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John Carter of Mars

ShadowDancerShadowDancer When I say, "Why aye, gadgie," in my heart I say, "Och aye, laddie."London, UK
in Zocalo v2.0
So I bought this film to watch on the train back to Aberdeen this weekend, and was really surprised at how good it was.

I've not read the books before (tho I now plan to), and thanks to Disney's piss poor marketing frak up I didn't know much about the film before watching it. And given the media coverage of it being the biggest flop in history (tho I think it might already have been overtaken in that regard), quite frankly I wasn't expecting much.

However, I actually thoroughly enjoyed watching it! Taylor Kitsch was pretty good in the role, but frak me! Lynn Collins is going right up as my pc's next wallpaper! Hot! The story was pretty good too I thought. Mars certainly came across as being quite alien and yet quite familiar, and altho the premise was quite shakey scientifically, for a film based on a book written about a century ago it was pretty damned good. Certainly a lot better than most of the contemporary crap we get fed!

However I'm rather disappointed now that unless DVD sales are massive, I doubt we'll be seeing a sequel any time soon. And it's not often you hear me complaining about Hollywood not doing one of them!
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Comments

  • WORFWORF The Burninator
    Disney policy is to pretend movies that don't do well never happened.
  • DarthCaligulaDarthCaligula Elite Ranger
    I actually read A Princess of Mars about two years ago. I was expecting the usual book to movie crap, but I was actually very pleased with how they did with this movie. Sure, they played up the comedy, and I'm pretty sure that Dejah Thoris was the typical damsel in distress more in the book, but I thought they pulled off those changes well enough.
    The same writer is also the creator of Tarzan by the way, and I'd recommend taht you read the first book of that as well.
  • Lord RefaLord Refa Creepy, but in a good way
    Thank you! Finally people who did not hate the movie..

    I went to see it in theaters without knowing all that much about it, I knew of the stories etc. But had not seen trailers apart from the few fanmade ones.

    And I was really surprised too. I liked it, and would like to see some more.

    And hell... there's worse crap out there, that's getting sequels and making millions even tho the stories are more or less universally reviled (sparkling vampires anyone?)..

    Oh well.. 12 days until I get to see Dark Knight Rises on Imax! ;)
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    I saw it on a plane. I thought it was significantly better than the noise about it had made it out to be. It certainly kept me entertained for a couple of hours.
  • JackNJackN <font color=#99FF99>Lightwave Alien</font>
    I'd certainly want to see this more than Prometheus at this point... :p
  • Random ChaosRandom Chaos Actually Carefully-selected Order in disguise
    I very much enjoyed it. I thought some of the scenes were a bit too reminiscent of the recent Star Wars trilogy, such as the Spoiler: arena fight scene, but other than that, it was great! Good CGI, decent story, good adaptation of the book, horrible marketing.
  • SeafroggysSeafroggys Ranger
    [QUOTE=Random Chaos;195463]I very much enjoyed it. I thought some of the scenes were a bit too reminiscent of the recent Star Wars trilogy, such as the Spoiler: arena fight scene, but other than that, it was great! Good CGI, decent story, good adaptation of the book, horrible marketing.[/QUOTE]

    Or is it the other way around?
  • DarthCaligulaDarthCaligula Elite Ranger
    I don't think that fight in the arena was in the book. I'm pretty sure there was one in a big meeting room for a gathering of Green Men tribes. I remember Carter fighting one of them there, but I can't remember how exactly it all happened.
  • A2597A2597 Fanboy
    reading it now. He did kinda beat the crap out of someone early on, when led to a gathering. Worked out in his favor. :)
  • ShadowDancerShadowDancer When I say, "Why aye, gadgie," in my heart I say, "Och aye, laddie." London, UK
    I've just started reading the book and am enjoying it so far! :)
  • StingrayStingray Elite Ranger
    I wonder if I should have gone to see the movie in the theatre or not. I feel like I missed something. It couldn't be worse than the Hunger Games, could it?
  • Random ChaosRandom Chaos Actually Carefully-selected Order in disguise
    I saw it in 3d in theaters. The 3d added some, but not a ton to this movie. So far, only Avengers and Thor I have felt were worth the 3d. Every other movie wasn't.
  • WORFWORF The Burninator
    Prometheus is the only movie where I actually enjoyed the 3d. Mostly because it was used in a way that you're aware of it but doesn't really distract from the movie.
  • DarthCaligulaDarthCaligula Elite Ranger
    3D. Whoopty doo. Of course, I can't see 3D so I get sick of hearing about it.
  • StingrayStingray Elite Ranger
    Finally got to see JC and I think I have an idea why the movie didn't succeed. For a Disney movie it made a few crucial mistakes. You can't go the Avatar road and not include a bunch of cute creatures to appeal to younger audiences. Then the play time was way too long for a kid movie. I mean how many times did we need to see the protagonist make giant leaps? We got it, ok, he's a human on Mars! Lower gravity means you can jump higher and farther, except they had to exagerate the SFX because they paid so much for ropes and pullies, so they needed to get a certain RoI to make it worth it. The chemistry between JC and the princess was off and/or not developped enough and so we didn't really care enough about her. We cared more about Leia or Catwoman than we do about what's-her-name-again? At least we know where all the money went, but why couldn't they have made the green men and women more likable?

    Overall Jason Carter is worth watching, but I understand why they pulled the plug to cut their losses. It still bothers me that they can't fix movies in time just to earn their moneys back.
  • DarthCaligulaDarthCaligula Elite Ranger
    Um, you are aware that this is based on a book, right? I actually thought that the green men were a little TOO cute looking. When I read the book, I imagined them looking a bit more horrific than they appear in the movie. I imagined the tusks bigger and the eyes bigger and further off to the side for example. And also, John Carter actually DOES jump around all crazy like that in the book. He's absolutely superhuman on Mars. He's also far stronger than everyone else, which was also in the movie. They did make a slight mistake that I noticed while watching the movie though, Carter is supposed to do a sort of gallop when he wants to move fast so that he doesn't go flying off by running, but we clearly see him running in the movie at several points. It's not that big a deal, but it was a mistake.
  • ShadowDancerShadowDancer When I say, "Why aye, gadgie," in my heart I say, "Och aye, laddie." London, UK
    I've just finished "A Princess of Mars" and really enjoyed it. I think people are right when they've said that the movie tries to do too much too fast. The lack of character development was one of the main areas that let it down; dont get me wrong I liked the characterisations, but after the book I felt that they could have been done so much better!

    Stingray: I certainly remembered Dejah Thoris! I'd dearly love to get to know her a lot better! :p
  • StingrayStingray Elite Ranger
    I'm aware that the movie is based on a novel, but I'm coming at my conclusion from the point of view of someone who has not read the original work. In other words, it does not really matter whether the overexposed aerobatic performances of the protagonist match the book or not whereas insufficient character development does when the viewer starts from nothing.

    It is also quite impossible for the movie makers to recreate exactly the looks of a creature that is solely based on everyone's personal imagination. Again the book is no help to someone who has not read it. In some ways the movie tried to immitate some scenes from Star Wars and Dune as well, like the flying machines, the desert environments, infrastructure and beasts.

    This movie is a good example that shows quite well that you can have everything to make an epic story and still not quite make it so.
  • StingrayStingray Elite Ranger
    [QUOTE=ShadowDancer;195537]Stingray: I certainly remembered Dejah Thoris! I'd dearly love to get to know her a lot better! :p[/QUOTE]

    She's certainly up to the task, and so was Jennifer Lawrence in Hunger Games, but one appealing actress does not a movie make. The antagonist was pretty bland as well by the way, which is a fatal blow and certainly did not help either. It could have been so much more indeed. Hindsight is 20/20, but still.
  • DarthCaligulaDarthCaligula Elite Ranger
    Except that you seemed to suggest that him jumping around a lot was just to show off the CGI, and I was pointing out that it's actually from the book, so it's not just about CGI. And I'm not sure what your complaints about the green men are. At first I thought you said they looked all cute to appeal to kids, but now I'm not sure what you meant.
  • StingrayStingray Elite Ranger
    As a Disney production, the green men were not cute enough to get parents to come watch the movie with their kids.

    Since I have not read the book, I had the feeling they were showing off too much CGI. Jason Carter now comes across as being a super hero from 1917. ;)
  • ShadowDancerShadowDancer When I say, "Why aye, gadgie," in my heart I say, "Och aye, laddie." London, UK
    I think you just like being difficult Stingray! ;)
  • StingrayStingray Elite Ranger
    I'm not complaining, just voicing my humble opinion as to why I think the movie did not succeed. I'm sure all those involved gave it all they had. It's a tough business the movie business.

    Just finished watching the 2nd part of "Millenium" (aka "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"). I didn't know they could also make excellent dramas up North. Isn't there anything they can't do? ;)
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    [QUOTE=Stingray;195546]As a Disney production, the green men were not cute enough to get parents to come watch the movie with their kids.[/QUOTE]

    [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Disney_theatrical_feature_films]Disney does not exclusively make kiddie movies[/url]. The recent part of that list alone includes such items as [i]Dogma[/i] and the very-not-for-kids [i]Alice in Wonderland[/i].
  • WORFWORF The Burninator
    I don't think Tron really counts as a cude kids movie either.

    And then there's Starship Troopers...
  • ShadowDancerShadowDancer When I say, "Why aye, gadgie," in my heart I say, "Och aye, laddie." London, UK
    Yeah, cude movies are great...

    ;)
  • StingrayStingray Elite Ranger
    Disney has changed over time and it is not as Worf said, the cude company it used to be. No silly wabbits and bamby is gone too. :D
  • WORFWORF The Burninator
    This is why I shouldn't post things after being awake for only 5 minutes.
  • Random ChaosRandom Chaos Actually Carefully-selected Order in disguise
    Disney is like any other movie studio. They have a lot of movies rather far from the G rating. Quite a few of them are under other studio labels, which are owned by Disney but help the Disney brand distance themselves from being "tainted" by their content.
  • StingrayStingray Elite Ranger
    [QUOTE=Stingray;195554]Just finished watching the 2nd part of "Millenium" (aka "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"). I didn't know they could also make excellent dramas up North. Isn't there anything they can't do? ;)[/QUOTE]

    Just finished watching the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy and I have to say it's the best conspiracy story I've been fortunate enough to see in a long time. I think I'm now ready for the remake with 007. I'll try to be gentle. ;)
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