Ender's Game

1.   Ender's War

2.   Stay Down

3.   Battle School

4.   Move It Launchies

5.   The Battle Room

6.   Mind Game Part 1

7.   Salamander Battle

8.   Mind Game Part 2

9.   Dragon Army

10. Dragons Win

11. Bonzo

12. Ender Quits

13. Mazer Rackham

14. Enemy Planet

15. Command School

16. Graduation Day

17. Final Test

18. Game Over

19. The Way We Win Matters

20. Ender's Promise

21. Commander

     Ender's Game is a fantastic novel.  It is deeply philosophical and well written.  The movie adaptation could never have matched the impact the novel had.  The soundtrack could have, though.  Music is an art form of pure emotion.  We could have been whisked away to the future.  We could have been let inside Ender's head, to experience what he does, to feel the joy of his victories and the pain of his understanding.  We could have had music that makes us think, much like the book does.  Instead, we get a generic, action-oriented soundtrack by Hans Zimmer understudy Steve Jablonsky.

     He sets up a good theme for Ender in "Ender's War", but it never develops to match the character it is meant to portray.  Good music can grow and develop into its own identity over time, but Ender's theme fails to do that.  For one, it is not used nearly enough.  We could have had this theme reflect the way Ender is feeling, particularly in "Ender Quits" or "The Way We Win Matters".  Instead, "Ender Quits" ends up being one of the most disappointing individual tracks of any film.  It became a track of pointless meandering that never amounts to anything special.  In fact, the utter lack of intricacies for this extremely intricate story is the biggest disappointment for this album.

     The second theme, introduced in "Dragons Win", is then only used in "Final Test".  This theme also fails to capture the gravity and subtleties of the moment.  It is also used too sparsely to make any sort of impact on the score as a whole.

     The most repetitive use of music, though, comes with the ostinatos and chord progression found first in "Battle School".  It is then used in slightly different forms in "Move It Launchies", "The Battle Room", "Salamander Battle", "Dragon Army", "Mazer Rackham", "Graduation Day", "Game Over", "The Way We Win Matters", and "Commander".  And this idea is what puts the lid on the coffin for the music of Ender's Game.  For most of those tracks, it is the defining identity, causing the second half of the album to be an absolute chore to listen through.

     But, if that wasn't enough, "Stay Down", both of the "Mind Game" tracks, "Bonzo", "Ender Quits", and the first half of "The Way We Win Matters" were reduced to pure pointless meandering and dissonance to try and capture the mood.  It works marginally well in the two tracks for the "Mind Game", but one can't help but wonder what the others could have sounded like under a better composer.

     

     Despite it all, there are a few moments of semi-intelligence.  As stated before, the main theme itself is not bad, but it could have been used much more effectively.  The best song on the album is "Battle Room".  This was the song that made me want to purchase the album in the first place.  Despite using the repetitive ostinatos and chord progressions, the solo violin work makes this track shine far above the rest.  This track captures the feeling of the scene it is used in perfectly.

     When all is said and done, Ender's Game ends up being too generic, repetitive, and simple to truly capture the majesty and intricacies of the story.

Score:

Written for Movie: (Undetermined)

On Album: 3/10 "Terrible"
Words to Describe it:  Generic, Underutilized, and Disappointing