John Carter (2012)
Summary
Genre: Action, Adventure, FantasyRating: 
The film reminded me of what the Prince of Persia movie should have been if it were any good. This is not to say that the film was amazing – it has some nice action, some good visuals, and it didn’t put me to sleep. Would I ever watch it again? No. Do I regret seeing it? No. The film centers around a man who is transported to Mars and caught into between a war of different species in a time that differs than his own. The journey follows a typical hero journey that we all know and some of us love. I am not opposed to the story, but there have been several iterations of this story done better within the last few years (The Immortals come to mind – and in my opinion was visually more impressive than John Carter).
I did not know much about John Carter before I stepped in the theater. I had seen the trailer months prior and disregarded it as it looked like another “Clash of the Titans” ripoff (which, if you have not seen the remake, spare your lives, and spare yourself from the sequel that was somehow greenlighted), but I was in DC and it was playing in IMAX3D, and I have seen an IMAX movie before, and a 3D movie, but not together. So, I figured, what the heck since I heard the visuals were “amazing”. With that said, the visuals were good at best. I do not believe it was any more action packed or glittery than any other big named film in the genre. I did, however, enjoy the story. The film reminded me of what the Prince of Persia movie should have been if it were any good. This is not to say that the film was amazing – it has some nice action, some good visuals, and it didn’t put me to sleep. Would I ever watch it again? No. Do I regret seeing it? No. The film centers around a man who is transported to Mars and caught into between a war of different species in a time that differs than his own. The journey follows a typical hero journey that we all know and some of us love. I am not opposed to the story, but there have been several iterations of this story done better within the last few years (The Immortals come to mind – and in my opinion was visually more impressive than John Carter). There is a bit of romance, a bit of emo-lead-character-who-finds-himself-not-being-so-emo, some action (could have been more for the preview of it), but overall the film was worth a watch. I’m not sure why it flopped so much here in the US, I suppose people were expecting more for the 200 million budget. Profits were bad for the film. Other films (Avatar, for example) has dealt with foreign races and the relationship between races. So, in closing, it’s worth a watch if there isn’t much else going on, not a bad film, but not amazing either.
