Film review: JOHN CARTER

From Mondo Tees, by JC Richard:
vastly superior to any of the official work

John Carter is a big-budget science-fiction adventure film, from a celebrated animation director branching out into live-action and based on a popular series of pulp novels first published over 100 years ago. And to top it all of, the series of novels have been so influential on pop culture over that last century or so, almost every beat of the story and every character detail has been re-appropriated by other filmmakers.

Andrew Stanton, director of Pixar classics Finding Nemo and WALL.E, had his work cut for himself then, bringing this long gestating passion project to the big screen. But as Brad Bird recently proved with Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol, animation directors can make the successful leap to live-action. And so, despite a lacklustre marketing campaign and numerous critics condemning before it had even been released, I was looking forward to John Carter; especially to see if this proto-science-fiction tale stacked up.

The story finds ex-Confederate soldier John Carter (Taylor Kitsch) on the run from, well, damn near everyone. He's a complex man of conflicting characteristics:  a man weary of war who doesn't shy away from throwing himself into a fight. He is quickly established as a hurt, ornery man with a crafty intelligence and, while taking refuge in a cave lined with gold, finds himself miraculously and quite accidentally transported to Mars. The planet is known as Barsoom by it's, largely humanoid, inhabitants who are themselves all caught up in a planet-wide civil war: the evil, resource devouring Zodangans fighting the last outpost of Helium. Caught up on the sidelines are the Tharks - a harsher, more primitive race of 8-feet tall green-skinned, be-tusked, four-armed aliens.

It is a tribe of Tharks, and their leader the kinder, more thoughtful Tars Tarkas (Willem Dafoe), who first discover Carter on Mars. And thanks to the lower gravity on Mars/Barsoom Carter is gifted with vastly increased strength, able to leap huge distances in a single bound - he is very much a proto-Superman.

The leader of the Zodangans, Sab Than (Dominic West) is gifted with an ultimate weapon by the shady and manipulative Matai Shang (Mark Strong) - a member of an incredibly powerful godlike beings. He decimates the Heliumite forces, but offers to cease all hostilities if the Princess of Helium, Deja Thoris (Lynn Collins) consents to marry him. She runs and Carter (very literally) leaps to her rescue. Carter is a wrinkle in the plans of Matai Shang and finds himself becoming more and more involved with the world and war of Barsoom.

Yes, there is a lot of heavy plot mechanics and silly sci-fi names going on here. But there is also a fully conceived and constructed world. Obviously there is a vast amount of original material that Stanton and fellow script-writers Mark Andrews and Michael Chabon have been able to pull from to create this world. But it was these details, these constructions, that made me happy to go along for the ride; I never felt like the filmmakers were talking down to their audience.

And Lynn Collins' Deja Thoris - the Princess of Mars of the original story's title - is the strongest female character in science-fiction since Princess Leia and Ellen Ripley. In fact, it isn't difficult to see how much the character influenced Lucas' creation of Leia. Deja Thoris is strong, smart (she's not only a scientist but the lead scientist), an ass-kicking warrior who throws herself into the fray and who carries herself with an effortless sex appeal. Collins absolutely invests herself in the role, delivering even the most ridiculous sounding sci-fi dialogue with heart. She is a true bright spot in the film; offering heart, smarts and sex appeal.

Stanton proves himself no slouch in the action department. One scene in particular is a remarkable stand-out; Carter throws himself into a rampaging band of Tharks and becomes a one-man rampage. Stanton uses the scene to reveal the broken heart of the character and not just as an excuse to show-off some cool lookin' shit.

John Carter is hardly a revelation of a film or even a break-away hit; it has it's shaky moments, when you feel like it hasn't quite been carried off. But it certainly isn't the boring stinker a lot of people are proclaiming it to be. There's crazy aliens, a genuinely cute six-legged dog sidekick, a beautiful princess, a reticent hero and delicate solar powered ships that sail through the sky. The plot workings get a bit intricate and complicated but John Carter, overall, works. 

14.08: DRIVE (NZIFF)

Dear gods, I cannot believe it has taken me this long to wrap up the New Zealand International Film Festival. I guess taking on the challenge of separate, full reviews for each film I saw (whilst working a day job, then quitting said day job to come to Austin, TX for Fantastic Fest) got the best of me. In fact, since the Closing Night of the NZIFF I've actually managed to see Drive again (here in Austin, at the Alamo Drafthouse). So, I actually hope I can give you a better account of the film than I would have otherwise. Y'see, the screening at the NZIFF was unfortunately marred by sound issues - not all the way through and not something that anyone could have really done anything about. But it distracted me and took me out of the film just as I was really getting in to it. But hey, enough of my blathering blatherskites! On with the film (review)!

What it boils down to is this: Nicholas Winding Refn's Drive is an explosion of sweaty LA noir, 80's pop songs and ice-cold coolness. I've been a fan of Refn since his real breakout film, the Tom Hardy starring Bronson. I haven't caught his Pusher trilogy (yet) and I have no idea what happened to the release of Valhalla Rising down here but I'll be tracking them all down now.

Ryan Gosling (once Young Hercules) is The Driver; stunt-driver for the movies by day, getaway driver by night. He has his own unique code he sticks to and he's the guy you want driving if you want to get away - nobody can beat him behind the wheel. He's not too concerned with money, but all of his gigs (legitimate and otherwise) are put together by his mentor, and only friend, the limping Shannon (played by a rumpled Bryan Cranston) who always seems to have his nose out for a score, though he keeps running into bad luck. Carey Mulligan is Gosling's neighbour Irene, and he makes an honest-to-gods connection with them. There's also two low-level gangster crooks Shannon is mixed up with: the quietly terrifying Albert Brooks (Nemo's dad!) as Bernie and the great Ron Perlman swaggering around as Nino, a Jewish gangster who wishes he were Italian (even going so far as to own and run a tiny pizzeria).

Just as Gosling and Mulligan are really connecting with one another - though not in bed as their courtship is almost entirely desexualised, Refn aiming for something more than surface titillation - her husband (Oscar Isaac) is released from prison. And he's brought trouble with him. Trouble The Driver offers to help him get out of which, because this is a neo-noir, brings even more trouble. And that's when The Driver; the man seemingly always in control; the man who barely speaks unless needed to; the man who is so damned cool he wears tight white shirts, a denim jacket with jeans and a white satin jacket with a scorpion on the back, loses his cool. And his vengeance is furious and bloody. 

Refn makes excellent use of the violence, using it for booming punctuation with it being short, sharp and brutal. His use of slow-mo is elegant and never tips over into cheesy or overused. He manages a balancing act with Drive; at once evoking slick action films of the 80's while making a film very much of now. The soundtrack is a gorgeous soaking of synth-laden tunes, with a few that stick in your head for days afterwards. And for a man who doesn't drive, Refn sure knows how to shoot a car chase; they're not some of the best car chases ever put to screen but they are more than involving as the vehicular beasts crash, glide and accelerate. Drive (especially after my second viewing) left me with a huge film-geek smile on my face and is a film I am looking forward to seeing again (again).

And as a final note: I was lucky enough to first see the film without having seen any trailers, or really hearing too much about it (aside from word leaking out from Cannes that it was very, very, very good) and I am thankful for that. The trailer I've seen playing in American cinemas pretty much gives away the entire film - don't bother watching that. Just see the film.