Movie Review: John Carter (2012)

The movie stars Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Samantha Morton and Willem Dafoe.

When I got this movie from Netflix a couple weeks ago, I was a bit surprised. I honestly had not heard of this movie before and wasn't sure when or why I added it to my DVD queue. However, since we did have it, I decided to give it a try this week and was pleasantly surprised by it.

The movie was a bit confusing at first and took a little while to get going. But, once it did, I thought it was very entertaining. Carter (Kitsch) pretty much just wants to get back to Earth and has no interest in fighting in yet another war, especially since he lost his wife and daughter in his last one. But, because he's a good guy in general, he can't help but get involved. This includes rescuing a princess and ultimately standing up to the bad guys.

One thing that really impressed me about this film was how diverse Mars was made to be. There were the typical green aliens. But, there were also a variety of other creatures, including some that were almost human-like. And, while they all seemed to worship the same goddess, they also had just enough differences in their beliefs and traditions to keep them unique in things other than their appearance.

I thought the action scenes in this film were pretty intense and exciting and, while some of the special effects did seem to be a bit cartoon-like (and a few that looked like they were ripped off from "Star Wars"), I did end up enjoying the film overall as a result of the action in it.

Another thing that really impressed me was the ending. At first, I thought it was going to be predictable. But, there were quite a few twists thrown in that kept things interesting. In fact, and I don't say this very often, it left me hoping for a sequel.

I still don't remember how this got on my Netflix list. However, it proved to be a good choice that I definitely enjoyed and would recommend.

My Grade: A