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The film is presented in the original 2.35:1 widescreen ratio and in 1080p high definition and is flawless with a high amount of detail on view, looking best during the space battle scenes on my Panasonic 50″ Plasma TV.
The sound is in DTS HD 5.1 and is fine, but only really branches with some good use of rear directional sounds in the training zone, Ender’s computer games and the space battles.
The extras are as follows and all in HD:
- The Making of Ender’s Game (49:31): Split into eight sections, we start with Journey to the Big Screen where we learn one of the producers’ sons read the book when he was seven and that was the genesis of this project.
The other segments are as follows, and most are self-explanatory as to what you can expect: Recruiting the Troops (casting), Ender in Zero-G, Battle School Revealed, The Mind Game (one of Ender’s video games which tests his behaviours), Behind Enemy Lines (digital special effects), The Alien World and Ender’s Mission Complete (a general summing up of the film).
- Deleted Scenes (11:09): There are six scenes here, but nothing that particularly needs to go back in the film, especially since it needs tightening up anyway, but worth a look as extras. They also each have an optional director’s commentary from Gavin Hood.
- Audio commentaries: One from director Gavin Hood and the other from producers Roberto Orci and Gigi Pritzker.
The menu features clips from the film playing to a small piece of the incidental music. There are subtitles in English for the Hearing Impaired and, thankfully, Entertainment One do what most distributors fail to do, and that’s to provide a decent number of chapters. There are 20 here across the 114-minute running time.
Alas, what’s not good is that Entertainment One have stuck trailers for other films BEFORE the main menu, as if we’re still in the days of rental video. This is what the extras menu is for. As such, I shall not be listing them here, but they are quickly skipped. Oh, as is an advert for a chocolate bar, for crying out loud.
Ender’s Game is released on Blu-ray and DVD on March 10th 2014.
|
FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS |
4 10 8 3 |
| OVERALL | 6 |
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 114 minutes
Studio: Entertainment One
Cat.no.: MP1230BRR0
Year: 2013
Released: March 10th 2014
Chapters: 20
Picture: 1080p High Definition
Sound: DTS HD Master Audio 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1
Languages: English
Subtitles: English
Widescreen: 2.35:1 (Redcode RAW (5K))
Disc Format: BD50
Director: Gavin Hood
Producers: Orson Scott Card, Robert Chartoff, Lynn Hendee, Alex Kurtzman, Linda McDonough, Roberto Orci, Gigi Pritzker and Ed Ulbrich
Screenplay: Gavin Hood (based on the novel by Orson Scott Card)
Music: Steve Jablonsky
Cast:
Ender Wiggin: Asa Butterfield
Colonel Graff: Harrison Ford
Petra Arkanian: Hailee Steinfeld
Valentine Wiggin: Abigail Breslin
Mazer Rackham: Ben Kingsley
Major Gwen Anderson: Viola Davis
Bean: Aramis Knight
Alai: Suraj Partha
Bonzo Madrid: Moises Arias
Dink Meeker: Khylin Rhambo
Peter Wiggin: Jimmy ‘Jax’ Pinchak
Sergeant Dap: Nonso Anozie
Bernard: Conor Carroll
Giant: Gavin Hood
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.