After watching John Carter I have come to the conclusion the marketing department at Disney botched things up. As an adaptation of the first John Carter book, A Princess Of Mars the film John Carter changes things up a bit but captures the essence and spirit of the book, and stays true to many of the plot elements.
John Carter is an ex-confederate soldier, disillusioned with causes. While prospecting in Arizona he is confronted by the U.S. Calvary who attempts to get him to enlist, based on his reputation, as there is major ongoing conflict with the Apache occurring. Carter resists and resists, eventually escaping, finding his way into a cave where even the Apache fear to follow. This winds up being a gateway to Barsoom – or Mars.
There are sequences that bookend the film set in New York City, and these wind up being perhaps the weakest portion of the film. John Carter starts out in New York City, then flashes back to Arizona, then takes a little while before finally arriving on Mars. By the time John Carter (the character) arrives back on Earth, we have almost all but forgotten the opening sequence.
As a character, we learn why Carter (Taylor Kitcsh) is disillusioned, and this is handled very well. We understand his attraction to Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins), and her particular predicament is classic – betrothed to the enemy leader to bring peace to warring nations. While the overall plotting may not be original, there is enough originality in the characters and setting to make the film enjoyable. We know the two are going to end up together, the question is how. We know the bad guys are going to be defeated, but it’s fun to watch them going down.
I don’t quite understand what Disney’s marketing department was thinking. No, John Carter isn’t a great landmark in science fiction, but it’s a solid action adventure set on Mars. By dropping “Of Mars” from the title, it is implied John Carter is a character piece. By having Taylor Kitsch in the title role, somebody with little star power, the perception of a character piece didn’t help. Don’t get me wrong, Kitsch does fine in the role, but emphasis in the trailers on his character and less of the action and exotic location were detrimental. And having too much of the “martian dog” creature in the preview clips made it look much more cute. I actually expected to see a lot more of the creature in the film than I did. It was handled well, but its presence in the trailers was misleading.
Special features are plentiful, starting off with an audio commentary by Andrew Stanton and a couple of producers. They go over the making of the film and might be too technical for some, but it isn’t overly “nuts and bolts” tech heavy. The Disney Second Screen is present, but you have to watch the film with a laptop or tablet synched up. I just want a picture in picture track with the ability to toggle which screen is which (like, putting the movie in the smaller picture). The second screen actually detracts from the overall experience for me and my wife and kids hate it and won’t look at it. A few deleted scenes in various states of finish are available with optional commentary, along with s couple minutes of bloopers. A (too) short look at the career of Edgar Rice Burroughs and 30-some minute featurette looking at the making of John Carter round out the offerings.
Like The Rocketeer or Prince Of Persia, John Carter didn’t make the money the studio wanted (but it didn’t flop), and it looks as if the planned sequels are not going to happen. It’s a shame, really, because the film itself is quite fun. Sure there is a lack of big-name stars anchoring the leads, and the Earth-bound bits drag, but they don’t detract from the overall sense of fun John Carter is. This is a classic action adventure film, and if you can’t get into that, then don’t bother.