John Carter (***)
Directed by: Andrew Stanton
Starring: Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Samantha Morton (voice), Willem
Dafoe (voice), Thomas Haden Church (voice), Mark Strong, Ciaran Hinds, Dominic
West, James Purefoy, Bryan Cranston, Daryl Sabara
Seen: March 10th 2012
*** Out of ****
The source material for John Carter was first published in 1912. Edgar
Rice Burroughs’ John Carter of Mars was said to have been influential to George
Lucas in his creation of Star Wars, and it’s apparent in John Carter, as it
reminds you of Star Wars both visually and on the level of adventure and
grand-scale storytelling. John Carter is intensely entertaining, with excellent
visual effects and exciting action and adventure.
Captain John Carter (Kitsch), a retired civil war veteran, makes
trouble in a small town supplies store and is arrested and imprisoned by
Colonel Powel (Cranston). Carter escapes and in the ensuing chase ends up
between Powel and his men, and a band of Indians out for blood. He flees into
the mountains with an injured Powel and discovers a lost treasure cave, but
before he can explore more he is confronted by a man appearing out of thin air
who almost kills him. He retaliates, and in the process gets transported somewhere
else entirely. In his new environment he realises he can jump very high and he feels
significantly stronger. This is because he is on Mars, or as the locals call
it, Barsoom. He’s captured by Tars Tarkas (Dafoe), the leader of a nomadic
Martian race called the Tharks, and his introduction to Martian culture and language
is a swift one.
While the Tharks are green and have four arms each, Carter soon learns
of the existence of humanoid creatures on Barsoom, in the form of Red Barsoomians
of the peaceful city Helium, and the Blue race of Barsoomians from the moving
and consuming city of Zodanga. The Tharks prefer to avoid the humanoid races
and their warmongering, while a fourth group, the Therns, a seemingly god-like
race, sees it as their duty/privilege to interfere with Barsoomian affairs. In
an attack on Helium by Zodangan forces, Princess Dejah Thoris (Collins) allows
herself to be captured by the Zodangan leader Sab Than (West), under the
influence of the Thern leader Matai Shang (Strong). The Princess’ father,
Tardos Mors (Hinds), has struck a deal for peace whereby Dejah would marry Sab
Than, but she’s unwilling.
Back with the Tharks Carter is forced into arena fighting and he
impresses the Tharks immensely while he also aims to protect Dejah Thoris. This
drags him into the bigger fight and soon enough Carter is fighting for the
future of Barsoom, with political allegiances flying all over the place in an
exciting adventure of giant proporsions and apparent magic/alien powers. There
are fights and flights and chases and much more to entertain just about every
viewer, and I can see this becoming a successful franchise for Disney (it would
appear that they have the same hopes, the movie’s budget was $250 million). Taylor
Kitsch carries the movie with aplomb while Mark Strong is his usual strong
villain. The entire cast does a credible job of allowing the viewer an immersing
experience on another world. John Carter is heaps of fun and entertaining
enough to probably watch numerous times, I know I will…
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