I didn’t see John Carter on its opening weekend, but now I wish I had. I watched it last week with the wife and kids, and I’m disappointed that such a great movie was considered a box office failure. I think the blame has to lay with the marketing department, because it certainly doesn’t lay with the filmmakers, who did a fine job of creating a planetary romance movie with something for everyone in it. Why they changed the title from John Carter of Mars to just John Carter is baffling. I’m not even sure what they were hoping to accomplish with that move. Maybe they’ll make a movie soon called Jimmy Wilson. I’m sure it’ll pull a lot of ticket sales at the box office.
If you’re not familiar with the premise, John Carter is the story of a Civil War veteran who is whisked away as if by magic (or by super-technology, the difference doesn’t matter) to Mars, where he becomes involved in a war between some of the various natives there, including one tribe of Martians who prefer to stay neutral.
The movie is based on the book A Princess of Mars, which was written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, who also authored the Tarzan novels. Eleven books in the “Barsoom” series, as these Mars books are called, were published, so there’s ample opportunity for multiple sequels. (Barsoom is what the native Martians call their own planet.)
Taylor Kitsch stars as John Carter. Most people will recognize him as the guy who played Tim Riggins on the excellent television show Friday Night Lights. His character in this movie is considerably older and wiser than Riggins, though, and Kitsch does a great job of pulling it off. 20 or 30 years ago I could have seen someone like Harrison Ford in the role of John Carter, but Taylor Kitsch does a fine job. I think if I had cast the movie, I would have gone with someone a little older and dirtier looking–maybe Josh Holloway. That’s just wishful thinking, though–not a complaint.
One of my favorite things about John Carter is that the Princess is a great role model for little girls. I was afraid she’d be this “damsel in distress” character, but she holds her own with a sword even better than Carter does, and she’s got a strong personality. She’s also a professor, so besides being very competent, she’s also educated. She’s gorgeous, too, but that’s to be expected of any movie star from the United States. (The Brits are the only ones with the courage to cast actors and actresses who aren’t quite “beautiful” as main characters on television shows and movies.)
The wife and kids weren’t exactly overjoyed at the choice in movies. I think they wanted to see The Lorax instead, but I’ve seen such terrible reviews of that one, and the other movies made from Dr. Seuss books have been so bad, that I really wanted to avoid that one. And I also want to support this genre and this kind of movie with my dollars so that more movies like this get made.
Unfortunately, I’m afraid that John Carter will be like The Golden Compass. It WOULD have been a great series of movies, if only enough people had gone to see the first one.