Well, in case you didn’t see my reaction under the “What are you doing Right Now?” thread, I’ll sum it up in one word: Awesome!
For a more in-depth reaction, here are my thoughts:
I first read Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter books when I was 13. And they really captured my imagination. So I can see why so many Science Fiction writers and filmmakers have been so inspired by these stories. I had known for a long time that many people had been trying to get a cinematic version of John Carter off the ground, but it wasn’t until in the last decade with CGI that they could do it properly because it just would have been too expensive to make otherwise.
So when this movie came out after so many other attempts had fallen by the wayside, and that it turned out as good as it did, I was very, very happy. Everything I had imagined about what Barsoom looked like was up there on the screen…and in some cases better than I could imagine.
The cast was great. Taylor Kitsch was a very good John Carter. Also standouts were Willem DaFoe as Tars Tarkas, Samantha Morton as Sola, Polly Walker as Sarkoja, Thomas Haden Church as Tal Hajus, and James Purefoy as Kantos Kan.
But best of all was Lynn Collins as Dejah Thoris. For someone who in the books was little more than a damsel in distress; there just for Carter to rescue and long for, she brought so much more dimension to the character in this movie. Of course as in the books she was stunningly beautiful (she’s my official Sci-Fi pinup girl now since seeing this movie), but she’s also smart, brave, bold and can wield a sword and keep up with Carter. She’s definitely going to be the breakout star of this movie, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this opens some doors for her.
Also, John Carter’s “dog” Woola stole just about every scene he was in. Again, it was a case where his character was translated note-perfect from the books. I smiled every time I saw him and Carter together on the screen. You could feel that affection Burroughs described so well in the books.
And of course, the action scenes were top notch. Burroughs had a knack for describing these action setpieces that cried out to be realized on screen, and the movie did them all very well. I think the emotional high point was where Carter and Woola take on the whole tribe of Warhoons. I won’t give away spoilers, but it’s a pretty powerful scene.
I was disappointed, then, to hear the movie only took in $30 million on opening weekend in the states (although I hear it did much better overseas with $70 million). It’s a real shame. But on the other hand both critics and audiences are loving this movie, saying that in some ways it’s even better than Avatar! I can only blame the disinterested marketing Disney gave it, with a generic-sounding title and no toy line to support it. I understand they didn’t want to have “…of Mars” in the title because their last movie set on Mars, Mars Needs Moms, flopped (apparently the fact that it was just simply a bad movie never occurred to them) and that they didn’t want to title it after the first book, A Princess of Mars, because they thought boys wouldn’t want to see a Disney movie with the word “princess” in it (although Dejah Thoris kicks the butt of every so-called Pincess in the Disney pantheon, IMO).
Disney, however, seems to have more tolerance for movies that are mild successes, though (they’re going ahead with Tron 3 after all), so maybe we’ll eventually get the other two books to make a trilogy. I’m sure it’ll make its money back with help from overseas grosses and DVD and Blu-Ray sales. But really, this movie needs all the support it can get. So please, go see it. And see it more than once, because that’s what I’m planning to do as I liked it that much. And do it before The Hunger Games comes out, because that’s unquestionably going to be number 1 on its opening weekend.
I can’t stress this enough. The John Carter stories are where everything we see in Science Fiction and Fantasy all came from. Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Avatar and even Thundercats all owe a debt to it. It deserves to do well. As a longtime fan, I loved the hell out of this movie. That should be recommendation enough. So again, go see it!