John Carter, directed by Andrew Stanton, is a Disney fantasy adventure about one man, John Carter, and his epic adventure which is about to unfold. This film is based on the wounded planet of Mars, which has been overrun with battling warrior tribes. John Carter, a Vietnam war veteran, heeds the plea of a beautiful princess and embarks on a journey to bring peace to this war ruined land.
The director, Andrew Stanton's work should be known by all. He has directed such huge successes as Finding Nemo and the fantastic WALL-E. This man has no lack of experience when it comes to major blockbusters and knows what the audience wants, and gives it to them. Now admittedly this is a change of pace for Andrew, directing his first epic fantasy adventure, but I have no lack of confidence in him and believe he will deliver to us a hugely exciting and visually stunning adventure.
Taylor Kitsch, who plays John Carter, has performed in a steady stream on films since 2006 with his first Hollywood appearance in John Tucker Must Die. Since then he has featured in around one film per year, his best probably being X-Men Origins: Wolverine in 2009. This film however proves to be his first as the lead role and I am sure he will be out to impress. He is not an overly definitive actor, normally sticking to the same type of role, but his role of John Carter will see him change that. He will be transformed into a war hardened warrior, lets hope the transformation will be a successful one.
Jon Carter is based on the first book in the Barsoom Series written by Edgar Rice Burroughs. I have not read these books, so when seeing the film I will inevitably have nothing to compare it too. I see this as a positive thing, this way I can take the film for what it is, what is on the screen, as opposed to standing it up against the book and seeing how close they actually kept it.
I personally chose this film as 'worth the watch' as I am a huge fantasy fan, in fact that is all I read. Fantasy is becoming more and more popular and is shedding this incorrect preconceived idea that fantasy means unicorns being ridden by fairies in a flowery meadow. Where in actual fact it is more along the lines of kings, assassinations, armies marching to epic scale battles and heroes emerging from the ashes. An excellent example of this deservingly new found respect for the fantasy genre is the hugely successful television adaptation of the A Song of Ice and Fire series, Game of Thrones. So I say, bring on the fantasy films!
John Carter will be out in cinemas March 9 so keep an eye out for it, it looks to be one hell of a ride.
