John Carter Movie Blurb by Shale March 9, 2012 Been watching trailers for this movie and it really looked like my kinda flick. It Was! It has Sci-Fi & Fantasy & Time Travel & Interplanetary Travel & Alien Species & Telekinesis & Shape Shifters & ... An Old West Setting! Oh, sorry for gushing but it was an enjoyable movie. I saw it in 2-D and maybe will venture the extra bucks to see it in 3-D next time. (Oh, yes will see it again before it leaves - then plan to get the DVD). BTW, it is based on A Princess of Mars the first in the Barsoom series of stories by Edgar Rice Burroughs, written a full century ago. The movie actually starts with a young Edgar Rice Burroughs being summoned by his uncle John Carter. He arrives to discover that his uncle has died and he is the heir and is presented with John's personal Journal. As Edgar opens the journal and starts to read, the story scene opens out west in the late 19th Century, where former Confederate Cavalry Captain John Carter (Taylor Kitsch) is being drafted by a US Cavalry officer to help fight the Apaches. Carter no longer fights other ppls wars and escapes. In a confrontation, he goes into a mysterious cave with a spider symbol over it and gets transported to another Western-looking desert - but one that gives him an unusual ability of strength and jumping. And, it also has some alien natives called Tharks who are tall and green and have four arms. The leader Tars Tarkas (Willem Dafoe - they say) claims John as his own. John Carter with Tars Tarkas John eventually gets involved in a battle that is going on between the two mechanized cultures on this planet and rescues Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins) a female warrior, whom he later learns is a princess and who informs him that he is on Barsoom, which John discovers is Mars. John & Warrior Princess From here I will just tell you to go see the movie rather than explain it to you. Not for fear of giving it away, but because it is just so hard to keep up with everything that is going on. There are good guys and bad guys, secret shape-shifting agents and the Tharks who are just doing their thing while the mechanized powers fight it out. I will tell you that it fits the comic book style and has lots of special effects. There are saber fights in a culture that also has Star Wars weapons and our hero looks good in his battle gear. Warrior John Carter And he also has a pet "Dog?" John's 'Dog' I don't have to do a review of this movie. There are ppl out there, just like me who knew from the trailers that they would see it. You know who you are - go see it.
You can usually judge a good sci-fi movie by its pets and that is one ugly fake looking dog. The only other dog I think of to top that would be Muffit on the original 1978-79 TV series Battlestar Galactica Hotwater
Saw it Again Today The weather turned out to be much nicer than predicted, so I just biked to the Cinema and saw this movie again today in 3-D. It was OK, but not really necessary and the 2-D version is just as visually appealing to me. However, I am glad I did see it again. It does jump around a bit and the second time things sifted out better. This was one of the major complaints of critics and could be one of the reasons it only got a 49% good rating by the aggregate reviews on Rottentomatoes, tho 72% of audiences liked it. In fact, in my original blurb I overlooked that the movie actually opens on Barsoom in an air battle between the Red & Blue armies where the shape-shifter immortal Matai Shang (Mark Strong - does he ever play a good guy?) gives an advanced weapon to the planet destroying Sab Than (Dominic West). Sab Than Then it jumps to NYC in 1881 with John Carter, eluding someone who is following him sending off a telegram. So, the movie actually opens in two separate places before it opens out West. That is how quickly it jumps around and how much more I got out of it the second time. However, reviewers' complaints notwithstanding, I found myself really enjoying this movie, thinking back to the first time I saw Raiders of the Lost Ark and got totally involved in that story and action. So, again I recommend this movie. John Carter of Mars
Shale, Having read the entire series many years ago, I was wondering if you know how closely the movie follows the books? I don't remember any shape shifters or planetary destruction machines in A Princess of Mars.
I never read the books (I advocate not comparing movies to their source material because they are different media) However, this from Leonard Maltin: "I never read Edgar Rice Burroughs’ novels about Carter and the planet Mars (known to the locals as Barsoom), but a friend who is a lifelong devotee was quite pleased with this adaptation, by director Andrew Stanton, Mark Andrews, and Michael Chabon, declaring it true to the spirit of the books even though it adds many ideas of its own." And the planetary destruction wasn't like the Death Star in Star Wars, it was just a city that moves along taking all the natural resources out of the planet. Sorta like the Unregulated Big Businesses that buys Republicans on this planet.
I'm a huge fan of Michael Chabon and also LOVED the John Carter of Mars series. So I'm only slightly disheartened by it's poor ticket sales. Can't wait to see this one... I'm predicting it'll be better than the Hunger Games, which I thought was poorly casted and was tilted to being some sort of Harlequinn romance, ala Twilight. -BlkBks
What can I say? I'm a romantic. Who likes pics of young, semi-naked, cute men. BTW, Zac Efron will be starring in The Lucky One on April 20. This pic has nothing to do with that movie but I like it.
This one reminded me a lot of Dune, not so much in the story line, but as a big flop that didnt go down well for the masses but will end up a big cult hit. I loved it, thought it was a really good story. Taylor Kitch certainly helped, humina humina I dont know why thery bothered voicing the Tharks with celebs, I woukdnt have had a clue that was Willem Dafoe unless I'd been told But yeah, I feel like seeing it again at the movies, I'd give it 9/10. I think one of the reasons it didnt do so well is cos there has been too many Sword and Gladiator type movies lately , Titans, Immortals etc
That's the perfect kind of film, for me. Aww, shit. Now I really want to see this. BTW, Dune and every other David Lynch movie for that matter, is amazing. -BlkBks
Dune wasn't a B movie though, while from Shale's review John Carter strikes me as one in every aspect, and nor did it feel the need to film most of the characters half-naked to attract audiences. Though, I need to see it first to be able to form that conclusion, I know. And even then, it doesn't mean it can't be good.
Well I think one should take both Shales and my opinion on this movie with a grain of salt. Kitsch is a little bit too distractingly phroar, model turned actor, not saying he's a bad actor, rather good actually, just difficult to be objective. Both the lead goody and baddy are good looking guys, even the princesses dad is something of a stocky silver fox running around in a chest plate and skirt Whereas the only female eye candy is the princess, who arguably may be a bit too Xena for straight male audiences Yes on reflection the movie was a tad too homo erotic And the stupid mutant dog thing almost as annoying as JarJar But the forestory especially, when he's captian in the civil war ie very good bad ugly slash wolverine, then he grabs on to the medallion, 'Basoooom' then whoosh through a wormholel real Bruce Campbell stuff
i can't say that i enjoyed this movie at all. i did have high hopes for it, but alas it was not to be. it certainly looks the goods, but i just didn't care about any of the characters at all, and if i don't care about the characters i don't care about the action. unfortunately, for me it was a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing.
