Post by Fatal Rewind on May 16, 2021 10:48:41 GMT -5
John Carter started off as a sci-fi novel written by Edgar Rice Burroughs in 1912 or so. He originally planned an entire series of them but wasn't sure what people would think, as he combined sci-fi elements with fantasy, such as having flying ships on Mars (somehow) being made of and being propelled by bamboo. Rather than being ridiculed into obscurity, the first book actually did well, so Burroughs went on with the series, actually outselling his beloved Tarzan line of books.
Decades later, a film adaption was created by Disney and released in 2012, being a gigantic popcorn movie with amazing special effects.
Even though a solid two hours long, this gets right to the action with barely any background with how Mars is dying, as we all know it's mostly dry (nowadays; this actually took place in the late 1800s). Martians from two opposing cities have been at war for years until one fateful day the leader of one airship (being updated from having bamboo to looking like half the ship is made of colorful solar panels) gets greeted by several beings that give him a powerful weapon (saying he was chosen by the goddess) to turn the tide of war.
Meanwhile back on Earth in Virginia, John Carter (played by Taylor Kitsch) is minding his own business when he gets approached by several of his fellow officers whom he served with in the military/battle. Due to the South being involved in many wars over the years, they try to bring him back into their command (if I recall correctly). Due to already serving and not wanting to follow the orders of his superior since he's a real pig, there's several brief hilarious scenes where they try to drag Carter back to combat but he keeps on escaping.
With one final escape, Carter ends up in some caves deep in Indian territory where he (somehow) comes across a dying Martian (if there was a reason on how he made it to Earth, I don't recall) who gives him a medallion that transports him to Mars. Due to the gravity being lighter, Carter can jump and deal out punches way more powerful than man or Martian alive (actually there's two types of Martians over there, one being humanoid and the others being like nine feet tall cgi creatures).
At first the nine feet tall Martians are amazed, then become wary of him, then the human Martians view him as a savior for their war. John's not thrilled about either side and wants back to Earth initially.
I'd heard that this movie actually wasn't bad and was glad to find it on dvd months ago, even though there's barely any back story and it's a lot of action (not that that's bad in itself as long as its done right, I'm just pointing it out). The special effects are great and I'm surprised this wasn't nominated for an Academy Award for Sound Editing, but then I don't know what actually made the nominations for that category that year. On one side of the fence, Carter spends the majority of his time in the movie without a shirt, but on the other side, this lady named Lynn Collins (I only know her from the X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie) makes a really striking-looking love interest, along with the costumes being pretty good (both the human Martians and Earth humans), along with the tattoos on the human Martians (not much into tattoos in real life but they looked cool here). Acting is adequate to good for the most part, although Carter mostly just grimaces through the movie as he goes from one hardship to the other, not knowing what he's doing or coming to terms as a Martian leader, never smiling once, I don't believe.
One thing I was pretty surprised at was how...damn...FUNNY this movie is. From Carter's escapes early on to meeting the first Martian:
Carter: What the
Martian (at the same time): ...hell are you?
to a line near the end of "thank God that's over with" (which might've been voiced by Willem Dafoe), making one of several twists of the movie (another surprise to me) to a very funny dog, there were quite a few scenes I had a very big laugh over and rewound them to watch them again.
Only problem with this is a 10 minute or so part where there's confusing talk going on with Carter and Dejah Thoris (Collins' character) where they use these Martian terms, which I was going "wait, what does ___ mean? And ____? Dammit, I can’t remember; oh, who cares, just get to another action sequence".
Disney must've been out of their minds to shell out a reported $250,000,000 to fund this, then barely have any advertising for it, making only $73,000,000 here (OUCH). It did a bit better elsewhere, making $284,000,000, but considering with grosses where theatres get half that money this was a flop. After all, you’re looking at their target audience being people who read the books (God knows how old their average age is, as I'll bet it's quite up there). Teens and kids would probably think it looks cool with the effects but the advertising just wasn't there. It’s a shame too, because this is a lot of fun unless you're just into more serious, way more accurate sci-fi like the Mars tv series, The Andromeda Strain or Children of Men, but then, you wouldn't still be reading this if that's what you prefer.
If you want to give your brain a vacation for two hours and have a lot of fun (again, the dog!) I give this one a 7 out of 10. It actually has a pretty good ending too, with the final text onscreen, leading it to two sequels (as originally planned) that, unfortunately, will never come to be. But then, how the hell do you follow up with this anyway?
(top center, background) I love the way the ships look (and sound!)
Arrrrr, the first striking appearance of Lynn Collins (another drool-worthy photo of her can be seen here, although John's also in it [not that I care])
THAT'S a dvd? Thanks for telling me, I thought it was an 8-track!
Decades later, a film adaption was created by Disney and released in 2012, being a gigantic popcorn movie with amazing special effects.
Even though a solid two hours long, this gets right to the action with barely any background with how Mars is dying, as we all know it's mostly dry (nowadays; this actually took place in the late 1800s). Martians from two opposing cities have been at war for years until one fateful day the leader of one airship (being updated from having bamboo to looking like half the ship is made of colorful solar panels) gets greeted by several beings that give him a powerful weapon (saying he was chosen by the goddess) to turn the tide of war.
Meanwhile back on Earth in Virginia, John Carter (played by Taylor Kitsch) is minding his own business when he gets approached by several of his fellow officers whom he served with in the military/battle. Due to the South being involved in many wars over the years, they try to bring him back into their command (if I recall correctly). Due to already serving and not wanting to follow the orders of his superior since he's a real pig, there's several brief hilarious scenes where they try to drag Carter back to combat but he keeps on escaping.
With one final escape, Carter ends up in some caves deep in Indian territory where he (somehow) comes across a dying Martian (if there was a reason on how he made it to Earth, I don't recall) who gives him a medallion that transports him to Mars. Due to the gravity being lighter, Carter can jump and deal out punches way more powerful than man or Martian alive (actually there's two types of Martians over there, one being humanoid and the others being like nine feet tall cgi creatures).
At first the nine feet tall Martians are amazed, then become wary of him, then the human Martians view him as a savior for their war. John's not thrilled about either side and wants back to Earth initially.
I'd heard that this movie actually wasn't bad and was glad to find it on dvd months ago, even though there's barely any back story and it's a lot of action (not that that's bad in itself as long as its done right, I'm just pointing it out). The special effects are great and I'm surprised this wasn't nominated for an Academy Award for Sound Editing, but then I don't know what actually made the nominations for that category that year. On one side of the fence, Carter spends the majority of his time in the movie without a shirt, but on the other side, this lady named Lynn Collins (I only know her from the X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie) makes a really striking-looking love interest, along with the costumes being pretty good (both the human Martians and Earth humans), along with the tattoos on the human Martians (not much into tattoos in real life but they looked cool here). Acting is adequate to good for the most part, although Carter mostly just grimaces through the movie as he goes from one hardship to the other, not knowing what he's doing or coming to terms as a Martian leader, never smiling once, I don't believe.
One thing I was pretty surprised at was how...damn...FUNNY this movie is. From Carter's escapes early on to meeting the first Martian:
Carter: What the
Martian (at the same time): ...hell are you?
to a line near the end of "thank God that's over with" (which might've been voiced by Willem Dafoe), making one of several twists of the movie (another surprise to me) to a very funny dog, there were quite a few scenes I had a very big laugh over and rewound them to watch them again.
Only problem with this is a 10 minute or so part where there's confusing talk going on with Carter and Dejah Thoris (Collins' character) where they use these Martian terms, which I was going "wait, what does ___ mean? And ____? Dammit, I can’t remember; oh, who cares, just get to another action sequence".
Disney must've been out of their minds to shell out a reported $250,000,000 to fund this, then barely have any advertising for it, making only $73,000,000 here (OUCH). It did a bit better elsewhere, making $284,000,000, but considering with grosses where theatres get half that money this was a flop. After all, you’re looking at their target audience being people who read the books (God knows how old their average age is, as I'll bet it's quite up there). Teens and kids would probably think it looks cool with the effects but the advertising just wasn't there. It’s a shame too, because this is a lot of fun unless you're just into more serious, way more accurate sci-fi like the Mars tv series, The Andromeda Strain or Children of Men, but then, you wouldn't still be reading this if that's what you prefer.
If you want to give your brain a vacation for two hours and have a lot of fun (again, the dog!) I give this one a 7 out of 10. It actually has a pretty good ending too, with the final text onscreen, leading it to two sequels (as originally planned) that, unfortunately, will never come to be. But then, how the hell do you follow up with this anyway?
(top center, background) I love the way the ships look (and sound!)
Arrrrr, the first striking appearance of Lynn Collins (another drool-worthy photo of her can be seen here, although John's also in it [not that I care])
THAT'S a dvd? Thanks for telling me, I thought it was an 8-track!