It's a shame that John Carter did not end up being Disney's Avatar. All of the controversy surrounding the films monumental loss is truly something that is causing people to stay away from the film. It's a horrible stigma that I wish would go away. I felt that the film was going to be good based on the publicity going into the theater. However this is not how I felt leaving.
The film begins with John Carter's death(Trust me not a spoiler). In his will, all of his possessions are to be given to his nephew Edgar Burroughs. The most important of all the materials is John Carter's journal, of which it is explicitly is written that no one is allowed to lay eyes on it but Edgar. Edgar proceeds to read from the journal and the audience is immediately thrown into John's past., where we stay for the majority of the film. John Carter spends his life searching for gold. After a long expedition he returns to a certain Arizona town's saloon in order to resupply. The bartender tells Carter that he cannot supply him any longer because he hasn't paid the money promised. Tensions boil but before anything can occur, Colonel Powell(Bryan Crantson) and his Calvary show up to the saloon. Powell needs Carter's help fighting the Apaches but he refuses and as a result John is taken to jail. What follows is actually a clever and excellent way to introduce Carter's determination. He attempts to escape multiple times and ultimately finally does so. Upon his escape he reaches a cave, and mistakenly kills a man with a medallion. He grabs hold of the medallion as the cloaked man utters his last dying words then John carter teleports to Mars. Oh, I forgot to mention this film actually takes place not too long after the Civil War. What follows after John's arrival on Mars I'll leave for you to find out, but as I said before the film is entertaining and is very good.
John Carter brings to mind the aforementioned Avatar, as well as other Sci-Fi films like Star Wars. However what I never knew prior to this film being produced was that John Carter is actually from a series of books that were written almost 100 years ago. Cameron and Lucas drew their influences from the John Carter series and I can see why. Just from this one film alone, which is supposed to be the first book entitled "Princess from Mars", the universe that John occupies is extremely dense and just screams for a franchise to be made, which would I would love to see.
I never saw one trailer for the film, which I am grateful for because everything in the film was a surprise. From Breaking Bad's Bryan Cranston small but important role to the design of the creatures that inhabit Mars. The one thing I noticed is that it feels like at moments it tries to keep everything simple but at other times it feels like the director is speaking to those of whom are familiar with the text. I honestly think this is a good thing as the movie does not unnecessarily get dumbed down. However there were a few times where I found myself to be lost(mostly due to the onslaught of new names), especially in the beginning. The movie is definitely something that would be rewarding to watch twice.
Thankfully I chose to skip the 3D presentation of this film. If I would have watched the film in 3D the films bright beautiful landscapes and scenery would have been darkened and completely ruined. The film's surprising amount of violence was a welcome addition. There were moments when I felt like the film could have been an R had the director decided to make the blood of certain creatures red instead of blue.
All in all I found myself enjoying the film from start to finish. I do not think the film is for everyone, just like Star Wars isn't, but I am happy to admit it is a guilty pleasure. It's just sad that the film has been getting so much bad press. All that means to me is that there won't be any more John Carter films, which is honestly a shame. I highly recommend this film and it was actually worth every penny I spent.
3.5/4 Muffins
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