marcicat | movie review: John Carter

1. If this movie had been called “GAMBIT ON MARS” I think it would have been much more popular.

[1a. I cannot explain how I ended up watching two movies with Taylor Kitsch in them in a row (Battleship, John Carter). But he did also play Gambit in Wolverine (the Origins one).]

2. This movie was like a cross between ‘Avatar’ and ‘Cowboys and Aliens,’ but took itself WAAAAAY less seriously.

3. It also seemed to struggle with the differences in time periods. The book was written in 1917 — a time when I’m guessing it was culturally more acceptable for the dude in your sci-fi novel to be an insensitive jerk. But the movie was made in 2012, when (I hope!) we expect our spacefaring dudes to exhibit a little more cultural awareness. The character of John Carter seemed to try to give nods to both of these expectations, which unfortunately made him come across as slightly unbalanced.

4. I enjoyed it more than I expected! It reminded me of the SciFi channel Flash Gordon series (wikipedia tells me this aired in 2007), which I kept finding myself watching even though I wasn’t entirely sure why.

5. Wikipedia also tells me that the movie was originally going to be called ‘John Carter of Mars.’ Which makes a LOT more sense. (Alternately, ‘John Carter of Earth,’ if they were feeling positive about a sequel.) ‘John Carter’ wins the prize as the most forgettable movie name of the year.

6. I would love to read ALL THE FIC about Princess Dejah and Kantos Kan having adventures (and, according to the books, raising a child!) in the years John Carter was back on Earth.

Mirrored from The Marci Rating System.