John Carter (2012)

Based on a story titled "A Princess Of Mars", this film tells of a Virginia cavalryman who finds himself transported from Earth to Mars in a flash of light (literally, he was teleported in mere seconds) when he finds an immortal being called a Thern with a medallion. Disney implements extensive cutting-edge CGI to give hundreds of green Martians, a dog-like alien, and ships that can fly in the sky.

John Carter starts off as a wayward cavalryman who deflects from his duties and commitment to his country. It is evident in one scene that one colonel addresses the underlying issue of Apaches attacking people in their homes and before he can finish, Carter interrupts him twice by assaulting the officers and jumping out of the building. Carter asserts his disinterest to the matter at hand as stubbornly as possible.

John finds his cave of gold where an alien is hiding. He shoots him and finds himself transported instantaneously to Mars ("true" name "Barsoom"). Here he can leap great distances unlike inhabitants of Barsoom. But the problem with this is that the gravitational intensity on Mars is not as small as it is on the earth's moon; so leaping at such magnitude is only accomplished on the Moon, not on Barsoom. Of course the only reason Carter is able to this is because he has adapted to earth's gravity and not to Barsoom's.

He finds some lifeforms on the planet and is frustrated by his inability to communicate with the Martians (called Tharks). He does not yet know where he is and these inhabitants mistaken "Virginia" for his name (I bet the audience was laughing its head off when this misconception persisted as "Virginia is also a female name). I can understand why this movie had such a large budget: to animate so many Martians must have taken so much labor and money, especially as far as the hatchings were concerned. I mean watching them wail en mass was daunting enough! And seeing the size of the egg and the stature of the Tharks, anyone would be baffled by the ability to lay an egg of that nature!

And if there is one other creature to avoid looking at, it is a Martian dog called Woola. It is unbelievable that this thing can travel so fast with nothing to get in the way. In that it is still resourceful at a moment when Carter is in peril, twice by a Thern. How much they spent on this creature contributed to such budget.

Thankfully there are human beings on Barsoom sharing the planet with other sentient beings and beasts, and the Princess happens to be human. However these humans are patched with red as if a result of the red plains of Barsoom, highly in contrast with Carter's.

Through the course of the story, Carter evolves from a stubborn man to one with a cause. He devotes himself to saving someone by jumping like a man not bound by the laws of physics, giving every Thark a savior to latch unto. He learns to fight for a planet he is not native to to restore order, rather than just vanish back to Earth (Jasoom) like a coward. In fact, he manages to end his day a winner rather than live in a fool's dream of no passion for adventure, or vision for the future.

But let us not forget the amount of violence incorporated into this movie: it has been made graphic without any [red] blood being shed, but with blue blood coursing through their systems. For one man alone to slay so many violent beasts, must be heart-stopping and intense, but somewhat unconvincing for someone who has never been on a field of battle where slaughter is the case.

Somehow this movie is neither great nor dismal, but having to watch it is invigorating. It is typical of the Disney formula: a hero develops, saves a damsel in distress, falls for her, and they live in haven.