Movie of the Week: John Carter

[jacey]

Well, what can you expect from an Edgar Rice Burroughs character made into a movie by Disney? Yes, that's right, light entertainment with fantasy worldbuilding and excellent CGI aliens and monsters. Nothing to rave about, but nothing to dislike either. Pretty much in the same vein as Flash Gordon (sadly without the Queen soundtrack). Civil War veteran, John Carter is magically transported to Barsoom (that's Mars to you and me) where he discovers that (because of the difference in gravity yada-yada) he's much stronger and can jump so far that he can almost fly. He immediately gets involved with a warlike race of four-armed, tall, green aliens (excellent mo-cap/CGI) and a couple of warring hunanoid factions. Yeah, there's a pretty princess trying to escape a dynastic marriage to a thuggish cardboard villain, some amoral manipulators, a couple of monsters and a comedy dog (well, not quite a dog but it fills the same role) and I wouldn't be giving away much if I said it all turned out well in the end (Hey, It's Disney!)

Taylor Kitsch and Lynn Collins make a pleasant enough leading pair (both were in X-Men Origins, Wolverine, but it took me a while to place them). James Purefoy has a very small role with only one good scene which he steals from Kitsch with relish. Mark Strong has such a great face for a villain and is extremely sinister as a the amoral, villainous manipulator, stirring up trouble.

Verdict: Froth, but I enjoyed it way more than I expected.