As Stanton and Kitsch explained, the movie finds John Carter as a former Confederate captain whose life was totally shattered by the Civil War. Having lost everything, he becomes a recluse and heads out west. It's there that he discovers a strange cave that provides a portal to Mars - or, as it is known to its inhabitants, Barsoom.
That's where the first set of footage picks up. Carter wakes up in the middle of the Martian desert. He begins to climb up a hill so that he can see the surrounding terrain. He comes across a strange rock with a bizarrely glassy texture. He looks through the glass and sees some rocks vibrating - which he realizes are not rocks at all when one of them hatches, revealing an unearthly, six-limbed lizard-like creature. This, just like the dozens more that hatch right after it, is a baby Thark, one of the two intelligent species on Mars.
He then sees a group of unfriendly-looking Thark warriors riding across the basin right towards him. There is another Thark close to Carter - this is Tarkas, who seems to immediately recognize that Carter is not a threat. He implores the other Tharks to not shoot at the stranger. Carter isn't waiting - he leaps out of the way of the oncoming warriors, and surprises everyone, himself included, by jumping at least twenty feet into the air.
Tarkas tries to send the other Tharks away and then approaches Carter, who is hiding behind a rock. Tarkas puts down his weapon and approaches slowly, trying to communicate his name and that he means the strange humanoid no harm. Eventually, the two get each others names across - although Tarkas becomes convinced that Captain John Carter of Virginia's name is actually just Virginia. But Carter remains suspicious, and he leaps towards Tarkas's discarded weapons. A nearby Thark gets ready to fire at the human, and Tarkas throws himself in the way of the blast...which is just when the screen cut to black.
Kitsch explained that Carter gains his incredible leaping ability and enhanced physical strength from the reduced Martian gravity. Dafoe explained that, despite the initial hostilities, Tarkas and Carter soon recognize the good in each other, and a friendship develops. But that's not before the Tharks capture and imprison John Carter. This leads into the next clip, as John Carter meets his other best friend on Mars: the gigantic, adorable, ten-legged beast Woola.
Follow the link below to read the full article with lots more about the footage.
The footage sounds amazing! This is certainly a must see movie. I'm expecting big things from Andrew Stanton (Wall-E and Finding Nemo), even though this is his first live action film. Quite a bold move to dive into the deep end of the pool with a live action film based on fictional character that most kids today are clueless about.
This is to be the first of a trilogy so hopefully it goes well at the box office and they Disney can rest easy at night knowing that they took a chance on an original film instead of a remake.
John Carter starring Taylor Kitsch (John Carter), Lily Collins (the Martian princess Dejah Thoris), and Willem Dafoe (alien warrior Tars Tarkas). is set to hit theatres on March 9, 2012!