Review of John Carter

I really really wanted to like John Carter. I really did. I love Andrew Staunton, the cast, the books...but the movie was just...not very good. First, the script was really pretty bad. There was absolutely no sense of rhythm or pace. The writers bit off way more than they could chew and tried to throw so much of the 2nd and 3rd book into the first, that they forgot to develop characters and build tension. There's so much important information that is lacking from the story, and unnecessary information being thrown at you, that even I had trouble following it (and I, theoretically, know what happens). They also added a bunch of extra things to the story (particularly in the way Carter travels between the planets) which, in my opinion, made the story line less interesting and more corny than what Burroughs had written. Rather than focusing on creating memorable characters (Tars Tarkas, Sola, and Kantos Kan might as well be footnotes) and elaborating on the the different cultures and belief systems that shape the world of Barsoom, the movie focuses on action scenes and a story line which doesn't occur until deep into the second book. Without Burrough's exquisitely shaped and extensive ground-work, there is little to no reason to care about a lot of what's going on. It's as if Yoda showed up and you knew that Darth Vadar was Luke's Father mid-way through New Hope. Why would you care? The filmmakers missed a huge opportunity to show the extremely inventive and thought-provoking ways in which Carter adapts to and changes his new home, and as a result, they also really missed a lot of the cultural commentary in the book. This movie had everything going for it (especially with a 250 million dollar budget), and what's really disappointing is that some of the shots and lot of the character designs (besides ALL of the red people) look really good. There are moments of greatness in there (like the ending), but they are very few and far between. I almost walked out half way through, and I've never walked out of a movie before (especially one I was this excited about). IN CONCLUSION: Read the books, they are mind-blowing, beautiful, and way more interesting. This movie was just OK...at its best, and at its worst...confusing, cheesy, and banal.