Walt Disney Pictures invited me and some of my blogger friends for the advance screening of "John Carter" which was formerly titled "John Carter of Mars".
And if you do not know who's in it here are the cast members - Taylor Kitsch as Captain John "Virginia" Carter, Lynn Collins as the stunningly beautiful Dejah Thoris, Willem Dafoe lends his voice as the Thark Jeddak (chief/king/ruler/emperor/mayor) Tars Tarkas, Dominic West from the Wire as Sab Than and Mark Strong as Matai Shang.
Here's the trailer provided by our friends from Walt Disney Studios
Also just to decrease my bounce rate, check out the film's first 10 minutes
Anyway yes, let us welcome the latest action hero from Disney in the form of Captain John Carter who was the creation of Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs in 1912 through pulp serial form.
Kitsch plays the role of Captain John Carter, a former soldier who accidentally gets transported to the planet Mars (which is known as Barsoom). It is there that he meets interesting people and encounters who beautiful Dejah Thoris who was escaping the marriage with baddie Sab Than (West) which was arranged by her father and secretly by
That's just the plot for the first half of this gigantic epic.
Now what's truly amazing about the live adaptation of John Carter is the fact that Taylor Kitsch actually showed that he was born for the part. The guy who played Gambit definitely showed that he can do action. Not too much drama but tons of action? Hell yeah. The guy was good i'll tell you that but if you've ever seen an episode of "Friday Night Lights" you'll know he can do better.
While the ladies would love to see John Carter in action, us guys are happy and content seeing Dejah Thoris played by actress Lynn Collins. Thoris was an adventurer and a warrior and a "professor" in Carter's own definition. Yes, if you really want to see Dejah Thoris in glorious high definition, you really should catch the film in a nearby SM IMAX theater near you.
I honestly have a lot of things to say about this movie. For one, I'd like to say that I totally enjoyed this flick. THOROUGHLY. As in from start to finish everything in my eyes was good and everything was fresh. Even what others saw as the weaker parts of the movie, was entertaining and highly spectacular for me. Bonus points that we saw this film on IMAX making it totally immersive.
The film's plot was a good mix as well. You've got romance, action, a bit of drama and a dash of comedy. It's good that the director, Andrew Stanton, decided to go and tell a classic science-fiction story without having the need to sacrifice too much nor alienate modern viewers. After all, this isn't the early 1900s so things have changed a lot.
Some of the things that I really loved in the movie are the following:
- Tars Tarkas in my opinion was one of the coolest and honorable characters in the movie. Although some bits were altered to fit the film adaptation, its nice to know that this four armed chieftain and warrior survived the adaptation with very minimal changes done to his backstory. Plus we also get to meet a Thark that's heavy on acting chops as Willem Dafoe voices the CGI heavy character.
- The Airships that were used on Barsoom were pretty awesome. I could've sworn it looked familiar and then I realized that these airships were very similar to the sand skiffs used in "Star Wars Episode VI - Return of the Jedi".
- The Thark Coliseum battle was also the meanest and greatest looking scenes in the movie. Totally worth the wait.
- Taylor Kitsch was good and despite the controversy his name has been stirring up in recent times, it should be noted that the guy was totally a good choice to play the role of this legendary sci-fi icon. While we still has those cajun charms of his when he played the role of Gambit its good to know that he's moving out of his supporting character role and starting to branch out and become a leading man in his own right.
It's fitting to note that John Carter was the first and the opening shot for the summer blockbuster movies coming our this year. In hindsight, without the character and his colorful cast of characters we wouldn't probably be seeing any of the high caliber Science Fiction stuff we've grown up on such as Star Wars and Star Trek to the retro-esque Flash Gordon.
Overall, John Carter is the kind of movie that you'd definitely bring your whole family in (not just the kids who are too young to understand, just let them watch Dora or other Disney stuff on cable). It's got the nobility and majesty of an old world science fiction story paired with cutting edge movie making technology.
Disney made such a good investment in getting this epic motion picture going despite previous problems. I would not be surprised to see a sequel in the works for this franchise nor would I be surprised if this is going to be this generation's Star Wars.
There were quite a few pitfalls in the movie but I shall never go that part because for one, it has always been my motto to just focus on the good stuff and secondly, well who cares about the negative technicalities, come on guys, its a movie. John Carter is a pretty solid movie and a pretty damn enjoyable one to boot.
So stop reading this review and starting walking towards your car as John Carter opens March 9 and is available in regular cinemas as well as in 3D and in SM IMAX theaters.
Special thanks once again to Walt Disney Studios for everything. Please like Disney Studios' facebook page to win cool prizes and other exciting giveaways.
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