John Carter (2012)

[Betsy Speicher 0]

imdb.com listing for John Carter (2012)).

Movie suggested for rating by Erik Christensen.

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[Joss Delage 0]

I went to see it on Wednesday. Overall, it's a pretty good movie, with some fun action, a lovely lead actress, good special effects, and a positive story.

[Erik Christensen 0]

Cool. I like heroic sci-fi. Our society needs more of it. The Romantic Manifesto spelled it out perfectly. I look forward to seeing John Carter.

[L-C 0]

Yep, not the pinnacle of any particular discipline within film making, but it has good qualities and fulfills Erik's point well. I enjoyed it.

[Jim A. 0]

I was bored with it.

But I wasn't disappointed. Ever since 2003, when I read the novel John Carter is based on, A Princess of Mars by American pulp writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, I thought that Peter Jackson--the director of the Lord of the Rings films and the recent remake of King Kong--should direct that book; it was perfect material for him. When I learned that someone else had directed it, I knew what to expect.

But the thing that was the most sad for me was that a little scene in the novel was not shown in the film. That scene contained a line of dialogue that challenged the very idea of and worship of the idea of "community" and, in another line of dialogue, challenged community ownership of private property, i.e., communism (and remember: the book was published in 1912, in a time when America had a stronger sense of its own values). It even hinted that that kind of social system meant individuals owning each other.