John Carter: A Movie Review

First of all, take this with a grain of salt. I am not Roger Ebert (I just aged myself there, didn't I?), some of my favorite movies got terrible reviews (Peggy Sue Got Married, Urban Cowboy) and I love Taylor Kitsch so this movie review might be really biased.

I loved this movie. It could be that I went in with really low expectations or that after a day like yesterday, I would have liked to have been transported to Mars but I really enjoyed it. I thought they did a nice job explaining some of the sci-fi stuff during the action scenes so you weren't bored with endless scenes of explanations. I normally don't like sci-fi movies because I get lost in all the technical dialogue or fantasy of it all but this one was easy to just sit and be entertained. Movie-goers can analyze to death why he was the one chosen or how could that really happen so yes, in order to enjoy the movie, you have to buy into and go along with the fantasy. Some of the scenes explaining things were with John Carter and Princess Dejah so with all the sexual tension building up, it was easy to watch those as well. A movie that I am not embarrassed to admit I really liked was The Last Starfighter and this movie reminded me of that (and I am not even a video-gamer so go figure) and it reminded me of Star Wars and Gladiator. Before I get bashed for comparing it to Star Wars, I'm just saying that while I was watching it, I was thinking that this might be this generation's movie like that. I remember loving Star Wars to some extent (loved Han Solo and wanted to be Princess Leia) but when I showed it to my boys, in this age of technology, it didn't have the same effect. This movie's special effects were pretty cool even for me and I don't really get into that. For those that are into the romance part of movies, there is a kiss...one of the best ones in a long time that if I had it on my DVR, I would have rewound it a few times.

For those that love Taylor Kitsch, as we all know I do, it was awhile before he was in the gladiator-type clothes and was clean-shaven. I like men with a little bit of scruff which he had but for some of it, he had a lot more than scruff. He plays brooding so well and some of my favorite scenes were ones when he said so much without saying a thing. He is really funny in real life (or at least in interviews) and some of that came across which I love. Whenever I watch a movie or one of the FNL episodes with him in it, I am always left wanting more, thinking they could have expanded and given us more and this was no different. There were parts of the movie, I would have loved to have seen fleshed out but I also like that they gave us enough to let our own imagination work a little. One of my friends wondered if after I saw this, maybe the "shine" would dull a little on this celeb crush and it definitely did not. If anything, it is a little brighter and now I cannot wait to see Battleship (the preview before John Carter was a lot better than the ones I have seen so far of that movie).

I am taking the twins today to see it and truthfully, I think it is going to be way over their head. I don't see how Belle is going to like it unless she has her mother's taste in men and while Tommy will love the special effects, I predict there will be more questions about what is going on than actual watching. Leo went with me last night and I think he would have enjoyed it more if I wasn't sitting there going, "God, is he hot" every five minutes however, Princess Dejah was no eye-sore either so I am sure he was just fine. All in all, I expected to go and enjoy seeing Taylor Kitsch on the screen again and I was pleasantly surprised that I liked the movie as well. Leo said if there was a sequel, he'd go with me to see it so success all around!