Rating of
2/4
Gravity-less plot with lots of silly moments
sreekirch - wrote on 05/28/12
John Carter is a movie that displays some sheer senseless fun with some good spell of thrills. It is a movie of big budget and we can consider a fact that Disney has decided to pull the chords of money again with John Carter. It is a realization of what makes a simple lead story coupled with teleportation to the other world or planet. Directed by Andrew Stanton (famous for finding nemo, toy story), John Carter is a visual ride with lots of graphic images and visual effects entangled with a slight portrayal of a mean plot.
Plot of the movie is about Captain John Carter (Taylor Kitsch) a veteran captain of the Virginia region. He accidentally comes in contact with a small metal object that transports him to barsoon the mars. He starts developing skills and one day he becomes the hero of mars. The Martians call him as Virginia. He decides to leave the place, but sooner finds that the locals need him. Now John must utilize his potential abilities to defeat Sab Than (Dominic West) occupying helium. The only way is to give the hand of princess of helium to Sab Than. But John finds this the wrong way and tries to ensemble his army to protect helium.
Plot development is weak. The movie begins really well. It is a bit odd about the mean plot. Many movies which concentrate more on the visual sparkle have this problem. There is no anything different in John Carter. The plot is linear and there are no subplots to cause havoc. The movie runs for about 130 minutes, the first sixty minutes just brings us the characters and their motives. The next sixty is all about adventurous rides with some romance sparkle in the midst and facing the terrorizing beasts. Let me get straight, in the whole process where is the plot. Director has shown the learning process of John Carter and his inept talents to fly to the tip of a building and fight several gigantic beasts. But the problem is the plot is nowhere here and since it is linear and predictable before hand, it starts testing the patience of viewers. Some scenes are silly. For example: John Carter jumps from top to the boat made of logs and still the boat does not crash. This sounds silly and perfectly gives an example of big budgeted errors. Martians speaking English suddenly, does not provide the necessary clues. Gigantic monsters are cool enough, but very weak before John Carter so that they die in one single slash. All these make up a silly movie with lots of laughing moments, mostly dedicated for young children. Adult audience must wake up. Instead of explaining scientific discoveries, some ancient temple artifacts and training sessions of John Carter, he should have shown more depth in, plot and should have saved huge amounts of money by constructing a strong plot. With all the visual dazzles aside, John Carter’s plot is fragile and roasted.
Characters in the movie are handy. But the roles performed by them are not appreciable. John Carter played by Taylor Kitsch is just a simple role. The gusto and heroism is lacking in the character. Taylor provides some rusty dialogs but does not stand tall in the role. Martians were way far better, than humans in the movie. This clearly explains the fact that the makers have decided to focus more on the CGI part, but not the plot and human elements. Lynn Collins had a good role in beginning, but she was wasted as the plot was not strong. Dominic West was good in his role, but had to do more. Ciaran Hinds as the king of helium is just another dumb character. Director should have focused upon the ruling nature of the king, rather falling sick and pleading his daughter for marriage for the baddie. Rest others weren’t prominent. No character dominated. Taylor Kitsch is good as the captain role in the earth, but in mars, he is doomed and just falling every time.
So finally to put it up, John Carter is Disney’s big budgeted movie. It has a regular plot with plot elements predictable and climax getting better. It is made for pure fun with good CGI, some dazzling fast paced camera work and aesthetic presentation. On the big screen, it is sure to rejoice, but not watch able again due to lack of a coherent plot and attractive characters. I give it a safe bet.
