We have seen a lot of early reactions for the upcoming movie adaptation of Edgar Rice Burrough's classic novel,
John Carter, and mostly have been highly positive. This time, following the lifting of the embargo, the first full review of the film has been released, and it seems to confirm the praises the movie has been getting. Coming from Drew McWeeny of
Hit Fix, check it out right below.
John Carter is a charming science-fiction adventure that makes no apologies for what it is. This is the sort of film where there is talk of Jeddaks and Tharks and Barsoom and you're supposed to just pick it up and understand, and where we accept that Mars doesn't look a thing like modern science tells us it does because that's the conceit. It will be interesting to see who gets hung up on the difference between reality and this film's conception of Mars, because there's nothing about this that plays as "real," but there is such a strong sense of voice that I think Stanton sells the reality beautifully.
There are a few things I wasn't crazy about, and unfortunately, one of my biggest complaints is that I don't buy Taylor Kitsch as a Civil War veteran. I think once he gets to Barsoom (which is what the natives all call Mars), he starts to loosen up and he fits better into the tone of what Stanton is doing, but the opening scenes on Earth just don't convince me that this is a guy who just fought on the losing side during one of the bloodiest wars in our history. He's supposed to be haunted by that loss, which is one of the reasons he's able to leave his home world behind so readily. Kitsch is a very modern presence, and that lack of period authenticity is one of the few true false notes the film plays. I also think the film is a little bit too focused on the notion of a franchise instead of just telling one story very well. Not completely, and I'd honestly like to see sequels to this, but there's a sense at the end of the film that the larger story is only partially told, and for audiences who don't know the source material, it may be frustrating.
Still, those are minor complaints considering how much the film gets right. Stanton and his entire production team deserve kudos for the way they've brought Barsoom and its peoples to life, and the film has a great sense of fun throughout. Using several of the books to draw material together for this first film was smart, because it allowed Stanton and his co-writers Mark Andrews and Michael Chabon to craft a strong, simple spine to the story while also laying out the political and social realities of this alien culture. Considering so many of the characters in the film are created in the computer, one of Stanton's strengths is the way he directs and shoots them as characters, not as effects. The Tharks, led here by Tars Tarkas (Willem Dafoe), are compelling creations, and the performance work by both the actors and the animators involved is excellent. By a few scenes into their time on-screen, I stopped thinking about the technical trick involved in bringing them to life and simply accepted them as real.
My favorite thing about the movie is the performance by Lynn Collins as Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium, and I think she's great playing a strong, smart, capable equal to Carter, a woman worth the journey he takes. She is also the focus of the attentions of Sab Than, played by Dominic West, who seems to relish his role as a total bastard looking to take over all of Barsoom. Collins should stir unexpected feelings in a whole generation of 13-year-olds, but she's not just ravishing. She's also got a real spirit and she handles herself with aplomb in all of the film's most physical sequences. I've said before that one of the things that matters most in a film like this is that the cast needs to sell the reality. They need to feel like they are really of the world. And with Collins, she makes even the most unwieldy exposition feel absolutely natural. She is comfortable in the skin of Dejah Thoris, and that goes a long way towards making us believe. I liked the way the bookends worked, and while he's not in much of the film, Daryl Sabara's Edgar Rice Burroughs is a welcome addition to the story. There's great work here from Samantha Morton and Polly Walker and Thomas Haden Church, and Mark Strong gives another strong otherworldly performance as Matai Shang, who holds the key to much of what happens in the film and who suggests a larger game in motion. Special mention must be made of Michael Giacchino's score, which is rousing and epic and memorable, and he deserves credit for helping Stanton pin down the tone of the story.
Richly imagined, robustly performed, and directed with the evident enthusiasm of someone who's been dreaming about Barsoom his whole life, "John Carter" is a gem. [B+]
Don't forget that you can also check out the original review (which may contain a few minor spoilers) by following the link provided below.
As a little update, the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes has got more reviews for the movie, and it currently holds an 88% rating with 7 'Fresh' reviews, and 1 'Rotten' review. Anyway, what do you think of this? Sound off with your thoughts on the usual place below.
From Academy Award-winning filmmaker Andrew Stanton, John Carter is a sweeping action adventure set on the mysterious and exotic planet of Barsoom (Mars). Based on the classic sci-fi novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the film tells the story of John Carter, who is inexplicably transported to Mars where he becomes embroiled in a conflict of epic proportions amongst the inhabitants of the planet, including Tars Tarkas and the captivating Princess Dejah Thoris. In a world on the brink of collapse, Carter discovers that the survival of Barsoom and its people rests in his hands.