What does everyone think about this attempt at a new franchise from Disney? I remember seeing it in the theater and I really enjoyed it! I had hoped we would see more in the ‘John Carter’ universe, but that was not to be. Poor marketing is often blamed, as is critics suggesting it was “derivative”.
Loved this movie when it came out. Thought it was rough around the edges, but a hell of an adventure on screen.
To call it derivative though is a joke and betrays an understanding of the impact the novel series had on the Sci-fi genre as a whole.
Absolutely agree on all counts!
Also enjoyed this movie. It left me wanting for more…
Sucks that it failed.
I liked it overall. Carter’s characterization is very different from the books, but his book characterization is so weird that I completely understand why they changed it, even if I was annoyed.
(For those who haven’t read it: book Carter is a career soldier who claims to be so old that he can’t remember how many wars he’s fought in, despite having the appearance of a man in his thirties. He was living with a family in Virginia when the American Civil War broke out and jumped at the chance to get back into combat, which he seems to live for, and he doesn’t seem to care much about the reasons for fighting: it seems like he joined the Confederate army mostly because he happened to be there at the time, and if he had been living with a family of New Yorkers he would have been just as happy to fight for the Union. The backstory about a dead family is invented for the movie; in the book he went west mostly out of boredom due to the war being over, but being an unapologetic Confederate is obviously unacceptable today so they had to do something to make him sympathetic.
On arriving on Mars after having a vision when he catches sight of the planet, book Carter immediately decides to embrace every opportunity to fight, adventure, and generally behave like an action hero who isn’t afraid to wade through rivers of blood while the bodies of his enemies pile up around him. He and Kantos Kan are really kindred spirits, whereas in the movie the enthusiastic Kan basically has to drag him into the plot after he spends the first act or so trying to avoid any possible action.)
Also the book is very specific that most Martians don’t wear clothes, but that probably wouldn’t have gone over well either, lol.
i adore the books, which are from the early 20th century. hardly derivative when they inspired 20th century greats like Ray Bradbury and Carl Sagan :) i followed this movie for years leading up to it. they completely screwed the marketing. i was disappointed, to say the least. but it is magical to see such a loved work in film. maybe someday we’ll get a reboot.
I really need to find a GOOD printed copy of the original stories. I tried reading it years ago on a digital copy and the text recognition scan was so bad, I gave up.
Ongo Gablogian is the only critic allowed to use the description “derivative”.
It’s only derivative if every movie based on a book is derivative.
Enjoyed it and have gone back and watched it a few times. The alien character FX was a bit cheesy, but the acting and story were engaging.
