Movie Review: John Carter

Went to see "John Carter" this afternoon (alone, of course--I probably couldn't have paid B to go see it with me, which I'm sure surprises none of you).  Briefly:  the movie is based on the book Princess of Mars, written by Edgar Rice Burroughs and published in 1912.  Princess of Mars is, I believe, the first book of 11 or 12 books about John Carter, an American Civil War veteran who is mysteriously transported from Earth in the late 1860's to Mars, and thrust into the middle of a power struggle between two warring cities.

I went to the movie expecting to be mildly entertained--after all, it's got airships, aliens, swordfighting, and it's on MARS, for crying out loud--so how could I NOT go see it in the theater?  It turned out to be a pretty good movie, and different from what the previews made it out to be.

But one thing that stood out to me, that I thought about on the way home from the theater:  there was very little in the way of gore, violence, sex, and profanity.  I feel as if we have come to accept those things, or a combination thereof, as being part and parcel of a "good" movie; or at least, that they will play a part in pretty much any movie we see.  This is a Disney movie, so that may partially explain it.  Of the four, in this movie there was really only gore and violence, and even that was pretty mild compared to standard movie theater fare.  There was a lot of fighting and shooting and hand-to-hand combat, but it was more from an "overview" perspective than up close and personal (similar to "Lord of the Rings", if that makes sense).  And, what gore and violence there was fit into the story; it wasn't gratuitous.

Now, don't get me wrong--I'm a fan of gore and violence, if it makes sense (like in "Gladiator", one of my all time favorites) and isn't ridiculously over-the-top (like 300).  But it was refreshing to see a good, action-filled movie without the director feeling as if he had to pander to the audience's baser tastes to get people into the theater.  The lead male character was headstrong and stubborn, but didn't lace every sentence with 4-letter words; the lead female character was defiant and brash, but wasn't disrobing in every other scene; and the violence, when it came, was necessary and integral to the story.

I would definitely recommend seeing this movie.  I think now I'll have to quickly push through what I'm reading so I can get to the first book in the John Carter series.

And by the way--the airships were COOL.