If you’ve ever read Orson Scott Card’s classic Ender’s Game (and if you haven’t, go do that immediately), you couldn’t help picturing it on the big screen.  Card’s vision of a futuristic military academy is cinematic–in a way it’s taken over twenty years (and movie adaptations like the Lord of the Rings films to pave the way) for special effects technology to do it justice.  But there’s more to Ender’s Game than its dazzling sci-fi trappings, and after the rash of recent YA novels-turned-films, focused more on pleasing fans of the original books than in making fully realized, standalone stories, it’s hard not to worry about director Gavin Hood’s upcoming adaptation.

Still, the first trailer, just released, gives us hope:

It’s a tricky balance, capturing not only the look but the spirit of an original novel on film–all the more so when so much of a story’s heart and soul relies on its young cast of characters.  But Asa Butterfield, who shone in Hugo, seems to have the right mix of vulnerability and frightening intelligence that makes Ender such an enduring character.  Harrison Ford, as Colonel Hyrum Graff, doesn’t look too bad, either.

We’re going to reserve judgment on this one, but I have to admit, this trailer gave me just a little bit of the same thrill I felt the first time I saw the Fellowship of the Ring preview.  We’ll be looking forward to its release on November 1, 2013.

Elizabeth C. Bunce
Writer
borg.com