Tuesday, March 13, 2012

MOVIE REVIEW JOHN CARTER

 
john-carter-movie-poster-2012‘John Carter’ provides evidence that timing is everything.  Written by Tarzan author Edgar Rice Burroughs 100 years ago, the 11 book series has influenced many fantasy films – notably ‘Star Wars’.  That Burroughs’ creation hasn’t been seen on screen until now is unfortunate as its late arrival robs its uniqueness.  Its starry battles and epic romances have already been plundered elsewhere, with the lack of cinematic originality the ultimate foe Burroughs’ character faces.
 
A former Captain of the confederate army, John Carter’s (Taylor Kitsch) life takes an unexpected turn.  Magically transported to Mars he discovers an array of unusual inhabitants. Among them are Tars (Willem DaFoe) and Princess Dejah (Lynn Collins).  Both are at war against the other over a slowly dying planet.  Taking it upon himself to enable a peaceful resolution, John does all he can to prevent a cosmic catastrophe.
 
Having an epic sweep and graced with an enormous budget providing a suitably dazzling backdrop ‘John Carter’ certainly looks expensive.  Sadly all the boundless CGI in the world cannot subsidise a fairly routine yarn.  We’ve seen the ‘damsel in distress and warring alien factions’ motif many times with this creaky device sapping much needed energy.  It’s also difficult caring for any of the CGI-generated characters as they have an air of familiarity with nothing distinguishing them.
 
The human characters aren’t much better although Kitsch equips himself well in the fight scenes.  These moments are the best of an overly long movie with Andrew Stanton’s plodding direction providing little colour.  ‘John Carter’ is meant to be an exciting pulpy adventure although what transpires is an episodic story full of plot-holes.  These gaps only magnify the identity crisis the script suffers from as it flits between being a children’s fantasy to adult adventure with confusing regularity.
 
‘John Carter’ is a very ordinary production making little use of Burroughs’ boundless imagination.  Had this been made several decades ago it could have been a marvel, instead an expensive potential franchise has arrived too late to capitalise on the trend it created.
 
john-carter-003544

Movie Review Rating 4 / 10
Movie Review by Patrick Moore
If you have any comments to make about this Movie Review, then please use the comment box, titling your comments with Movie Review John Carter
Patrick Moore's Movie Review is an alternative look at current movie releases in Australia. 
 
SOUNDTRACK

No comments:

Post a Comment