'John Carter' - Out of this world fun!
It really is a shame when a good movie gets torpedoed by bad press. And the bad press is not related to the movie itself, rather its bloated budget (a reported $250 million just to make and another several million just to market) and the fact that it is a Disney production. It seems as if the pundits (and more than a few reviewers) focus on the cost rather than the product that has been produced.
Leaving the theater I wished I had seen 'John Carter' sooner, so that I could have gotten the word out, at least to my audience, to at least counter the hype, but to make their own judgement and give this very deserving film a chance. Perhaps the current 'Hunger Games' hysteria will open an opportunity for 'John Carter' to appeal to the overflow audience who can't get a ticket or simply don't want to sit in a packed to the gills theater (which was my motivation).
Based on the Edgar Rice Burroughs' serialized pulp novels, 'John Carter' the movie is as much fun as it was in novel (and comic) form. The folks at Disney did not steer too far from the pulp fiction early work of Burroughs and in fact, director Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo) pays a great deal of homage to the memory of Burroughs. It is a sweeping, grand spectacle that is filled with adventure, romance, heroics and kitsch comic relief. Some parts do tend to slow down the pacing a bit, but overall, Stanton does a terrific job remaining faithful to the tone and pulp of Burroughs.
John Carter is a battle worn Confederate captain who is roaming the Arizona desert in search of gold when he stumbles upon an artifact that transports him to Mars where he becomes a swashbuckling hero to a planet torn apart by its own civil war. Director Stanton, in his first live action film, does a great job of incorporating the actors with the computer generated special effects. Burroughs' Mars is a world filled with spectacular characters, from a race of towering four armed, tusked, green nomads to dragonfly like warships, to enormous white ape like creatures; all fit together well even when you know quite well that there is a green screen somewhere!
But amid all of the special effects there are some very good performances that make it all work. John Carter is played by Taylor Kitsch (Friday Night Lights) and it is too bad that his first outing is being deemed a bomb. He carries Carter well and does a good job of carrying the tortured emotion of a worn torn hero, lost and trying to find his way. Within the cast of special effects are Willem Dafoe as Tars Tarkus, the four armed tusked leader of the nomadic tribe that inhabits the planet, Thomas Hayden Church as Tal Hajus, the rival to the leadership of Tars Tarkus. It is this nomadic tribe that comes to not only find Carter, but adopt him as well.
On Mars, due to the dimished gravity, Carter has increased strength and the uncanny ability to leap astounding distances, which comes in handy during plenty of battle scenes. It is the fate of a beautiful Martian princess played by Lynn Collins (True Blood) that sparks Carter to take up sides in their civil war and rekindle his sense of duty, honor and yes, even love.
'John Carter' is a story filled with pulp action, romance and even humor. It is a movie that shouldn't be judged on it's budget, but rather it's 3 star entertainment merit. So while everyone else is standing shoulder to shoulder to see 'The Hunger Games' (yes, I will go se it and yes, I will review it), jump over to the next to empty theater #4 and go see 'John Carter'. perhaps the word of mouth will give it some much deserved legs!
Agree or disagree with me? Let me know! Leave a comment or two! I promise to respond!