‘John Carter’

The much maligned and probable financial disaster that is John Carter is finally here!

The sci-fi actioner starring one of iFanboy’s favorite man crushes Taylor Kitsch has been the subject of widespread discussion and derision for a completely bungled marketing campaign, starting with changing the title of the movie from John Carter of Mars to John Carter in the middle of production. And then there were those godawful billboards and movie posters…

But whatever, the movie is finally out!

Are you going to see John Carter? Of course you are! So let’s talk about it!

If you haven’t seen the movie yet be forewarned – there be SPOILERS ahoy! So don’t scroll down any further if you are sensitive to that kind of thing.

READ Paul Montgomery’s review of John Carter >

LISTEN to Conor Kilpatrick, Paul Montgomery, and Ali Colluccio review John Carter on the iFanboy Special Edition Podcast >

Comments

  1. not much interest in this one.

  2. Saw this at a screening last week and absolutely enjoyed it. If you like Westerns, fantasy, or Star Wars, there is definitely something to like here.

    I try not to plug the blog I write for here too much (I don’t want to be *that guy*), but here is our review:

    http://www.filmhash.com/main/2012/3/4/review-john-carter.html

  3. I have no experience with John Carter, and I really went for the poster last night, but 2hrs and 20 min later I was really impressed. 4/5 stars

  4. I saw a preview screening a week or so ago, and I loved it. It’s a fun, B-movie-style scif-fi/action flick.

  5. You know I wasn’t really even aware f the issues that were swirling around the film (although the title change was a stupid idea, and the final credits still show it as “John Carter of Mars”). All I know is I took my 9 yr old and we both thought it was awesome. A breathtaking cross pollination of Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Flash Gordon and every other film that people in our generation grew up loving. It’s that rarest of things, a movie that provided me the same level of escapism that I felt as a naive, wideyed, sheltered schoolkid. Highest recommendation and a sign that, on the back of Tintin and Super 8, we’re finally back into an era of family movies that provide substance as well as expensive effects gloss?

  6. Saw an advance screening last Thursday. While not a fan of the original novels, I did some digging on them and became very interested in this film. After all the hype or lack there of, i have to say that absolutely loved this movie! I’m really hoping that the terrible adverstising and name changes of this film do not completely ground it at the box office because this film deserves to be a hit and it definitely deserves to have sequels!

    It had a classic feel that most movies like this are lacking these days. I thought it was a beautifully shot film with fantastic special effects that brought to life a vast landscape of characters and places that have served as inspirations for most of the science fiction fantasy stories we know today.

    I highly reccommend this movie to anyone! If you know the Burroughs books, or you’re a freshman to them, go see it! I promise you won’t be disappointed!

  7. I should clarify, when i said i was not a fan of the novels, i meant that i had not ever heard of them until this movie release. I’m very interested in reading all of the novels now!

  8. I wasn’t planning on seeing this one, but after reading a few interviews with Andrew Stanton and hearing his love for the character made it obvious that this was a real passion project for him. He convinced me.

    If I don’t end up seeing it this weekend, I will absolutely see it at some point. A lot of comments from fellow genre fans who have seen the movie make me hopeful. Even if it doesn’t do well at the box office, here’s hoping that a good buzz in the “Fanboy” community will make it a hit on home video.

  9. Most reviews are indicating that this movie might actually be pretty good.

  10. Did smash make an appearance?

  11. Really enjoyed John Carter, Taylor Kitsch is not the John Carter I pictured in my head when reading the books but he makes the character his own and Lynn Collin, MY GOD, going in I was sure she was gonna be the weak link but she surprised the hell out of me, I put her portail of Dejah Thoris right up there with Princess Leia. Also the musical score by Michael Giacchino is just fantastic and the ending was a really cleaver way to wrap things up while simultaneously setting up a sequel. It’s not perfect my biggest complaint is at times it gets bogged down the tons of mythology it throws at you so if you haven’t read the books it could be more then a little confusing but if you have read them it’s nearly perfect. The whole thing just had a cool Indiana Jones meets Star Wars action adventure vibe to it.

  12. “What if Princess Leia stayed in the slave outfit for the entire movie?” That’s how I’ve been selling this movie to my friends today. Really enjoyed it. Plus, watching the western scenes in Imax 3D really makes me want some crazy bastard to make a big time western adventure. (i’m NOT looking at you Lone Ranger)

  13. “You can read Paul Montgomery’s review of John Carter in a few days.”

    But the movie came out today! Lazin’ on the job, Paul. I hope it’s full of Riggins allusions, but that’s probably too obvious.

    • Avatar photo Paul Montgomery (@fuzzytypewriter) says:

      I was recording the Don’t Miss podcast for next week at 11:30, so I didn’t get to see the movie until the evening. Felt I should sleep on it before writing the review.

  14. I must have seen a different movie than the rest of yall. The John Carter I saw tonight was awful. It was long, boring, and predictable. The dialogue was amateurish and the special effects totally Jar Jar Binks-ish. The dog monster was sorta ok but the rest of it…. just, just terrible.

  15. This was an EXCELLENT movie apart from the first 15 minutes which suffered from some bad acting. Carter’s relative was played by a weak actor. Other than that it was pretty awesome. Best sci fi adventure since Lord of the Rings and the original Star Wars before that.

  16. Just saw it and the best way to describe it is: It’s the second Star Wars trilogy, but done well, and with superman as the hero instead of a Jedi. Also if we ever get Wolverine going completely berserk like we all would really like to see, it should look like the fights in this film.

  17. I thought this movie was wonderful. I always thought this was an adaptation of an obscure Marvel ’70s comic until I found out it was actually 100 years old this year. Warlord of Mars was the second comic I can ever remember getting as a child (the first being Amazing Adventures, hence my user name that i pretty much use for everything) and after the movie I visited my local Barnes and Nobles and got a great deal on a hardback copy of the first 3 novels. I’ve just started reading the first one and so far so good. This is a fun, in your face family movie that I can’t wait to take my little boy to see. I hope everyone can enjoy it for what it is and not try and pick it apart. Life is so much more fun and interesting if you don’t try and analyze every little aspect of it and enjoy it for what it is 🙂

  18. I think it was Paul who compared it to The Rocketeer in the Special Edition Podcast and I think that’s a very good comparison. Neither movie is perfect, neither movie is mind-blowing. It’s just fun, cool, action-adventure done well. There’s no need to dig deep into the plot or try to fix any plot holes because that’s not what the creators of the movie want you to do. The best thing this movie did was not take itself too seriously, so we shouldn’t take it too seriously either.

  19. Loved the movie, I don’t understand the negative “film critic” reviews I’ve read, take the stick out of your ass and just enjoy a fun movie. I just hope they get to make a sequel, I would gladly spend another two hours in the world of John Carter.
    This movie also gave me my new number one contender for Wonder Woman.