If humanity is going to survive, it needs a new kind of soldier.
There’s an interesting conversation going on right now in The Escapist news room about how well, or perhaps how poorly, Ender’s Game will make the transition from novel to movie, and whether the public at large will buy into the character and the concept. I’m inclined to think that it’s likely to stumble; Ender’s Game, at least as I recall it, is more thoughtful than crash-bang-boom, and we all know which one puts butts in seats.
Perhaps the greater stumbling block will be the Ender’s Game author himself, Orson Scott Card, who’s earned a rather ugly reputation for his staunch – some would say fanatical – opposition to marriage equality. Card’s planned participation in a Superman comic was “put on hold” by DC Comics earlier this year after the artist on the book refused to work with him and prior to that, in late 2010, a game based on Ender’s Game was canceled at the urging of Epic Games. Card is serving as producer on the film, which could (and almost certainly will) lead to some degree of backlash.
But it is a pretty solid trailer, with the right “look,” for lack of a better term, an outstanding cast and enough explosions to attract the attention of people for whom the title doesn’t carry any weight on its own. It’s a promising start – but will it fly?
Ender’s Game is set to hit theaters on November 1.
