Saving John Carter

Last night, before I watched John Carter, I checked Rotten Tomatoes. I don't consider the site to be the definitive measure for a film's quality, but I tend to agree with the Tomatometer. I wanted to see what it said about John Carter.

John Carter has a 52% rating. A bit below Decent Movie status. I watched it, and even though it won't have a place on my Favorite Movies list, it's far from the worst thing I've seen. And yet, the blurbs on the movie's Rotten Tomatoes page call it "a mess" and a "a curiously dull film" with a "tiresome" story. There's some merit to those criticisms, but there's also a lot to like about John Carter.

Spoilers after the cut.

Battle scenes - the action is fun to watch, whether people are fighting on airships or in crowds on the ground. You can follow the movements and actually see what's happening. Too often, movie fight scenes happen too fast or the camera shakes and moves around so much that it's hard to focus on what's happening.

Telegrams to Mars - my favorite scene is when John and Dejah are in the temple and he realizes that he's a copy of his Earth self. It's Avatar without the chair and wires, and what an excellent way to describe the process from John Carter's perspective: he understands that he was sent to Mars the way telegrams are sent on Earth. The message you receive is a copy of the original. The original remains intact at the sender's location.

Gravity games - John's body behaves differently on Mars because of the difference in gravity between Mars and Earth, and it's something he uses during the whole story: from jumping high and far to fighting with relative super-strength. This aspect is consistent in the movie and still lends itself to surprising moments. I thought John would be hurt by the white ape falling on him, until I remembered he could cut through the entire animal and end up on top of it.

Cinematography - the expanses of Mars's dry land don't look completely alien and yet they don't look familiar either. The cities look majestic, and there are distinctive design elements in each culture. Nothing looks jarring or out of place. It's a pleasure to watch this alien world with very human problems.

John Carter is primarily a film about spectacle. It's fun to watch and doesn't ask you to think too much. If you don't mind that kind of entertainment, then this is a fine way to spend two hours.