Review Tuesday: JOHN CARTER

I used to know a woman who was obsessed with Deja Thoris. She   told me that Deja Thoris was a stunningly beautiful red-skinned warrior Princess of Mars who wore no clothes but did wear jewelry and other adornments. This woman, however, never explained to me what this Princess of Mars was from. Recently, one of my best friends mentioned the forthcoming movie JOHN CARTER and was surprised that I had no idea about it. He told me it was based on the works by science fiction writer Edgar Rice Burroughs and that I should consider giving the books a shot. See my review of THE PRINCESS OF MARS HERE. I was also about halfway through the second book, THE GODS OF MARS at the time I went to see the movie. That book will be reviewed next week.

Over the last couple months there has been an advertising bombardment for JOHN CARTER. With each new clip and trailer, it looked better and better. Then something wonderful happened. I got tickets for an advance screening on March 1st at the AMC Theater in Times Square. So, for a change, I get to put out a comprehensive review BEFORE the movie opens up wide!

The review...

JOHN CARTER is a 3D Disney film with a budget of over $250 million dollars, so you know they went all out on this. The concept is this, John Carter, a Civil War Veteran is teleported from a cave in Arizona to Barsoom (Mars), a dying planet at war. He's the monkey wrench in the works of the powers that be. And, of course, he's motivated by his love for a Princess of Mars whom he only just met, Deja Thoris.

Barsoom is a very complex place. There's some amazing technology such as air ships of all sizes and capable of fantastic speed. They have guns that are more deadly than any on Earth at that time. Yet they dress like ancient Romans and mostly battle with swords and spears. Barsoom also has a very different atmosphere than the Earth. Less resistance in the thin air and lower gravity makes John Carter almost a super hero. His bones and muscles are tuned to the Earth, so he's capable of amazing physical feats, such as great strength and can leap far distances.

The special effects are excellent and seamless. The story works, makes sense and is enjoyable. It's visually stunning and fun to watch. At nearly 2 1/4 hours, you can be sure you get your ticket money's worth.

DEFINITELY WORTH SEEING!!! Get to it!

More on IMDB:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0401729/

THE FOLLOWING IS A REVIEW AS A FAN OF THE BOOK. BEWARE!

SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT!!!

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* In the book, A PRINCESS OF MARS, John Carter is magically transported from Earth to Mars and back when he died. In the movie they came up with an underlying Thern conspiracy that has them using talismans and portholes to jump from one planet to the next to engineer social decay and war.

* How John Carter came across the cave was a bit different in the movie, but was just fine.

* The Therns, who play a major role in the movie, had absolutely NO ROLE in the first book. Additionally, their powers are far beyond what Burroughs describes in The Gods of Mars.

* Much of the story is somewhat re-imagined and streamlined for the sake of simplifying the complex original story. For the most part, all the key points and characters are all in there. If it wasn't done this way, in my opinion, it would've been a tedious disjointed mess of battles leading to a cliff-hanger. At two and a quarter hours in this smoothed out version, this movie could've been a mini-series on it's own. I think Disney made the right move.  

* Taylor Kitsch was not what I pictured John Carter to look like. He references his short dark hair in the books, so seeing this long haired guy with an odd face in the role, I thought this guy would be better suited as Dracula. Kitsch surprised me and did a great job and really pulled it off well.

* When I first read that Lynn Collins would be playing the role of Deja Thoris, I was a bit disappointed. Deja Thoris was supposed to be the most stunning specimen of Martian femininity, so I always pictured her looking like a red skinned Megan Fox. However, I was pleasantly surprised at how well Collins played the role. She was beautiful, athletic, and very strong. She played the role very well.

• TRIVIA: Lynn Collins and Taylor Kitsch were, also, BOTH in X-Men Origins: Wolverine!

* The Green Men of Mars, didn't seem as warlike as they were depicted in the book. Originally they were always ready for war, with anyone, anytime. In the movie they shrugged off the war between the red men of Helium and Zodanga as none of their concern. In the book, they took every opportunity to open fire on either.

* The relationship between Tars Tarkas and Sola wasn't quite right. They reversed it in the movie, that Tarkas carried the burden of the secret of their relationship, that Sola was his daughter. But it really doesn't impact the plot at all.

* Don't worry about the PG-13 rating. There's a LOT of violence in this movie!

* The war between Helium and Zodanga was the theme throughout the movie, while it was only a an arc that ran over a couple chapters in the book.

* They went down the River Iss in the movie. The Iss didn't show up until the second book.

* The amount of time that Carter spent on Barsoom seemed substantially less than what was described in the book. In the book he lived as a Prince of Helium for some 10 years before he died trying to save Mars from being asphyxiated and was transported back to Earth. In the movie, it seemed like it was days, maybe weeks, tops. He still had his bruises from the final battle even!

* The movie is left wide open, in true Disney fashion, for a sequel. I'm not sure if they can really base it on the second book as they already completely redefined the role of the Therns in the grand scheme of things on Barsoom.

Despite the departures from the original book, I still liked it. I figure some adjustments had to be made to streamline things and create a smoother story. The differences didn't really hurt the story. Afterall, the underlying theme was really how John Carter was brought from the planet he was from to a planet he belonged on, and was destined to meet the great love of his life across the many miles of space. In the book, everything Carter did was out of love for Deja Thoris. I would say that, for the most part, it holds true in this movie.

As a fan of the book, I STILL liked it and I think fans should embrace this movie. It lives up to the legacy of 100 years of influencing science fiction.