Genre: Action, Adventure
Released: 2012
Rating: 
Note: The film was not shot in 3D or the IMAX format. Save yourself the extra money and see it in regular digital 2D.
"John Carter" is a massive disappointment in the sense that it cost well over $200 million to produce and doesn't deliver a coherent, emotionally driven story line that grabs and entertains you. That being said, it's not a terrible film but it should have been great. Sure, the visuals and action scenes are decent but it's a very dry looking film which also adds to it's bland feeling. Oddly enough, there were at least three solid sequences in the film that I do feel warrant a viewing but you have to sit through a below average two and hour and twenty minute film to enjoy them. Though, you could just sit back and listen to Michael Giacchino's beautiful music until you get to those sequences. When it all boils down to it, "John Carter" is nothing more than a combination of "Avatar" (which was highly overrated and a major disappointment), "Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace" (which was awful except for the pod racing sequence) and "Jumper" (a slightly entertaining yet very forgettable flick).
The film has so much wrong with it. First of, why does Taylor Kitsch have to talk in a deep voice the entire time. It really does sound like he's trying to mimic Christian Bale's terrible Batman voice in "The Dark Knight." Also, how many times do we have to hear a lead character say his name backwards, i.e. "Carter, John Carter" (in Batman voice). For some reason, that just feels so played out and cheesy. Finally, why does Carter's love interest, played by Lynn Collins, have a British accent in the film? She's from Houston in real life and she's just British in this film for no reason. Do British people live on Mars?
Another disappointment factor is that it comes from the brilliant director of "Finding Nemo" and "Wall-E" (My favorite Pixar flick). I think Stanton was just so in love with the original book series, which is from the same author who wrote Tarzan, that he had trouble leaving certain things out. I couldn't help but think that the movie is for people who know the story and the names. There were just too many names, locations and things to pick up on during the movie. I still have no clue what a Thark is! It got to the point of being too confusing to even follow the action. He's been so great at building up characters throughout his films in the past but this was just way too much. It's funny if you think about it though, the characters of Wall-E and John Carter are very similar in the sense that they are thrown in to strange worlds and are forced to realize their true potential.
"John Carter" stars Taylor Kitsch (Tim Riggins from "Friday Night Lights"), Willem Dafoe ("The Boondock Saints"), Lynn Collins ("True Blood") and Dominic West ("The Wire").
The story revolves around the title character, John Carter, a Civil War veteran who is on the search for gold in the late 1800′s. Upon entering a cave which he was seeking, Carter is then transported to Mars. He has no clue where he is or how he got there but he knows that he can now magically leap hundreds of yards in the air. He soon realizes he is on Mars once he meets Princess Dejah (Collins), whose father is forcing her to marry the villain of the film (played by Dominic West). Carter soon realizes that his destiny is to help the Princess and her people against an evil power that wants to take over the planet. One of the groups who Carter teams up with, a group of green aliens, are headed by a character named Tars Tarkas (played through performance-capture by Willem Dafoe).
As I stated above, make sure you skip the 3D and the IMAX versions of this film. I was able to take my glasses off multiple times throughout the film and watch it perfectly clear. I have yet to see a good enough post-converted 3D film to warrant paying the extra three or four bucks to see it in theaters. Also, if you go to see the film in the "fake" IMAX theaters, it will only take up a portion of the screen. There will be black bars on the top and bottom of the screen because it was not shot in the 70mm IMAX format.
Yes, there a lot of negative things to say about this film but there were elements that I did enjoy. Michael Giacchino's score was very solid. It wasn't memorable like his scores for "Super 8″ or "Lost" or his masterpiece, "Star Trek" but it works emotionally. There was one very solid JJ Abrams style moment where Stanton turned down the action and let Giacchino's score ride us throughout he sequence. I'll just say that it's a fight scene and it deals with flashbacks being intercut with the fight.
I did thoroughly enjoy Willem Dafoe's performance as Tars Tarkas. Dafoe is unrecognizable as he plays the character through performance-capture technology. I really did feel for that character and anytime he was on screen saying, "Virginia", I was laughing. It's a fun yet serious character that I found myself connected to. It's just said that you can't say the same for the leading character. I find it funny that the character played beneath a CGI character has more development than the flesh characters.
Much like this review, the movie is a gigantic mess. There are great elements but not enough to keep it afloat. There are some great scenes at the beginning and I loved the ending. It's the two hours of material in between that bugged me. I would wait for the rental for "John Carter".
Posted on March 9, 2012 by Nerd Tears™ . Bookmark the
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