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John Carter ReviewThe Journey to Barsoom Has Begun
Since its publication more than 100 years ago, many science-fiction writers and filmmakers have been heavily influenced by Edgar Rice Burroughs’ novel A Princess of Mars. Finally, after legal troubles and many failed scripts, Burroughs’ story has found its way to Disney and the silver screen. However,, whether or not this was a smart investment remains to be seen
The film follows Civil War soldier John Carter (Kitsch) as he finds himself on Mars, or Barsoom as the natives of the planet refer to it, by using an ancient artifact he found in a cave. In his adventure, he meets the alien leader Tars Tarkas (Dafoe) and humanoid Mars princess Dejah Thoris (Collins) who ask for his help to fight the nation of Zodanga. The plot has influenced many science-fiction works, including James Cameron’s Avatar and and George Lucas’ Star Wars saga. That being said, the entire film is very original for its time but has been surpassed by these many other great works. The world of Barsoom and its natives are highly creative and makes the technical crew shine. The visual effects are marvelous and the CGI for the aliens give James Cameron a run for his money. Unfortunately, the 3D is not noteworthy and forgettable very quickly after the beginning of the film.
All of the acting is mediocre, except that of Willem Dafoe, who did not give his best performance, but he does manage to outshine the cast. Throughout the film, the audience will fail to connect with the characters and their struggles until the last scenes.. The ending sets up the sequel, The Gods of Mars, in a very intelligent fashion that was not in the original source material. The soundtrack was lackluster and hardly made an appeal to emotion or improved any scenes.
As many analysts will say, John Carter is a major gamble of Disney’s money due to audience’s lack of interest in science-fiction stories. Being an almost unknown franchise, I fear for the overall gross of the film and I am more than certain it will hardly show a return of its $250 million budget. The film really depends on the person watching and their interest in sci-fi storytelling. I really wanted to like John Carter more than I did, but I have no interest to return for another viewing
Rating: 7/10
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