It came to my attention this weekend that there is a movement to help get a John Carter sequel made. It did not do well at the box office but many attribute that to lousy marketing and not a lousy movie. I really liked the movie and would love to see the trilogy Disney originally planned come to fruition.
I finally was able to watch John Carter last night. The movie was given to me as a gift for Father’s Day and I was a little nervous wondering if I would really like it. I thought I would like it after seeing all of the trailers for the movies and many people online who said they liked it have enjoyed the movie for the same reasons I thought I would. They said it was a fun adventure that had some great special effects. However, it received mixed reviews upon release and it did not do well at the box office. After viewing it I have to say I really liked it!
I am not going to go into great detail about the movie but I will say what I did and didn’t like about the movie. In the beginning there is a short prolog that tells the story of the conflicts between the civilizations on Mars, known as Barsoom to the natives. I wish that part was just a little clearer because for a while it was confusing for me to understand who was who and what was going on. I also think the early part of the movie before John Carter arrives on Mars could have fleshed out his character a little better. However, once you are on Mars and the confusion clears up the movie is very enjoyable with good character development with both John Carter and Dejah Thoris, a Princess of Mars who must enter into an arranged marriage in order to resolve the global conflicts. When John Carter arrives on Mars he is captured by a very tall green skinned multi-limb race of humanoids called Tharks. This warrior tribe eventually assists John Carter in his aid to save Dejah Thoris. John Carter’s character development is an essential part of the story as his motivation goes from wanting to leave Mars and return to Earth to falling in love with Dejah Thoris and wanting to rescue her and resolve the planet’s civil discord.
I found as the movie goes along it gets better and better and really becomes an exciting action and adventure movie. I don’t want to put too many spoilers in my review but the movie did hit a slight snag for me toward the end. Spoiler alert for the next part if you haven’t seen the film: When John Carter gets transported back to earth against his will, his journey to return to Mars seems rushed. It also resolves some of the confusion form the opening of the movie, which is in reality setting up the ending. Its not that this part of the movie was bad, it wasn’t, its just that coming so late in the movie the pace of it seems hurried.
I wanted to make a comment about leading actor Taylor Kitsch as John Carter. There have been some complaints that he has been miscast because he doesn’t portray a larger than life persona one would want in a warrior hero. To some extent that is true. His screen presence is not the best. Yet in the framework of the film it works. He is supposed to be just an average guy that is placed in extraordinary circumstances. When John Carter defeats the Giant white gorillas and Tal Hajus you finally see the larger than life warrior emerge. As I stated that is later in the film. All in all Taylor Kitsch is fine for the role of John Carter.
Today I will watch the movie once again with the commentaries on. Although I really enjoyed the movie it does have some flaws, which all movies do, and I do not think that it is bad at all. The saddest part for me is that the ending sets us up for a sequel and the movie really cries for one but with the poor performance at the box office we will probably never see one.
Foley's Sience-Fiction & Fantasy Film Reviews 