John Carter of MARS

Here at Beyond the Marquee we encourage YOU the reader to engage and interact with our site, and that includes letting us know what you think of the subject matters in which we post and your opinions of what you see and hear in the Movie/TV world. We recieved an early review for JOHN CARTER from a avid reader of BTM and wanted to share it with the rest of you. This review comes in from Brian from Burbank, CA…thanks Brian.

JOHN CARTER is the latest visual merveille du cinéma based on the works by the Sci-Fi literary pioneer Edgar Rice Burroughs.  The good news is that this film is not the steaming dung pile some have made it out to be.  On the other hand, it’s not exactly a Best Picture Oscar contender either

JOHN CARTER played by Taylor Kitsch (best known, from his work on the TV series Friday Night Lights) is a Confederate soldier who suffers a personal tragedy and becomes disillusioned with the war.  Deserting his army unit, he searches for a special cave…a cave that the Apache Indians avoid at all costs.  There he hopes to find gold.

By a curious and magical incident, he is swiftly transported from the cave to the planet Barsoom (or Mars as earthlings call it.)   He quickly discovers that with a different atmosphere and lighter gravity on Barsoom, his molecular structure has changed (much like Superman when he arrives on Earth.)  This gives Carter the ability to jump to incredible heights and move with unbelievable speed.  His newfound abilities surprise him but also serve to astonish the mightiest warriors on Barsoom huge four-armed, sword-carrying brutes known as Tharks.  Eventually Carter meets Princess Dejah (the stop-you-in-your-tracks-beautiful Lynn Collins).   The princess is also awestruck and spellbound by John Carter’s amazing jumping abilities and a mutual respect (she can fight too!) and connection is found between the two.  Carter finds himself in the middle of a violent clash between two warring factions.  To complicate matters, Princess Dejah’s father is forcing her to marry one of their sworn enemies in the hopes of bringing about the end of violent hostilities and new efforts for a lasting peace.   Carter weary of conflict, (especially other people’s fights) is forced yet again to take a side, fight for the soul of Barsoom and win the heart of the princess.

John Carter ©2012 Walt Disney Pictures

Andrew Stanton, who came to prominence at Pixar Animation Studios (writing and directing Finding Nemo and WALL-E) commands the material well for his live action feature debut.   Stanton also gracefully navigates areas where lesser filmmakers would surely falter.  A conversation about how our societies (Earth and Barsoom) pillage lands, annihilate resources and ultimately destroy civilization showed that the film had something to say beyond mere spectacle.  It was handled deftly and with a soft touch.

The CGI work is solid-nothing revolutionary, but still immersive, wonderful and sweeping.  The Barsoomian Thark designs are highly inventive and imaginative as are the other creatures that populate the film.  Of particular note is a humorous short, fat, lizard-type creature who is like a bizarre puppy on steroids.

John Carter ©2012 Walt Disney Pictures

For those not familiar with Burroughs, you may find yourself watching JOHN CARTER and feeling a strong sense of Déjà vu.  A desert landscape with floating space ships, beaming/transporting technology to get from once place to another quickly, jumping tall buildings in a single bound, being on one planet with one body while leaving your other body somewhere else entirely.  If this sounds like Star Wars, Star Trek, Superman and Avatar, you are right on.

To the uninitiated, one might be inclined to dismiss JOHN CARTER as simply a cut and paste job of the elements from the aforementioned films.  The tragedy here is that John Carter is actually the source material…the inspiration if you will that influenced many of our current cinema masters.    However, JOHN CARTER’S strength is also its greatest weakness.   All of these wonderful (and familiar) story ideas that should come together to form a cohesive yarn cause the film to buckle under its own weight.   There is just too much going on, and it quickly becomes a strain to follow it all.   Clarity of objectives and stakes are vital to a compelling story; at times it’s difficult to assess what those are.

John Carter ©2012 Walt Disney Pictures

Audiences were deflowered long ago with breathtaking CGI and photo-realistic effects.  If this film had come out ten years ago, it would have been a complete game changer.   Today it’s just another day at the movies.   We are now back to basics….story-telling.   No longer can studios rely on, “I bet you’ve never seen this type of CGI before!” Actually, we have.  Been there done that thank you.  Story, story, story.

As for the 3D conversion…I’m not even going there.

John Carter ©2012 Walt Disney Pictures

While I have varied things to say about JOHN CARTER, ultimately it is a fun ride and I’d recommend seeing it.  It will at times sweep you off your feet and transport you to another world, fantastic and wonderful. There is much to like, and by all means, see it on the big screen.

Lastly, I thought it would be fun to put a little piece of trivia here.  Many animators (traditional and stop-motion) have been trying for years to bring JOHN CARTER to the screen.  Naturally they gravitate to creatures.  It is said that Ray Harryhausen’s first experiments at stop-motion animation involved a four-armed creature…a clear attempt to bring the Barsoomian Thark known as Tars Tarkas alive.  Up until now Tars was a little secret in the stop-motion animation community.  Indeed, if you were sculpting and animating a four-armed creature, you were on the “inside” and everyone knew exactly who and what you were referencing.  But alas the secret is out!

John Carter ©2012 Walt Disney Pictures

Cast: Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Samantha Morton, Willem Dafoe, Thomas Haden Church, and Mark Strong.

Director: Andrew Stanton

Writer: Andrew Stanton (screenplay), Mark Andrews (screenplay), Michael Chabon (screenplay), and Edgar Rice Burroughs (story “A Princess of Mars”).

Runtime:  132 minutes (2 hours and 12 minutes)    MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action.

Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, and Sci-Fi  Production Company: Walt Disney Pictures

Release Date:  March 9th, 2012