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Action, Adventure, Science Fiction 132 min PG-13
Rotten Tomatoes52%Metacritic51IMDb
Lost in our world, found in another.
John Carter is a war-weary, former military captain who's inexplicably transported to the mysterious and exotic planet of Barsoom (Mars) and reluctantly becomes embroiled in an epic conflict. It's a world on the brink of collapse, and Carter rediscovers his humanity when he realizes the survival of Barsoom and its people rests in his hands.
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Epic, unpretentious, resolved and nostalgic.
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Written by TMDB members; each links to the original. Not part of Taste Buds's numbers.
**_Overstuffed story is entertaining Sci-Fi/adventure with good cast and spectacular visuals_** The eponymous 19th century character (Taylor Kitsch) is mysteriously projected to Mars, where he encounters a tribe of tall green creatures with four arms and a beautiful princess (Lynn Collins). He's subsequently caught in a war between left and right factions of the planet. Sab Than (Dominic West) is the leader of the red faction and wants to marry the princess while a mysterious race seems to manipulate things in the background. This is a dense and entertaining adventure/fantasy based on Edgar Rice Borroughs' "A Princess of Mars" from 1912 with bits from subsequent ones in the series. The visuals, sets, props, costuming, cast, locations and so on are top-of-the-line and often spectacular. Kitsch and Collins, for example, are stunning examples of masculinity and beauty respectively. What's more, there's some quality mindfood to mine, like Matai Shang's comment to Carter that every world they're involved with has the same conflict of extremes (red vs. blue, right vs. left) and the Therns "manage" it. They tend to stay in the shadows cultivating controlled chaos through manipulating the
Read the whole review on TMDBDad raised us on what he lovingly called "Pulp Trash Novels" and that carried over to adult life where they are proudly displayed along side academic books. Actually they take the top shelf. So, walking into this I was scared and unfortunately I had every right to be. Now I am fine with artistic licenses, I wasn't expecting it to be exactly like any of the books. But I was expecting it to at least follow the source material a little, something more than just the names. In short, I was expecting a John Carter movie in more than just name only. And, frankly, this didn't even feel like a movie based on pulp adventure novels, which for me was a key point, it could take all the liberties it wanted so long as it still played out like a pulp adventure novel. Unfortunately, it fell short on this. And, to make it even worse, it was boring. If you like the source material, if you like adventure for really the sake of adventure and escapism, then stay away, stay far, far away.
Read the whole review on TMDBUnfulfilled potential, still narrowly liked it. <em>'John Carter'</em> can feel underdeveloped and underwhelming, you could even argue it aimed to replicate <em>'Avatar'</em>, but there's enough there that allowed me to find a fair amount of enjoyment. Taylor Kitsch is alright, I rate him, but a more convincing lead performance was necessary in my opinion. The rest of the cast, despite some well known names, fail to deliver anything noteworthy. Willem Dafoe works as Tars Tarkas, though only due to his distinctive voice; none of his dialogue etc. stand outs. The likes Samantha Morton, Mark Strong and Bryan Cranston give forgettable performances; arguably not their fault. The premise has all the possibilities to be great, sadly the film fails to make their mark with it. The ending is extremely rushed, even for a 132 minute production. Visually it's good, but that's one of very few plus points - I haven't got many truth be told, but anything less than a 7* feels harsh.
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