Ari Howorth
Staff Writer
After 100 years in the making, Disney’s “John Carter” was released on March 9, much to the dismay of its anticipators. The film is a disappointing, poorly-acted science fiction tale that utilizes engaging special effects and vivid 3D.
Though appealing to look at, “John Carter” is a confusing and frustrating film with cheesy, unrelatable dialogue and a poorly thought out story.
With a massive budget of almost $300 million a higher-caliber film was expected, yet even this and extensive marketing could not save the disappointment that is “John Carter.”
The character of John Carter was originally imagined by “Tarzan” creator Edgar Rice Burroughs in 1912. Since then, it has had somewhat of a cult following, and fans have long awaited a film.
Various stories and novels have been written about Carter, yet filmmakers have struggled to successfully make a movie dedicated to the character.
“John Carter” tells the story of Carter (Taylor Kitsh), a former confederate soldier who is transported to Mars, or Baroom as it is called in the film.
Due to the gravity change, he can leap great distances and attains extreme strength. He finds himself in the middle of an alien war between two cities, one of which feels that he is its savior.
Even though he has received moderate fame for his role in NBC’s “Friday Night Lights,” Kitsch is uncomfortable in “John Carter.” He switches from lighthearted and annoyingly cocky to introverted and serious many times, making the development of his character childish and silly.
Though the rest of the cast had top-notch potential, consisting of Thomas Hayden Church and Willem Dafoe, their performances are also unimpressive.
The romance between Carter and warrior-princess Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins) is unbelievable as the two are either overly-emotional or disappointingly flat throughout the film.
The only positive of the film comes from its visual effects. All action sequences, however unimportant to the plot, look stunningly real. All of the monsters and unique machinery used by the aliens were intriguing in design and, with the help of the marvelous Disney Digital 3D, made for engaging sequences.
The plot of “John Carter” is difficult to follow and suffers from villain overload. The motives of the villains are never made clear; the importance of the struggle between cities is convoluted and the sudden disappearance of Carter’s desire to return home is nonsensical.
The dialogue is cheesy at best and uses catchphrases in an obvious attempt to create a franchise. “John Carter” provides a false sense of emotion that is poorly delivered by the flat ensemble. This makes it difficult to take the important scenes in the movie seriously.
Also, the climax of the movie is unclear. There are multiple scenes that could be the “turning point,” but when strung together none seem to be.
The main villains are three stupidly-powerful bald men who act as gods on Mars. Their motives are silly and difficult to comprehend, and they add almost nothing to the story. This creates an overuse of villains in an unnecessary subplot.
“John Carter” is a sub-par waste of time that shames the name of Burroughs’ tales that fans have grown to love. The movie disappoints the viewer because, despite heavy marketing and high anticipation, the final product is simply uninspired, unenjoyable, and consistently boring.
“John Carter” is rated PG-13 and is playing in theaters nationwide.
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