"John Carter" - a non-spoilery reaction
Mar. 11th, 2012 10:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_croupierI liked it!
Disclaimer: My dad has been a lifelong Burroughs fan, so the plan always was to go see it with him and have it be something we both enjoyed. Well: mission accomplished! But I'll grant I was somewhat biased to like it, but still:
1) Yes, it's messy and tries to pack too much of the book into a movie, so some things are more rushed than they should be. But that's not as true as some reviewers are suggesting (anybody reading this has seen plenty of movies where there was a genuine problem with this). Motivations aren't as nailed down as they should be, but if you thought Thor was fine (and I did), I think you'll be happy to give John Carter a pass here too.
2) It's a fun movie to watch, partly because of its messiness, which I think comes from love for the material.
3) It finds humor in the original Burroughs but still respects its source. (That includes keeping Thark/green Martian society nearly as unpleasant as it is in the book, which I wasn't expecting.)
4) Airships! I saw the movie on an IMAX screen, and holy crap, are they pretty.
5) There are some issues with CGI people not quite having the 'weight' they should, but this was *much* less true than I was expecting from the trailers. The early scene where Carter adjusts to Martian gravity is where writer/director Andrew Stanton really shows he's a Pixar guy.
6) Dejah Thoris gets a successful makeover. Still recognizably the book character, but more dynamic in a good, post-Buffy way. Lynn Collins seems to be having fun playing her.
Are there problems? Sure! Willashen_key and/or camwyn find things to fix? Yup. But I predict they'll be tweaks and clarifications, not major overhauls.
The cast is amazing, and fans of the series Rome should watch for an amusing pairing of two actors again. (Actually, it's three, but one of them is CGI/voice-role so her part in it isn't obvious until the credits. And they aren't the only ex-Rome people in the movie, so there's drinking game potential.) Some people do get short-changed a bit (Dominic West, etc), but just having them there helps the movie.
Anyway: yes, I'm biased. But I recommend people go see it. And an IMAX screen is worth it.
Disclaimer: My dad has been a lifelong Burroughs fan, so the plan always was to go see it with him and have it be something we both enjoyed. Well: mission accomplished! But I'll grant I was somewhat biased to like it, but still:
1) Yes, it's messy and tries to pack too much of the book into a movie, so some things are more rushed than they should be. But that's not as true as some reviewers are suggesting (anybody reading this has seen plenty of movies where there was a genuine problem with this). Motivations aren't as nailed down as they should be, but if you thought Thor was fine (and I did), I think you'll be happy to give John Carter a pass here too.
2) It's a fun movie to watch, partly because of its messiness, which I think comes from love for the material.
3) It finds humor in the original Burroughs but still respects its source. (That includes keeping Thark/green Martian society nearly as unpleasant as it is in the book, which I wasn't expecting.)
4) Airships! I saw the movie on an IMAX screen, and holy crap, are they pretty.
5) There are some issues with CGI people not quite having the 'weight' they should, but this was *much* less true than I was expecting from the trailers. The early scene where Carter adjusts to Martian gravity is where writer/director Andrew Stanton really shows he's a Pixar guy.
6) Dejah Thoris gets a successful makeover. Still recognizably the book character, but more dynamic in a good, post-Buffy way. Lynn Collins seems to be having fun playing her.
Are there problems? Sure! Will
ashen_key and/or camwyn find things to fix? Yup. But I predict they'll be tweaks and clarifications, not major overhauls.The cast is amazing, and fans of the series Rome should watch for an amusing pairing of two actors again. (Actually, it's three, but one of them is CGI/voice-role so her part in it isn't obvious until the credits. And they aren't the only ex-Rome people in the movie, so there's drinking game potential.) Some people do get short-changed a bit (Dominic West, etc), but just having them there helps the movie.
Anyway: yes, I'm biased. But I recommend people go see it. And an IMAX screen is worth it.
