logan j. fowler and bill bodkin look at the adaptation of the granddaddy of sci-fi …
Theater, Rent, No Thanks, Undecided? Rent.
When I first saw the trailer for John Carter, I honestly thought it was advertising the sequel to Disney’s Prince Of Persia. And on that note, the film kind of looks like PoP meets Avatar meets Star Wars meets Clash Of The Titans. My early thoughts on what I viewed were negative, but watching the last trailer for the film, I couldn’t help but be mildly intrigued, at least for rental’s sake. Based on the books by Edgar Rice Burroughs, John Carter tells the tale of a man who is a Earth native but has these adventures on Mars, and the movie revolves around the character’s first appearance. I’m not really sure Taylor Kitsch can open a movie big, as he hasn’t really established himself as a superior leading man, but the cast of John Carter is nothing to scoff at; Mark Strong, Thomas Haden Church, Bryan Cranston, Willem Dafoe, Dominic West…not too shabby. In any case, I’ll probably give John Carter a viewing, but most likely not in the theater.
— LJF
Theater, Rent, No Thanks, Undecided? Rent.
Kudos to my TT partner on the Prince Of Persia reference. The two films seem very similar, but here’s the thing — I didn’t mind Prince Of Persia at all. It was high-gloss fluff, but it was still entertaining. John Carter seems to be very similar — but I have this creeping feeling that with former Pixar darling Andrew Stanton at the helm, John Carter could be really good. Yet let’s look at the phrase I used to describe my enjoyment of Prince Of Persia — “I didn’t mind it.” Not love, like, enjoy. No, I “didn’t mind” the film. Not exactly a glowing review. And that’s how I feel about John Carter — it could be decent, I probably won’t hate this movie, it has potential. And those feelings aren’t driving me to catch John Carter at the movies.
— BB
