I read Ender's Game in 1996 and it's probably my favourite novel of all time. I read Speaker for the Dead and thought it was really weird and slow, and not like Ender's Game at all, but once I was older I learned to appreciate it a lot more. It's odder and deals with themes and ideas more than the slightly more visceral and character-oriented first book, but together they complement each other in a unique way, and I appreciate the original and surprising direction it went in. After the third book I lost interest but I read Ender's Shadow out of curiosity. I remember liking it but to be honest it had been a while since I read Ender's Game so any inconsistencies didn't stand out to me, I kind of just took it on its own.
The film version has worried me since day one. David Fincher was attached at some point, which I thought would have been interesting. I remember thinking it would be a good movie when I was first reading it but also remember thinking how in the hell someone would pull it off. It required a relatively big budget and someone who could do effects and action, but it's first and foremost a psychological character study that required an expert director, plus it needed an A+ cast who were also ten year olds, which you almost never see. Add to that the adult nature of some of the scenes, and the R-rated level of gruesomeness with the Giant subplot, and I just couldn't figure out how one would make a faithful, intelligent and entertaining adaptation. I still can't. In some ways it would probably be best suited as an anime mini-series.
Gavin Hood is a good director, as I loved his film Tsotsi. A really underrated little gem. But then he made Wolverine and I lost all confidence in him. That film was a bona fide disaster, partly because of studio interference but ultimately the fault rests with him. Just badly written, little drama, weak performances, badly done action scenes, really watered down violence and conflict, etc. So if that's what he does with a studio film I'm definitely not having good feelings about him in the drivers seat for Enders Game. Especially when you consider the "hard" content of some parts of Ender's Game, I have this sinking feeling that a lot of the book will be watered down. That's why I couldn't figure out how they would make this when I was reading it in the 1990s: it's just slightly too hard for a PG-13, but making it R-rated might also be a bit unjustified considering it's a film about kids and really isn't that obscene or anything and it needs to make money too, yet cutting it for PG-13 would water it down just enough to take that little bizarre magic out that made the book so compelling. Speaker for the Dead was the same way, too weird to be PG-13 if you want to be totally faithful, but it would seem a bit odd to release it as an R, as I imagine a lot of people would be saying "why is this R?" and then blame the rating when it doens't make much money.
But maybe it will work. I definitely want to see it, whether it's good or bad. I have a feeling though that this will be one of those films where lovers of the book will continue to be lovers of the book and tell everyone who sees the film to read the original instead. It just seems like it can't not go that.
But Asa Butterfield is pretty much the best person for the role, Harrison Ford is in it, and Gavin Hood knows how to get good performances under the right circumstances. It really rests on the screenplay. Hood's writing it, and he wrote Tsotsi, so maybe this will be one of those rare slam dunks. It really depends on how much freedom the studio is giving him.