John Carter

John Carter – John Carter is a Confederate civil war veteran who, when escaping the clutches of a Union Colonel who wants him to return to the war, unwittingly gets transported to a ruined and dying planet, Barsoom (Mars). Discovering that the inhabitants of this planet have been at war for a thousand years, John is forced into the middle of the conflict, having to take a side and save a beautiful princess from marrying the leader of her enemies. Although John initially wishes to return home, he becomes more involved than he could have imagined and is torn between whether to return or whether to stay and help the fight.

John Carter (2012) – Director: Andrew Stanton

Rating: 12

Running Length: 132 mins

Starring: Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Dominic West

Genre: Science Fiction

REVIEW: ‘JOHN CARTER’

Based upon ‘A Princess Of Mars’ which is the first book of the ‘Barsoom’ series written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, ‘John Carter’ is Andrew Stanton’s first live-action directorial outing, having previously directed several Pixar movies, such as ‘Wall-E’ and ‘Finding Nemo’. Being visually stunning, this movie clearly has a large budget behind it; with so many top class actors making appearances (e.g. Ciaran Hinds, James Purefoy and Mark Strong), it should be a lot better than it actually is.

Unfortunately, having an outlandish cast of characters comprising several races with differing motivations and complicated histories bloats the story to the point where it is very difficult to keep up with what is happening on-screen. Kitsch, sadly is not quite engaging enough to carry the film and although he does have charm, he seems to just be going through the motions rather than being the type of character that the audience should be rooting for. Bookended with a time travel plotline for good measure, ‘John Carter’ throws so much mud at the screen that even what sticks is messy and unappealing. Whilst the kinetic energy of the action pieces are certainly entertaining in themselves, this doesn’t make up for the long runtime which drains the enjoyment of any positives that this movie has to offer. Having said that, there is a smattering of good comedy throughout that, when being bombarded with such a complicated plot, is a welcome relief that makes the characters warmer and much more believable.

A box office bomb on release, ‘John Carter’ can’t seem to decide what it wants to be or who its target audience is. Too long for young kids, too dull for adults and too convoluted for older children, this is a movie which seems to see itself as an epic space western. However, where ‘Cowboys & Aliens’ showed us how good this could be, ‘John Carter’ lacks the accessible charisma that is needed to make such a concept work.

CONTENT: IS ‘JOHN CARTER’ SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN?

The opening scene is set on Barsoom where several huge airships are fighting. There are several explosions and many soldiers onboard the vessels are killed (although no suffering or injury is shown). After around a minute, the airships are hit by a blue mist which destroys all but one. The one that is left has all its crew killed by the blue mist which vapourises everyone it touches. One man is left alive and is approached by three sinister-looking men who offer him the chance to win the war if he joins them.

When John first arrives at Barsoom, he comes across a large rock formation. Looking through a glass window, he sees hundreds of large eggs in a room below him which are starting to hatch; when they do, strange but rather cute alien babies emerge. Several aliens come to this area to collect the babies – some are taken but the majority are shot and killed. This callous approach to defenceless creatures may be quite upsetting and confusing for some children. When the surviving babies are taken to the alien settlement, when they are released and begin to run around, many of the female aliens fight amongst themselves in order to have a baby. The fighting is quite brutal with many being kicked, punched and knocked to the ground.

There are two warring races on Barsoom – the Heliumites and the Zodangans. The Heliumites are losing and the leader of the city tells of their people being ‘massacred’. There is then a short scene showing this, adults and children are seen fleeing in terror as the blue mist weapon which vapourised the soldiers earlier in the movie moves towards them. The camera cuts away before any death is shown, however it is made clear that all the people in this scene are likely to be dead.

John is captured by the aliens that he encountered early in the film and is put in a pit where two giant ape-like creatures are released so that they can kill him in front of a large crowd. Other established characters also end up in the pit and there are a couple of deaths. One character is picked up by one of the apes and ripped in half, the camera cuts away before this death but the shadow of it is seen on a nearby rock. Another character is beheaded and their head lands on the ground, there is no blood or gore and the head is not seen in close up so this isn’t too graphic.

A huge creature is killed when it lands on top of a character who has a sword. It immediately slumps to the ground but its body moves and pulsates, making it look like it is breathing. However, the character bursts out of the creature’s back with his sword held aloft and he is covered in blue blood. The creature does not appear to suffer and the colour of the blood is blue rather than red, so this part should not be too distressing for kids.

One of the female aliens is tied to a post and branded as a punishment. She groans and tenses her body in pain; it is shown that she has dozens of the same marks all over her back. She is told that as there is no more room for any more marks, if she breaks the rules again, she will be executed. This character then becomes friends with John; however on more than one occasion John callously and without thinking puts her life in danger by forcing her to break the rules.

There is a large fight scene at the end which has quite a lot of moderate violence. Several unnamed soldiers are killed on-screen – one is slashed with a sword and screams in pain, one is beheaded and another has their arm chopped off. There is little gore and the camera cuts away quickly but what is happening is made clear. One established character is killed when they are frozen on the spot and their skin turns blue; this blue substance covers their face and their skull caves in. Again, this is shown onscreen but there is no blood and the camera cuts away after 1-2 seconds.

CAN I SEE A CLIP?

VERDICT: IS ‘JOHN CARTER’ FOR KIDS?

Sadly, this Disney space epic struggles to engage the audience due to its complicated story, dull and unrealistic characters and long runtime. While its target audience is decidedly older children and young teenagers, it is unlikely to actually appeal to this demographic. In terms of content, we feel that ‘John Carter’ should be appropriate for kids aged 8 and over but it will probably be disappointing for anyone who is expecting an exciting sci-fi action flick.

• Violence: 3/5
• Emotional Distress: 1/5 (John’s wife and child are dead and there are a couple of flashbacks which show what happened to them)
• Fear Factor: 1/5
• Sexual Content: 2/5 (John’s love interest, Princess Dejah Thoris, often wears quite revealing clothes. After she gets married she is shown lying in bed, naked, but covered with sheets)        
• Bad Language: 0/5
• Dialogue: 0/5  
• Other notes: Deals with themes of love, loss, knowing where you belong, fighting for a cause for the right reasons, courage and sacrificing your own happiness for the sake of others.

Words by Laura Record