JOHN CARTER (2012)

                   This is the latest in my series of reviews of movies based on books by Edgar Rice Burroughs and their comparison to the book.  “John Carter” (originally intended to be entitled “John Carter on Mars” until Disney ludicrously decided Mars in the title would turn off females) was the culmination of decades of interest in filming “A Princess of Mars” which was published in 1917.  The novel was the compilation of a series that ran in a pulp magazine named The All-Story in 1912 under the title “Under the Moons of Mars”.  Burroughs wrote the series under the pseudonym  Normal (accidentally changed to Norman) Bean (“normal human being”) because he was worried readers would find it silly.  In the 1930’s, Disney took a run at an animated version, but early samples were greeted with less than enthusiasm by theater owners.  Other attempts also fell through until Andrew Stanton took an interest in the project.  He had the cachet from having directed “Wall-E” and “Finding Nemo”, but had never directed a live-action film.  He was given a huge budget that reached $263 million, although Disney was skeptical from the start.  It had good reason to be.  The.movie was a huge bomb (although it did well in Russia). 

               The movie begins with a narrator giving background about conditions on Mars (Barsoom).  The planet is dying.  There are two rival cities.  Helium is the center of science and civilization.  Zodanga is intent on planetary dominance.  The uneasy balance is about to be broken because the leader of Zodanga, Sab Than (Dominic West), has been given a super weapon by a mysterious group of godlike men called Therns led by Matai Shang (Mark Strong).  Mars is going to need a savior.  Cut to New York City in 1881.  John Carter (Taylor Kitsch) has recently died and has left his journal to his nephew, Edgar Rice Burroughs.  The journal launches the flashback to how Carter ended up on Mars.

               Carter is a Civil War veteran in the West.  He is obsessed with finding gold.  When he escapes from being conscripted into the cavalry, he takes refuge in a cave and is attacked by a Thern.  Suddenly, he finds himself on Mars where the low gravity and his denser bones gives him great strength and the ability to leap far distances.  He is captured by green Martians called Tharks.  However, his special powers allow him to escape and he gains the respect of the Tharks.  He befriends the chief’s daughter Sola and acquires a “dog” because this is a Disney movie.  He manages to rescue the Princess Dejah of Helium (Lynn Collins).  They undertake a journey down a river to try to get him back to Earth.  Carter and Dejah don’t get along at first, so you can guess where their relationship is heading.  This will become awkward because Dejah is supposed to marry Sab to bring peace to the cities.  (Think “Princess Bride”.)     The movie is careening to a big set piece battle between Zadonga and Helium, with the Tharks siding with Helium.  Supervillain Shang is around to cause trouble.

               “John Carter” did not deserve the ridicule it got from the critics.  It is not a great movie, but it is also not a disaster.  If you did not have money invested in Disney, you might marvel at the special effects.  The huge budget shows.  The film is gorgeous.  The CGI is amazing and even the multi-limbed Tharks look real.  Unfortunately, the technology allows for the hordeish melees typical of modern battle scenes.  For instance, at one point, John Carter defeats an entire army of Green Martians, by himself.  The hyperbole of Carter’s prowess can be blamed both on Burrough’s imagination and modern cinemas penchant for overdoing every action scene.  While the land battles tend to be messy, the air battles are cool.  The airships are similar to Roman galleys and tactics include boarding.  They look like what a fantasy writer might have envisioned was the future of warfare. 

               Part of the reason for the failure of the movie at the box office must have been the lack of living Burroughs fans who would have flocked to see their muse’s imagination brought to the screen.  To everyone else, the pulpy nature of the story might seem quaint.  The story requires a love for the fantastic as opposed to the logical.  There are plenty of threads to be pulled at if you are of a mind.  For example, the objective of the Therns makes little sense.  More specifically, the super weapon should have made all challenges to Zadonga moot.  Setting the movie on Mars did not cut it off from Earthly clichés.  For a fantasy, it is pretty predictable.  Stranger rescues Princess, they fall in love, he wins battles for her.

               Disney assembled a worthy cast to the point where the supporting actors (Mark Strong, Bryan Cranston, Claran Hinds, James Purefoy) could give acting lessons to Kitsch and Collins.  (In my opinion, the movie would have been better if Purefoy had played Carter.)  Whether you are a child or not, Woola steals the show.  The soundtrack by Michael Giacchino lends some class.

               I am going to assume most readers of this are familiar with Burroughs’ novel and prefer it to the movie.  I have a theory that a movie should be able to exceed the source novel for entertainment value.  The screenwriters (Stanton, Mark Andrews, and Michael Chabon) did what they thought was right to update the story for a modern audience.  It is clear, they did not use Burroughs fans as a test audience.  Substantial changes were made to the narrative and to the characters.  They decided to make Carter a typical modern anti-hero.  He is not the knight of the book.  He is reluctant to get involved and is focused on getting home until he falls in love with Dejah.  He fights for no one until he fights for someone.  And he’s a dick, until his innate humanity comes out.  He is damaged goods as the movie gives him a back-story involving his family.  As far as Dejah, clearly you don’t attract females with a heroine who is a damsel in need of rescuing.  Watch any recent Disney animated movie.  Dejah is both a scientist and a kick-ass warrior.  In the book, she agrees to the marriage for the good of her city. In the movie, she selfishly refuses to get married.  The rest of the characters are essentially the same, with the exception of Shang, who does not appear in the first book.  The movie loses Tars Tarka’s back-story and omits most of his heroism.  Carter sucks up most of this.  On the other hand, Sab is bumped up to Lex Luther status.             

               The screenwriters decided that Carter would logically be focused on returning to Earth because so would the audience.  In the book, he assimilates enthusiastically into Martian culture.  He learns the language, but not via a ludicrous potion device. The book reads like a travelogue and tourist guide in parts.  Hell, there is a chapter on Martian sex!  The movie Carter is your standard fish out of water.

               The writers added elements so the movie could join the action/adventure club.  The movie adds the medallion as a McGuffin because Carter must have a way to get back to Earth.  (The book Carter is content with life on Mars because he has been reborn there.)  The villain is given tattoos and a super weapon.  Carter is not the virtuous knight of the book, but this makes him more interesting, if stereotypical.  He does not win all his fights easily, like in the book.  His arc with Dejah is also tropeish, but an improvement over the roller-coaster ride of the book.  But the biggest improvement is the movie ditches the racism and sexism of the book.  ERB could be excused for making the Tharks savages in the book because it was the early 20^th Century, but this would not have flown in the 21^st Century.  Finally, excuse the pun, the movie replaces the ridiculous ending of the book with a much better conclusion.

               ERB was wrong about the public finding the serial to be too outlandish when it was published in 1912.  It turned out to be very popular and launched the series of novels.  However, the movie was made one hundred years later and times have changed.  The “improvements” made by the screenwriters were considered necessary to attract a modern audience that grew up with “Star Wars”.  This resulted in a generic action film, but a competently made one that is entertaining.  If you are an ERB purist (which I am not), the changes made dumbed down the movie.  If you are not, the movie improves on some of the novel’s weaknesses.

GRADE  =  C