John Carter
                               
Director: Andrew Stanton
Year: 2012
Rating: 7.0
When this film hit theaters in 2012 it was such a loud bomb that Evangelicals grabbed their wallets and got ready for the Rapture. Sorry, not this time either but any day now folks. But it was end times for the trilogy that Disney had planned based on the Edgar Rice Burrough's series of eleven books called the Barsoom books. Barsoom is what the locals on Mars call their planet. The first in the series - The Princess of Mars - was written in 1911 and was in fact Burrough's first published novel (in serial form). The next ten would follow over the next few decades - the last published in 1964 (well-after Burrough's death in 1950). The series is really a rather remarkably imaginative effort and is given credit for influencing much of the fantasy and sci-fi that followed. His Tarzan books would be right behind and it was their popularity that brought attention to his Barsoom serials to be published as novels.



Many blame the failure of the film on two words or the lack of them. Most people had no clue who John Carter was. If only they had added "Of Mars", it might have done better. In truth, it didn't do that badly with $130 million in global ticket sales - enough for most films to be declared a success. Unfortunately, it cost Disney over $350 million. That is a lot of moolah. And though it is epic in nature, most of it is done using special effects so it is kind of hard to see where all the money went. Certainly, not in the salaries - not for the two unknown leads who remain unknown after this or for some of the better-known actors with small roles. When films are declared bombs or failures, it wraps up the film in that stigma and effects reviews and viewership. Hey, honey do you want to watch John Carter? Isn't that the film that did so badly? Let's watch a Pixar film instead.



It has its flaws for sure. Making the Thark's resemble Jar Jar Binks was probably not a great idea but they come right out of the book, so blame ERB. Of course, no Jamaican accent and with four arms but still the infamy of Jar Jar is in your head when watching them. And some of the CGI is rough and silly - especially Carter's 100-feet jumps. But overall this is a pretty good adventure film with imaginative ravishing sets, characters, creatures, action, romance, perfidy and heroism. It runs for over two hours but keeps the story moving along at a good clip. I thought this was very enjoyable and finished it in one sitting which has become unusual for me.



John Carter (Taylor Kitsch) is an ex-Confederate soldier who returned home to find his wife and child had been killed. In depression he heads west to look for gold. He finds it in a cave while escaping from a band of Apache's. A cave of gold. He also though finds a Them, a superior being who can travel to Mars and back. When it tries to kill Carter, Carter shoots it dead and finds himself on Mars where due to less gravity he can jump huge distances.  I believe the Them are an invention of the film and kind of pointless. On the planet he first finds the Thark's, a tribe of tall spindly green creatures who stay out in the desert away from the human like creatures.



There are two main human cities and they are at war with one another and have been for years. Carter ends up taking sides mainly because the Princess (Lynn Collins) of one is hot and a warrior. In the books Carter goes back and forth as well between Mars and Earth - and dies a few times and comes back to life in his mausoleum that can only be opened from the inside. He tells his adventures to his nephew named Burroughs and at the end of the film tells him to go write a book. He did. 80 of them.