History Film / EndersGame

* KickTheSonOfABitch: Ender twice ends up in fights and in both instances hospitalizes the opposition (accidentally the second time). Both times, it's agreed the loser had it coming.

* YoureInsane: Valentine yells this out to Peter after he locks her out of his and Ender's room to play Formics and Astronauts. Peter snaps at her to stay out of it.

* HumansAreWhite: {{Averted}} like hell. Both child and adult characters are quite racially and ethnically diverse, including Black, Arab, Indian, Hispanic, Māori, etc.

** The Formics arguably get this due to there only being one invasion. [[spoiler:As Ender states at the end, they were simply looking to start a colony on Earth. After humanity drove them away, they returned to their planet for 50 years without ever attempting to contact earth. As Ender says, they might have completely given up on Earth, which makes humanity's overt aggression against them seem barbaric when they could have at least studied what they were up to first before committing to genocide. The lack of a second invasion (which consequently brings down humanity's losses against the Formics from millions to "just" thousands) makes humanity's retaliation against the Formics seem more extreme.]]

* AndYouThoughtItWasAGame: [[spoiler:Sorry, Ender, but you really did just sacrifice thousands of human lives to destroy the Formic homeworld.]]
** [[spoiler:Sorry, Ender, but you also really did just wipe out an ''entire sentient species''.]]

** [[spoiler:The xenocide of the Formic species is presented [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone just as negatively]] as it was in the book, but the true reasons for the Formics' aggression are never explored. It's never explained that the Formics' HiveMind made it impossible for them to understand that humans were individually sentient, and that they tried to stop the killing when they realized that humans weren't simply animals.]]

* IDidWhatIHadToDo: [[Graff insists that lying to Ender, exploiting his talents, and exterminating an alien species were necessary to secure the future of the human race.]]

* IDidWhatIHadToDo: [[spoiler:Graff insists that lying to Ender, exploiting his talents, and exterminating an alien species were necessary to secure the future of the human race.]]

** The movie's ''title'' also has something to do with it. ([[spoiler:Ender is led to believe it's all a simulation, so that he can {{invoke}} VideoGameCrueltyPotential. And KidsAreCruel.]])

* MotivationalLie: [[spoiler:Ender's superiors lie to him about the nature of his final mission so that he wouldn't endure the psychological pressure of risking real lives, nor hesitate to destroy an entire planet full of sentient beings.]]

* MultinationalTeam: Ender's command staff, as is appropriate for an organization called the "''International'' Fleet" that is in charge of saving the whole planet, has kids from multiple ethnicities: African-colored-Dutch-raised Dink, Arab Alai, Greek-ish Bean, Armenian Petra, and plain-white Bernard (French in the book, American in the film). However, we're still stuck with a WhiteMaleLead, and it's also interesting that every ''jeesh'' member from East Asia (the Japanese Shen, Chinese Hot Soup and Filipino Fly Molo) and South America (Dumper) was cut, along with three more white guys (Australian Carn Carby, Russian Vlad and British Crazy Tom).

* FlatWhat: During the final test, while the team are in a CurbStompBattle, Ender try a last move, [[spoiler: they will shoot the Dr. Device directly to the Formic’s planet, to destroy all the Hive Queen’s starships]]. The reaction of Petra to this is to completely incredulity.

--> Petra: What am I aimed for?
--> Ender: [[spoiler: The Planet]]

--> Petra: What.