Anyone who doesn’t know the cinema blockbuster “Ender’s Game – The Big Game” based on the book of the same name by Orson Scott Card can watch it today, August 31, 2022 at 8:15 p.m. on Kabel Eins. If you have a Netflix subscription, want to avoid advertising and maybe even watch “Ender’s Game” in the original English version, you should also use Wednesday evening – because the film is only available on Netflix up to and including August 31st. You have a longer time with an Amazon Prime subscription – because the sci-fi actioner can currently be seen there without additional costs. But is it worth it? We’ll tell you in this article.
›› “Ender’s Game” on Amazon Prime Video*
The film starring Harrison Ford, Ben Kingsley and young “Hugo Cabret” star Asa Butterfield waits in his finale with one big twist, which we’re going to keep silent about for now. After all, it’s always exciting to think about it while watching a film or at the latest afterwards: Do you see the surprise coming? Or did the screenwriters write it so well that it knocks your socks off?
But first, a quick synopsis of what Ender’s Game is about: Ever since insect-like aliens called Formics attacked Earth 50 years ago, humans have been at war with aliens. In a training center in Earth orbit, young people, including Andrew “Ender” Wiggin (Butterfield), are trained by Colonel Graff (Ford), among others, for space battles and train in simulations for emergencies.
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The strategically brilliant Ender is hoped to succeed legendary fleet commander Mazer Rackham (Kingsley)…
We can give a recommendation for “Ender’s Game”. – in the DashFUN review we awarded 3.5 stars out of a possible 5 for the “exciting cinema adaptation of Orson Scott Card’s complex, military-critical sci-fi classic”.
If you’ve already seen the film and want to refresh your memory about the twist, or if you’re just too curious and want to experience it right now, we’ll tell you the ending here. But beware, now there are spoilers!
In numerous simulations in the so-called battle room, Ender Wiggin struggles to master new tactical challenges and spontaneously emerging problems that are programmed into the digital battles. Ender is doing very well – and after a final test, he and his team are to be sent on their first real assignment.
But this ultimate simulation, in which Ender must coordinate an attack on the Formics’ home planet, is no longer a simulation at all. The fleet high command has kept the trainees secret that after their training they are actually already fighting their first real battle in order to take away both their nervousness and their moral concerns.
Ender, who won the battle and destroyed the Formics’ planet, is then indeed wracked with remorse. He feels betrayed and can’t bear the thought of having committed a genocide without first considering whether the Formics were planning further attacks on humans at all or whether they just wanted to live in peace on their own planet in the meantime.
Ender later realizes that the Formics have already attempted to contact him and signal their changed intentions. He visits a ruined alien structure, where he finds the dying queen of the Formics. She conveys to him that there is only one egg left of her kind – with this Ender sets out to find a new home for the Formics and thus pay off his debt.
*The link to the Amazon offer is a so-called affiliate link. If you make a purchase through this link, we will receive a commission.
This is an updated re-release of an article previously published on DashFUN.
