John Carter

[Impact]

Review, Discuss and Have Fun!

[75Live]

I saw this last night. I had hopes that it would be better than it was, but for me, it didn't live up to those hopes.

It is a decent/average movie that I am sure some will enjoy, but really I just had the feeling of nothing mattered. It played like a storyboard to me, just going from one scene to another with no attachment to anything.

It is a visually pleasing movie. I can't argue with the CGI, as it is very good. Although, the 3D was non-existent so I would say skip that.

The best part of the movie was the "dog". Those that see it will know what I mean.

I would say a B-/C+

[ddddeeee]

I loved Dejah, adored the score and thought the visuals were pretty nifty.But I didn't understand the movie much at all. Kitch is crap and his 'St Crispians Day' speech had me facepalming.C-.

Edited March 9, 2012 by ddddeeee

[kayumanggi]

JOHN CARTER

SM North Edsa LIEMAX (50% Full) | Quezon City | The Philippines

Trailers:

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN | chatter

MEN IN BLACK lll | a few laughs

- missed the others -

Though the film's humor, visuals and score are undeniably amazing, they're

not enough to compensate for the confusing plot and mediocre acting.

07.70 | 10.00

Edited March 11, 2012 by kayumanggi

[druv10]

C. Could have been so much better.

[CoolioD1]

I guess I liked the scene where he was killing all those green dudes and it kelt cutting to him burying his wife and kid. That was a well put together scene. I liked the music in that bit and it was the only time I was properly interested.The rest was a bore though. The action felt totally uninspired, the characters were bland and anyone actually trying to give a good performance was undermined by all the awful, awful dialogue they had to deliver. I don't know, those who were saying Stanton was in over his head are probably right. D+

[ddddeeee]

I guess I liked the scene where he was killing all those green dudes and it kelt cutting to him burying his wife and kid. That was a well put together scene. I liked the music in that bit and it was the only time I was properly interested.

I liked that scene too, but it rivals Green Lantern for the most random placing of a flashback.

[AniNate]

Plenty of things to like about this movie, but also a lot of mind-numbingly stupid things about it too

 

The good:

- A lot of people criticized the multiple prologues, but I thought they were handled well

- Woola. 'Nuff said

- Most of the action sequences were exciting and finely directed, especially the wedding climax

- The humor was on-target and showed an obvious Pixar influence

- Visuals were solid

 

The bad:

- John Carter's character was terribly written. He's apparently so stupid that he doesn't realize he's on another planet until long after he discovers he can jump great lengths and meets green-skinned bipeds with tusks (the guy behind me laughed when he finally asked "I'm on Mars?"). And I never bought for a second that Dejah would fall for him as he's pretty much a complete jerk for the first hour of the film. The wife/kid backstory was also really hamhanded.

- Very noticeable editing/VFX shortcuts in the ape fight. How did Carter's chain grow to double the length and wrap around one of the apes after just one jump?

- The jumping ability was inconsistent. Some times Carter can only jump ten feet in the air when standing and other times he can jump a hundred. I don't know if the book had this problem but I know it was a problem on screen.

- Just about all the supporting characters were thinly developed.

 

So honestly, yes, I expected a lot more from Stanton considering his passion for this material and I find some of the flaws in this film mind-boggling, but a terrific finale left me feeling satisfied by the end. It's not what I was hoping for, but I think it's still worth seeing

 

B-

Edited January 17, 2016 by tribefan695

[CJohn]

Is the ending opened to a sequel (Sorcerers Apprentice, The Three Musketeers) or closed (The Girl With a Dragon Tattoo, Prince of Persia)??

Edited March 11, 2012 by CJohn

[AniNate]

Well, the film is based on the first book in a series, so of course the ending leaves room for a sequel.

[CJohn]

PoP is based on the first game in a series but the ending is closed. Same with The Girl With a Dragon Tattoo.

[AniNate]

Hmm, well I haven't seen either of the two movies you contrasted Dragon Tattoo with so I'm not sure how to answer your question.I'd say it's similar to the ending of A New Hope: All the loose ends are tied up but there's still a formidable threat out there.

Edited March 11, 2012 by tribefan695

[CJohn]

Hmmm. Ok, thanks. :)I don't have anymore likes today

[Gopher]

It has some honest to god virtues that you won't see in a standard crappy tentpole. Some scenes are thoughtfully composed, particularly the action, which there's a surprising lack of (seriously, there were three small battle scenes and the white ape fight). Stanton's sense of wonder periodically shines through in the movie.

The rest is boring, poorly acted (Kitsch looks fantastic but he can't do much but talk in a grumbly voice), poorly paced and unnecessarily confusing. There's nothing at the center here. Why should I care about John Carter? Being the 'hero' of the story doesn't count. It looks like (I really couldn't tell) in one scene he was burying his wife. Okay, that's good, but they don't do anything with it. He keeps talking about going back to that 'cave of gold'... is that it? It's that what's supposed to keep the audience's attention before he starts supporting that 'cause' which is also never really fully explained? He's a complete blank sheet of a protagionist, and when the other humans are upstaged by Woola and the giant green aliens... well, you've got a problem.

After the review slaughter this week, this is more or less what I was expecting, so, yeah.

C

[AniNate]

I'm not blaming Kitsch for his performance. He pretty much acted the way the script called for him to act.

[PoeticProse22]

This was a pretty good film. It had a classic adventure feel throughout that was thoroughly enjoyable. It tends to lose some wonder and energy going into the last third of the film due to the rushed nature of it. The acting throughout was decent, but inconsistent, particularly from Kitsch, who was much better in FNL. Of course, a large part of that could have been the lack of substantial character development and the occasionally messy script. The action is often breathtaking though, and the score by Giacchino is phenomenal.

It's a shame the marketing was so terrible, because this is the best film of the year so far, and definitely left me with the impression that a sequel with a more focused script and a more confident Stanton could have made for a very improved second entry.

Overall, an entertainingly good film that has some nagging problems throughout that restrain it from ever becoming great.

7.4/10

[Warhorse]

Plenty of things to like about this movie, but also a lot of mind-numbingly stupid things about it too

The good:

- A lot of people criticized the multiple prologues, but I thought they were handled well

- Woola. 'Nuff said

- Most of the action sequences were exciting and finely directed, especially the wedding climax

- The humor was on-target and showed an obvious Pixar influence

- Visuals were solid

The bad:

- John Carter's character was terribly written. He's apparently so stupid that he doesn't realize he's on another planet until long after he discovers he can jump great lengths and meets green-skinned bipeds with tusks (the guy behind me audibly laughed when he finally asked "I'm on Mars?"). And I never bought for a second that Dejah would fall for him as he's pretty much a complete jerk for the first hour of the film. The wife/kid backstory was also really hamhanded.

- Very noticeable editing/VFX shortcuts in the ape fight. How did Carter's chain grow to double the length and wrap around one of the apes after just one jump?

- The jumping ability was inconsistent. Some times Carter can only jump ten feet in the air when standing and other times he can jump a hundred. I don't know if the book had this problem but I know it was a problem on screen.

- Just about all the supporting characters were thinly developed.

So honestly, yes, I expected a lot more from Stanton considering his passion for this material and I find some of the flaws in this film mind-boggling, but a terrific finale left me feeling satisfied by the end. It's not what I was hoping for, but I think it's still worth seeing

B-

I keep seeing this in the complaints department, but how would he know he was on another planet???????? Maybe a different demension, but what was there to tell him he was on an entire planet alltogether?

Well, I gave it a solid B. I followed the story just fine, the action was great, and I liked it how the girl was such an ass kicker. And the Mars dog, what a wonderful creature. Now John Carter, he seemed to me like the anti hero, kind of like Mal from Firefly, but despite his quoting that he don't fight for no cause, he does show he will when times call for it. And I liked how the villain was a sneaky little bastard, always changing his disguise so you didn't know who he was. There were some scenes that dragged, but overall, I was entertained.

Edited March 12, 2012 by Warhorse

[AniNate]

Huh?I'll just repeat what I said before: The jumping and the green tusked bipeds should've clued him in. In the book he knows immediately that he's on Mars, which isn't completely believable either but it should not have taken him as long as it did in the film to realize it.

Edited March 12, 2012 by tribefan695

[Totem]

I enjoyed it. Good action/adventure story put together relatively well and held together by a mixture of different interesting characters.Could have been alot more epic, coherent and directed in general.B

[BK007]

Back from John Carter. I can say it's not a bad movie, but it is very, very problematic.For all the emphasis on story, it really lacks here. I found the first half of the movie absolutely terrible, everything on Earth and for a little way into Mars/Helium as well as the end, which, for fuck's sake, why the hell would you throw away the bloody medallion?I really liked the middle although it sometimes made no sense. It basically took you along for a ride, seeing the world and was very well done visually. The acting is much better than I expected but really, the story, is quite a letdown. Many leaps in logic or unexplained events, sure I could ignore that there were green aliens suddenly at Issus and whatnot but I think there should be more coherency in general.Furthermore, there were so many scenes "seen before" ,sure it inspired everything, but it felt familiar in many ways. I'm not sure if that's making it better or worse in my eyes. Also John Carter is a bit bland for a protagonist as well, like Gopher said, he doesn't really need to go back to Earth, in fact, that entire part of the storyline is crap. Stanton may have wanted to be faithful to the books but as a motive it doesn't work. In fact, maybe it's just me, but surely there's a more inventive way to film Western scenes? It looked awful and was boring throughout here and after the debacle that was C&A. Heh.I would not be opposed to a sequel although that would never happen. Stanton, for all he brings, is too involved to make it work, since this didn't really.