. I think this was probably the best part about this movie. Steve Jablonksy was the one who composed it. He also composed the music for the game Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, where he surprisingly managed to not dissapoint after stopping Frank Klepacki's monopoly for the franchise. And that's while Klepacki set the stakes very high for him. And in mainstream modern movies he is probably best known for doing some music for the Transformer movies, too bad those movies suck too much.
He did an amazing job on the score for Ender's Game. Bombastic, classical and majestic music that made every scene way bigger and impressive. Something you could easily listen to and enjoy without looking to the film, but just play really loud on your speakers.
Acting:
This is always something that falls a bit short when kids are the main characters in a movie. Remember the golden rule: Never work with children or pets when you are making a movie.
Not that it was bad, I was actually positively surprised with the acting job most of the younger characters delivered. The worst acting came from the adults xD But even so, the acting was not something award-worthy. Just don't expect big personal acting extravaganzas and you will be just fine.
Enjoyment/Overall:
I really had a lot of fun watching this movie, therefore the end(er) ordeal from me falls into the category good movie. It has enough speed, nice visuals, great music and it is just fun to watch.
It's a good movie. Not very special as a whole, but still really worth watching. The crawling/driving part alone is worth the 3h sit down for this movie. Really brilliant work from DiCaprio! And hilarious too.
Overall theme is not that original, it's very similar to the famous Wall Street movie from 1987 with Charlie Sheen. Even though 'The Wolf Of Wall Street' doesn't surprise you as much as that one does (maybe because now 'we all already know') but it still has a story worth telling. Above all because it has a more light-hearted tred and some more comedy mixed into it.
Good movie, but the version with Donnie Yen from 2008 is even better.
I like movies that have deeper and more complicated storylines, but I just didn't get what was going on at some point. Need to give it a rewatch obviously, but somehow I don't feel like it anymore xD
And since I cannot rate something I do not understand, it is pending :P
Best Disney Movie ever!
Great comedy, great sing-a-long music like Disney did best in the early era and a compelling story.
One of the best documentaries that ties to the Dance industry. It follows Duncan Stutterheim, co-founder of Dutch dance company ID&T, and shines a light on his motives and how ID&T came to be where it is now (2006.)
Still in 2014 a great film to see where the now global operating company originates from, and especially the highly succesful 'Sensation' concept.
2nd movie of Zack Snyder I really liked, and his best work so far. Great visuals, dark interesting story with lots of deeper gloomy psychological themes. Man Of Steel did a better job on the story, but I prefer this movie in every other aspect.
And really, that soundtrack! Wauw.
Disappointing movie. The acting is ok, but not convincing. Story is not really interesting (I watched it 3 days ago, and I cannot even recall it without trying really hard) and the 'wise' lessons are pretty silly, lack impact and are misplaced several times.
Try to find something better, if you can't, don't expect too much of it and you will be fine.
Great movie! Need to write a long review to exactly point out why, but don't feel like it right now. The fun thing is you can compare it to 'Oblivion' (2013) with Tom Cruise, which has similar themes, and conclude that this lower budget movie is better in almost every aspect.
The ending doesn't give me enough satisfaction, but overall this is a great work!
Not really interesting. At best a movie to play in the background when having beer with friends.
I expected a bad movie, but I got a fun action movie with a surprising high amount of enjoyment.
It is fast paced with good action. Yes the story is really thin, but that's to be expected from a movie like this. In the end the story was actually better than I expected it to be.
Filled with cliché's and all, but enjoyable. Can't call it a bad movie.
Good classic, but lacks a proper ending.
This cover picture is from 2007, the tree of life. Not 2004.
Line-up of 2004:
Brian S
Benjamin Bates
Paul van Dyk
Megamix
Sander Kleinenberg
Erick Morillo
Joost van Bellen
9/10 Better than the first one, as expected.
Warning: Heavy spoilers for people who did not read the 3rd book!
It was better than the first movie on many points, especially the ones I expected it to be. But it still has some flaws, besides the obvious ones the first movie had as well.
First off, the obvious ones: Both movies fail to capture the scale of Katniss' inner stife concerning Peeta and Gale, and the influence of the home front (especially her sister and the role her mother had in the family.) I think this will severely lessen the impact of her sisters death in the final movie in 2015, just like it reduces the relationship Katniss has with her two 'boys' to a more common love triangle than it actually is.
In defence of the screen writers: it is hard to picture this strife on screen without getting long voice-over monologues, drag the movie out too much and make it boring. Since this choice was already made in the first movie, it was only logical they continued on this path for consistency.
- Secondly, the movies lose a lot of strength for people who did not read the books. This is because of the lack (or scarce amount) of background information. For non-readers this makes the basic outlines of the story a bit farfetched. (Why are there hunger games? What does the capitol wants to protect besides its own decadence? How come the districts didn't revolt earlier? These are a few questions that are easily asked, but not properly answered.)
Plot Development:
That being said, the 2nd movie manages to picture the cruelty of the capitol a lot better than the first one. This makes sense from a storyline perspective, since from this moment on Katniss gets more aware of the full scale of the oppresion in all the districts.
They stay true to the book, without getting to much attached to it. Maybe the first half (the victory tour) is a bit rushed, but that's understandable to avoid stretching out the movie too much.
Personally I think the movie needed 10-15 minutes extra to create that extra bit of (emotional) impact and explanation for a few things (like said earlier) or leave out a few scenes completely. Examples are the jabberjails in the arena or the replacement of the old peacekeeper. Also the conversation Katniss has with President Snow in her Victory Road home was too rushed, and lost its impact.
They managed to make some parts of the story even more clear, and the ending is way more satisfying than what Collins did originally. Less open-ended and more of a step-up to the next movie.
Acting:
Except for Donald Sutherland (President Snow ) I thought all the actors did a better job in the follow up movie than in the first one. It was obvious that they grew into their characters over time. Especially Elizabeth Banks (Effie) was exquisit and the faces Jennifer Lawrence (Katniss) did were top notch. She might be a bit too sweet and confident for Katniss, but she pulls it off. Also new character Johanna Mason, pictured by Jena Malone, was a really good casting decision.
The actors managed to give strong emotions to their characters, while they impressively managed to avoid overacting. Something that could happen easily in this story. They also got a few whimsical lines and responses in there that will make you smile.
Visual:
CGI were great, as expected of a modern high budget movie. They did not overdo it, which is a compliment for movies with this allure nowadays, and looked realistic, sharp and terrifying. Great job especially on the subtle way how they made the poiseness mist look. The only CGI I did not enjoy was the Tsunami (so the wave ON water, not when it came out of the forest.) This felt a bit cheap.
You notice the movie is by a different director, but nothing changed dramatically. Again, he jumps from 1 situation to the other a bit fast in the first part, and convo's are a bit cramped in because of the relatively fast scenes with information. So this can feel a bit messy. To make up for this, the arena scenes are detailed and beautfull. There are some interesting peek-throughs (deep shots) that keep the direct environment visible, and even one from a first person perspective. Not a fan of some of the close-ups though, they felt a bit cut-of at times.
Oh and costumes, great costumes that is, but A LOT of costumes :P
Sound:
I didn't really get up in your face, but managed to get the theme through to you at the important parts. Since I haven't paid attention to it in particular, that's all I have to comment on it unfortunately.
Enjoyment/Overall:
Great movie to watch, just like the first one. Has a good balance between action, stories, character development and originality. Depending on what kind of movies you like, the first half could be experienced as rushed or maybe uneventful, but the second part makes up for it in both cases.
All the flaws mentioned earlier are for the most part minor flaws, and do not compromise the movie for the most viewers.
ps. There were 2 'beeps' for the f-word when I watched it in cinema. I am interested if more people had this, and if someone knows if that will be on the DVD/Blu-ray too. Usually those words ain't censored in my country.
Over the top at some points with the explicit violent scenes. Also, revenge stories are never the best ones. Very good twist at the end though.
Unfortunately not a movie for me, therefor a low ranking.
The great acting, good soundtrack and solid storyline alone would already make this film a pretty good one. But the depth of the story and background of the characters gives this movie an extra layer that a lot of 'coming of age' movies lack.
First off, the acting is superb. Every character that has some role in this movie, even those without lines, is casted perfectly. The 'bad guys' and 'bullies' are not played out as villains, or stereotypes (except for the no name students.) There is no ultimate good guy, not even the main character. It looks on screen as if the characters hang out outside of their working hours as well. This resulted in the cast behaving so naturally that it didn't feel staged.
Having said all that, I have to give a special shout out to Ezra Miller who did such a good job that he probably would have played everyone from the screen whith any other cast.
The storyline is very realistic, even though there are a few turn of events that might make you wonder if you would've done the same. But remember this is a coming of age story, and making mistakes are a big part of growing up.
It does not often get predictable. Even the 'does he get the girl' part was not set in stone for me. The first schoolball is probably the most cliché part in the movie, and some of the camera techniques used. But hey this is not an art house film. :P
Every character has it's own complicated background story, but because they do not spell it out for you in full detail it makes the characters more human and appealing. It is as if you are getting to know them while the main character is getting to know them, and the obstacles within himself too.
This realistc setting and chemistry between the actors made me memorize my own time in High school and the friendships I have made there and how we/I used to be.
There is a line at the end of the movie that made this even more relevant since realized I thought something along those lines too back in those days:
"I know these will all be stories someday. And our pictures will become old photographs. We'll all become somebody's mom or dad. But right now these moments are not stories. This is happening."
I guess if you had a bad time in High school you wouldn't have had those feelings of course. But in the end it makes saying goodbye (and especially the goodbyes in this movie) more emotional. The characters are aware of the future, and what awaits them. Luckily the movie lets you fill in what could happen afterwards for yourself.
Interesting movie, but fell short to what it pretends to be. Just look very closely and you probably won't notice :P
Terrible film. I heard it was based on a book, and I am 100% sure it wasn't this bad. So I guess we have to congratulate the screenwriters for doing a really bad job.
As a movie it is one of the worst blockbuster movies I have seen so far. It makes me want to rewatch Cloverfield to make my decision which one is worse, but I can't do that to myself.
Plotholes, bad background information, easy ending, the (ever occuring in bad movies) unrealistic non-anticipation of practically everyone, irrelevant side characters, ignoring the laws of physics and too good to be true coincidences.
Only 2 or 3 average jokes.
More close to a parody than an homage to the original series.
Bad casting choices (the hair colour of Penny alone for example), 2 new irrelevant characters, Dr claw's face, no plot role for Brain (dog), no self-destructing message, Chief Quimby is arrogant in stead of angry and doesn't smoke a pipe, and even Dr claw's catchphrase is done wrong... I can understand why they wouldn't dress the dog up in a disguiss, but this is weak.
And so many non-subtle product placement it hurts.
Something positive? Yeah, it is mildly entertaining if you forget there ever was a Gadget show.
I'm not a big Tobey Maguire fan, but he did a good job in this movie.
Ridiculous movie.
The first 2 were already questionable, but this one might be the worst adaptation of DC or Marvel up until now.
Worst movie ever (until now.)
Definately fell short to it's predecessor. Where #1 was pretty unique, this one doesn't really stands out unfortunately. Still a fun movie though.
Lacked zing, too much cliché and an extremely predictable story.
Of course it is very good for kids, but I'd advice to give them some of the older Disney movies in stead of this.
Great classic, with still a high enjoyment when watched today. Even though it can feel a bit lacking when placed in our time.
"Either the most awesome dumb movie ever made, or the dumbest awesome movie ever made" - Honest Trailers.
Kinda sums it up.
I expected a better movie with all the fuzz. The only parts I really liked were Christoph Waltz's Oscar Worthy performance, and the ladies laugh in the cinema.
This is one of those movies that will be viewed 30 years from now, and a must-watch.
The only thing bothering me is the lack of character background. For example: 'What are Neo's motives?' It doesn't hurt the movie though.
Oh, and the Revolution ending movie of course...
