John Carter

Rating: 4 1/2 Shurikens

Disney reportedly spent 250 million dollars on this adaptation of the Edgar Rice Burroughs classic, John Carter. Burroughs was the author of the original Tarzan books, which spawned numerous movies, comic books, paperbacks, a TV show, and even a Disney cartoon. John Carter was the subject of some science-fiction fantasy novels, but I remember it most from the comic book adaptation done by Marvel in the 70's. When I heard it was coming, I had to go see it.

John Carter is an entertaining story, certainly worth the amount of money Disney spent on it. Carter, played by Taylor Kitsch, is a civil war veteran who, while searching for gold, finds himself on Mars. At the time when he arrives, Mars is inhabited by several races of beings: Humanoids, very much like humans, make up two factions warring for control of the planet, while a monstrous race of twelve-foot savage creatures called Tharks eke out an existence of there own on the barren world. Not surprisingly, Mars is portrayed as a desert planet. The politics are complicated by a third race, the Thern, very human, but also somewhat supernatural and also immortal. This third race seems to enjoy fomenting conflict between the human factions, for reasons unknown.

The main romantic interest is a beautiful woman named Dejah Thoris, played by Lynn Collins, who was in X-Men Origins: Wolverine as Kayla Silverfox. Thoris has discovered some sort of energy source, which is used by the opposing human faction, the Zodanga, to cause death and destruction on her side, known as Helium. Nobody will listen to her, because she has been promised to the enemy leader as a tribute to end the war, and since Helium is mostly losing the war, her own father is willing to marry her off and surrender.

The movie begins near the end, with Carter evading someone in the rain, as he gets in touch with his lawyers and his relative, Edgar Rice Burroughs. It seems he has died and left Edgar in charge of his estate. The journal he left tells the whole story of how he was searching for gold in the Indian territories of the Old West, but the Army is truying to press him into service to help quell Indian uprisings. He refuses to join, and is jailed, but escapes, and kidnaps the Army Captain who commands the troops in the area.

While fleeing the Army, with his captive, he discovers the cave he has been looking for. Inside there is gold, but a strange being appears, and not expecting to see anyone, attacks Carter with a knife. Carter is too fast, and kills the stranger with his gun. The stranger drops a blue glowing amulet. If you haven't guessed already, this is the way he gets to Mars.

When he arrives, he discovers that he can jump really high, and is also quite strong. The difference in gravity apparently gives him quite a bit of strength relative to the natives of Mars. He meets the Tharks first, who he makes friends with, as he impresses them with his abilities. At first, he is clumsy and quite comical. Soon, he is invited into their community.

There is quite a bit of interpersonal drama between the different Tharks, which helps make the movie interesting from the beginning. Carter starts out on the right side, but his lack of understanding causes some difficulty, and he comes out on the wrong side later on. A huge dog-like creature, which is extremely fast and a pet of the Tharks, takes a liking to Carter, and turns up at different times to add some humor to the story.
Tars Tarkus is the leader of the Tharks, and is played by Willem Dafoe, who is probably best known for his role in the Spider-Man trilogy of the early 21st century, playing Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin. Sola is the Thark that Carter is given to, played by Samantha Morton, who played the precog Agatha in Minority Report. Thomas Hayden Church, who played Sandman in Spiderman 3 is Tal Hajus, the next leader of the Tharks, also quite anxious to take over. The Tharks are all twelve feet tall, and have four arms, so there is a lot of computer-generated content, and the actors are not that easy to recognize.

At some point, he encounters the warring factions, as the Zodanga are attacking the forces of Helium. He gets involved in the battle, and meets Dejah Thoris for the first time. The people of Mars, which they call Barsoom, have flying ships as transportation. She falls from one, as they are battling, and Carter rescues her as she is falling.

Her father is ready to make peace by marrying her off, and she is trying to rally the troops on her side to keep fighting. Meanwhile, the Thern known as Matai Shang, has been helping in the war effort be giving the Zodangans access to a secret technology to use as a weapon. The Thern are pushing for the marriage of the Zodanga leader to Dejah Thoris, coinciding with an eclipse of Mars' 2 moons. Matai Shang is played by Mark Strong, who has been in quite a few good movies, such as Kick Ass, Green Lantern, and Sherlock Holms. Most of the time he is a villain, and he is a good one.

 John Carter has a lot of the excitement of the Star Wars prequel, The Phantom Menace. The Barsoomian airships are much like the speeder races, and the Tharks are quite like Jar Jar Binks, but John Carter does so much better by not making the Tharks completely ridiculous. The dog creature is aimed straight at little kids, and the rest is pure sci-fi, with the talent of a great writer of nearly a century ago.All in all, it is a great package. Long, at over 2 hours, epic, with lots of action, and even some really interesting plot twists near the end, I give it 4.5 Shurikens.