Review of John Carter (2012) by Greta B — 02 Sep 2013

Mars was always the interesting planet as I remember. Where do aliens come from? Mars. In what planet could there be water? Mars. Where are astronauts from the movies sent to make a new life? Mars. What's the planet people are sent to if there is trouble on Earth (in the movies)? Mars.

What do we know about Mars? Sure, there's Curiosity, roaming its lands and sending examples from it. Scientifically, we know a lot. But we could know more. And so if there's a place for mystery, stories unfold.

John Carter is a soldier from Earth. Accidentally he gets sent to the Mars (or Barsoom how the Martians call it) where he has the ability to jump great lengths (probably because of his earthly bone structure). And he attracts attention. A princess wants to use him to save her city and kingdom. A king wants to use him to protect another kingdom. And he just wants to go home.

Personally, I would like to talk about two things in this movie. First one is science fiction. I mean, a movie about Mars always promises something mysterious, but an entire nation? That's just what I wanted. Sure, it's not Avatar with the most wonderful graphics, but still. Science fiction just gets into people's mind, because it's something you know and something mysterious at the same time. As with Mars, if we would search information about it, we would find a lot, but that doesn't mean that people can't use their imagination and fill in the empty slots. And that is just so amazing.

The second thing is the human nature to help. And yes, I am aware of millions/billions of news articles talking about scumbags and so on, but let's not forget that the news usually focus on negative sides of human nature. What compels people to help others? Is it just goodwill? I believe that under everything we are told the true human nature is to help out, and that is why after some time John Carter does that as well. We see a man who is closed from everything, who felt pain and gave up on world open up again and feel joy.

I'm not saying, that John Carter's plot is really deep: princess in trouble, guy saves her, becomes her prince. Sort of like a fairytale. Only that it's happening on Mars. Nonetheless, it's a nice and simple story with beautiful effects and fighting scenes. It's a science fiction fairytale.