John Carter & A Princess Of Mars

Disney's John Carter has been getting quite a bit of attention recently, but unfortunately not for the right reasons. Whether it be its decades in the making production, an untested animation director, its $250 million plus mega-budget, derivative and over-familiar story and set-pieces, confidence lacking in the title department, a vague and confusing marketing campaign, the outdated 95 year old source material or an unworthy, meat-headed lead actor...poor John Carter has had a lot to overcome, even prior to its theatrical release. Rather surprisingly, what has emerged is a bloody entertaining piece of romantic, pulpy, sci-fi adventure...much in the spirit of the Edgar Rice Burroughs books on which the screenplay was based.

Despite all the moaning that the film resembles Attack Of The Clones visually (there's a gladiator verses monster battle in a giant desert area) and Avatar (the hero's consciousness is transported to a superhuman body where he leads a rebellion and saves the girl)the thing that John Carter most reminds me of is Flash Gordon...both the 1980 film and the old black and white serials. It feels very episodic as Carter is thrust from one escapade top another meeting allies, adversaries, mentors, friends and most importantly, a lover in Dejah Thoris the princess of the city of Helium. It's the first science fiction epic in a long time that has captured the essence of the fun, serial adventure that made 1977's Star Wars such a blast (and something the prequels that were too bogged down with backstory to include).

The film is a great exercise is world building as we are slowly gradually introduced to the planet of Mars, or Barsoom as the natives call it, and to it's antagonistic cultures one by one from the 9 foot tall, four armed Tharks to the mystical, meddling Therns. To many, especially in these days where CGI can create any environment imaginable, Barsoom may seem disappointingly familiar. But with the majority of the film being filmed in a desert setting for real with FX being used to augment and enhance the original image, this version of Mars is very easy to identify with allowing the audience to put themselves in John Carter's shoes. The effects there are (and the money is certainly up there on the screen) is some of the best I've seen in recent years and goes some way of making the setting feel authentic.

Wall-E director does a great job of balancing the adventure with drama (Carter's tragic past is handled very effectively without being intrusive), comedy (the hero's Earthbound escape attempts amuse), action, character development and story. This is a great story, even if it is one that has been mimicked a 100 times over the 95 years since the book was written, that's extremely well told. And when I mean well told, I mean in a steady, unflashy, un-Michael Bay kind of way which may put off the youth market along with it's establishing period setting, abundance of loin-cloths, the classic orchestral score and its strong romantic tone (where the heroine isn't confined to emotionless blank stares).

Taylor Kitsch does a solid job as the title character; he's not a great actor by any means but he does possess the charismatic twinkle in his eye that the likes of Sam Worthington and Channing Tatum lack. The supporting cast are great on every level to he mocapped CG characters (a gruff and playful Willem Defoe particularly) to the more regal human(ish) cast including the ever dependable Mark Strong, swashbuckling James Purefoy, tyrant Dominic West and the wise Ciaran Hinds. Top honors goes to Lynn Collins who play the Princess Of Mars. Her Dejah Thoris is tough yet vulnerable, fierce yet fearful, smart yet naive and one of the most watchable female heroines to grace an adventure film in many a moon. It also doesn't help that her combination of graceful curves, high cheekbones, dark skin, black locks, piercing blue eyes and the plumiest posh totty English accent this side of Angelina's Lara Croft means she's destined to adorn my desktop wallpaper for several decades to come.

Despite the terrible marketing campaign the film has had to endure, John Carter still might struggle to find a wide audience, particularly with the youth crowd. Not only may they be put off with the perceived derivative style and plot and off-putting period setting but the old fashioned way the story is told may not be enough to capture their imagination. In many ways this reminds me of 2005's Sahara which also had a mega-budget, was film in a non-contemporary way, died at the global box office...and yet was outrageously well made and ten times more fun than it had any right to be. We may not get sequels out of this costly endeavour but there's enough greatness contained within to keep my geek brain entertained for years to come.