Subtitles:

English, English (SDH), Spanish, none

Extras:

• Audio Commentary by director Gavin Hood
• Audio Commentary with producers Gigi Pritzker and Roberto Orci
• Ender's Game: The Making of Ender's Game (49:03)
• Deleted/Extended Scenes with optional commentary by Gavid Hood (10:48)
• Inside the Mind Games (3:49)
• 2 Theatrical Trailers

DVD of the Film + UltraViolet/iTunes HD digital copy

Ender's Game, long a staple of science fiction readers, has had a strange, winding trip to the silver screen. For many years, Orson Scott Card refused to sell the rights to the book, wanting to maintain control over the final product. This iteration, the result of numerous screenplay rewrites (several of which were authored by Card), has the author's blessing. He is listed as a producer and is the uncredited writing co-collaborator to director Gavin Hood. Fans of the novel will understand that a sub-two hour running time necessitated numerous changes and the inherent difficulties of working with young children forced changes in characters' ages. However, the movie Ender's Game is recognizable in tone, thematic content, and narrative progression as Card's vision. It has been developed as a stand-alone project with the potential for additional chapters, thereby giving it the potential to satisfy regardless of whether the box office take warrants a sequel.

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.

Gary Tooze

February 5th, 2014