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3D Blu-ray Review John Carter: THE HTF 3D ADDICT REVIEW (1 Viewer)

Ronald Epstein

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What can I say?  I love 3D!  From the moment I began watching 3D content in my home I quickly discovered that I needed more content.  I suspect that those of you just purchasing your first 3D hardware will acquire the same ferocious appetite.  That's why I became the HTF 3D ADDICT.  I personally love images that pop off the screen and come inches away from your face without becoming overly gimmicky.  However, I certainly appreciate the nature documentaries that offer beautiful depth and separation.  These are not necessarily reviews of the film themselves.  I am not going to concentrate on story or supplements -- you can find the 2D reviews elsewhere on this forum.  My job is to let you know exactly what kind of 3D experience to expect from the titles that are being released.   As I will be receiving a handful of new product from the studios expect to see more title coverage.





JOHN CARTER


Studio: Walt Disney

Product Release: June 5, 2012

Ratio: 2.40:1

Audio: 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio. French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital

Running Time: 132 Minutes

Rating: PG-13



3dsmall.jpg

ON A SCALE 0-5

Overall 3D Presentation Rating: 3

3D Separation: 3

3D In Yo' Face Factor: 0



Let's get this out of the way: John Carter was supposed to be

this Summer's first box-office smash, but instead suffered from

negative reviews from critics and ultimately became a $30.6 million

dollar box-office flop, considering the $250 million it took to make.


For those of you who about to watch John Carter for the first

time, I wish I had something a little encouraging to say.  Truth

be, I found myself rather disconnected to this over-the-top CGI

spectacle for most of its 132 minutes.  I suppose it's the same

way I felt when watching Lucas's final 3 Star Wars films.  There is

so much emphasis put on special effects that do nothing to enhance

a story that's not well written, sometimes badly acted, and certainly

not engaging enough for one to always care about its characters.



The story itself is somewhat of a head-scratcher.  You have a

Confederate Soldier named John Carter (Taylor Kitsch), who upon

discovering a cave of gold is strangely transported to Mars where he

becomes entangled with green-skinned warriors, headed by Tars

Tarkas (Willem Dafoe), who claim him as their savior as they battle

against Sab Than (Dominic West), who is armed with a very powerful

weapon obtained from a Holy race of Martians. I can just imagine how

this looked on paper when presented to Disney executives, and in 

many ways, am in awe they were able to somewhat pull it off.


Those familiar with Edgar Rice Burroughs's Princess of Mars,

which this film is based upon, may have better appreciation for this

film knowing its characters and the various backstories. However,

for those walking into this film for the first time without any prior

knowledge of the story, might feel a little blindsighted by it all.



Disney has a reputation for their outstanding 3D Blu-rays that

flawlessly translate to the home screen.  John Carter is no 

exception here, with its outstanding image quality that I had

no fault with.  Though the film seems to take on a predominantly

brown hue due to its dusty western landscaped setting, colors

and skin tones look very natural, and I was pleased with the

overall black levels.  



The 3D presentation, however, is a mixed bag.  There's really

nothing eye-popping about watching John Carter in a format you

are ultimately going pay more to watch theatrically or on home 

video.  There's probably a good reason why -- the film was not

originally shot for 3D, but instead post-converted afterwards. The

end result is quite a bit of depth in many of the action scenes, 

but very little everywhere else.  In fact, there are so many scenes

that take place in faintly-lit caves, or under night sky that the

depth is completely lost.  Most of all, anyone looking for any ounce

of "In Yo' Face" effects is going to be gravely disappointed. There

is nothing that flies out of the screen towards the audience.  


Hardly a bit of crosstalk here, except ever-so-slightly in the

darker scenes, which is mostly where one would expect to find it.


The Blu-ray boasts a 7.1 DTS-HD MA audio track that was downcoverted

to 5.1 on my home system.  Michael Giaccino's score triumphs across

the front channels, with very little musical support from the rears which

are too busy providing the wealth of realistic atmospheric effects from

subtle wind blowing, to rainfall, to the roar of a spaceships panning from

back to front. There's a good amount of LFE activity that underscores

every crash and thud.  You'll really feel the floor shake during John Carter's

arena battle with two white apes.  Overall, quite engaging.



John Carter arrives as a 4-disc (3D BD+2D BD+DVD+Digital Copy) and

2-Disc (Blu-ray+DVD) combo pack.  The 4-disc Blu-ray is housed in 

cardboard lenticular packaging.  


Blu-ray bonus features include Disney Second Screen which explores

John Carter's journal along with details that extend the mythology of the film.

Additionally, there are deleted scenes with director commentary as well as

bloopers and a documentary that looks into the filmmaking process.


A 3D trailer for Tim Burton's upcoming Frankenweenie is included.



CONCLUSION



Filled with spectacular set pieces and over-the-top action sequences,
John Carter could make for the perfect mindless popcorn flick.  If that

is the kind of thing you are looking for, I think you'll walk away quite pleased.

Those looking for a polished science-fiction story are going to walk away

disappointed with a film that seems overbloated with special effects and

completely bland of interesting storytelling.


The fact that this film was post-converted to 3D as an afterthought makes

this one that I do not recommend that you pay extra for.   If you are going

to purchase this on Blu-ray, opt for the 2-disc version instead.


Images are for illustrative purpose only not representative of the picture quality of this disc. 



Equipment


LG 60PX950 THX Certified 3D display

Oppo BDP-93 3D Blu-ray Player

Denon 3311CI Receiver

Atlantic Technology H-PAS AT-1 fronts, 4400 center; 4200 rear speakers

SV Sound Subwoofer

 

Adam Gregorich

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When I saw this I thought it wasn't that bad, but it was missing something that I can't put my finger on. I felt a little differently than you did about the special effects. To me they were an asset to the film and added to the story telling. I did like the ending. Overall it left me wanting to read the books because it feels like there should be more there.
 

DavidJ

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Thanks for the review Ron. I was thinking of picking up the 3D, but it looks like I'll pass.
 

Adam Gregorich

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Originally Posted by DavidJ /t/320959/john-carter-the-htf-3d-addict-review#post_3929273
Thanks for the review Ron. I was thinking of picking up the 3D, but it looks like I'll pass.
Keep in mind that sometimes with the coupon the Disney 3D ends up being the same price as the 2D. Make sure you check the Weekly RoundUp in the bargins area every week.
 

Ted Van Duyn

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Unfortunately the more I learned about the source material, the more annoyed I got with the handling of the film. Every single step that the marketing department took felt like a class in "How to not associate your film with previous flops". The title "Princess of Mars" is gone because nobody likes movies about Princesses and the "of Mars" title is gone because movies based around Mars haven't done well in the past. While having a flop is no fun for anyone involved with the film, I'm glad that the practice to distance the movie from the source material and make it more marketable didn't pay off. I hate those practices.
But that's not the reason why I didn't go see this movie. For me, John Carter felt like another one of those stories about a white human male (American even!) who ends up on an alien world, saves it and gets his prize female princess in the end. I guess I'm just bored with those story lines. At least Black Widow wasn't a prize for any of the male characters in the Avengers.
This year is not looking good for Taylor Kitsch.
 

Adam Gregorich

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Originally Posted by Ted Van Duyn /t/320959/john-carter-the-htf-3d-addict-review#post_3929396
But that's not the reason why I didn't go see this movie. For me, John Carter felt like another one of those stories about a white human male (American even!) who ends up on an alien world, saves it and gets his prize female princess in the end. I guess I'm just bored with those story lines.
I understand, but in all fairness the book on which it was based was a product of its time, and thats what audiences wanted to hear back then.
 

Jason_V

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I'm actually re-reading Princess of Mars right now (actually downloaded most of the series when I got out of the theater).

There's just a disconnect in John Carter I can't really describe. I was excited to see it, continue to think it got the shaft by a lot of people and there are aspects to the finished product I really like. The design and imagination that went into the creature and technology. The story just takes so long to get to the point for me. I wasn't at all invested in his story, either the "getting home" story or the Martian revolt story. When John and the princess are in the cave and talking about the stars and planets and whatever else, I mentally checked out. The movie never got me back.

I also didn't particularly care for the opening and closing scenes set in the "modern" day. I get why they were there, but they felt unnecessary.

I'll most likely pick up the BD just to see if my thoughts change on it. And, to be honest, I want to support movies like this. It might not have been stellar, but JC wasn't a comic book movie, a sequel or "standard." It tried to hit a home run and struck out.
 

Ted Van Duyn

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Adam Gregorich said:
I understand, but in all fairness the book on which it was based was a product of its time, and thats what audiences wanted to hear back then. 
And I'm very thankful that we're not living in that time.
 

smithb

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I have a box in my basement with the Mars and Tarzan series that I have been carting around since my youth in the early 70's when I first read them (only read them that one time). I don't go to theaters anymore so i obviously haven't seen the movie yet, but will defintely buy this when released. Now I just have to decide whether to go back and read the first book first or see the movie first. In any case, I'm just glad to finally be able to see a decent adaptation.
 

Adam Gregorich

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Originally Posted by Jason_V /t/320959/john-carter-the-htf-3d-addict-review#post_3929451
I'm actually re-reading Princess of Mars right now (actually downloaded most of the series when I got out of the theater).

There's just a disconnect in John Carter I can't really describe. I was excited to see it, continue to think it got the shaft by a lot of people and there are aspects to the finished product I really like. The design and imagination that went into the creature and technology. The story just takes so long to get to the point for me. I wasn't at all invested in his story, either the "getting home" story or the Martian revolt story. When John and the princess are in the cave and talking about the stars and planets and whatever else, I mentally checked out. The movie never got me back.

I also didn't particularly care for the opening and closing scenes set in the "modern" day. I get why they were there, but they felt unnecessary.

I'll most likely pick up the BD just to see if my thoughts change on it. And, to be honest, I want to support movies like this. It might not have been stellar, but JC wasn't a comic book movie, a sequel or "standard." It tried to hit a home run and struck out.
I felt that disconnect too. Getting ready to buy the books. Is the disconnect in them too?
 

Jason_V

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I can't answer that objectively, Adam, since I've been reading a chapter here or there when I can fit it in (aka I have no momentum from one day to the next). I'm not sitting on the edge of my chair saying "Oooohhh, I can't wait to read more!" at this point. I've started it, I'll finish it and then put the other books off for a while when life gets back to "normal."
 

smithb

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Adam Gregorich said:
I felt that disconnect too.  Getting ready to buy the books.  Is the disconnect in them too?
Just a thought on the books. In the early 70's I got on a ERB's kick and tried to find and read all of his books (something like 90 or so and i found around 70). The Tarzan series stands out as probably the best with the Mars series in a close second, but I woudln't call them a great read. I enjoyed them immensely in my early teens when reading them but as an adult i would probably consider them a bit simple and a quick read. As previously mentioned, they were written around 100 years ago and ERB sticks to a common type of formula to his stories. I might be able to re-read them and capture back some feelings from my youth but im not sure how they would come off as an adult for a first read. Just a thought.
 

DavidJ

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Adam Gregorich said:
Keep in mind that sometimes with the coupon the Disney 3D ends up being the same price as the 2D.  Make sure you check the Weekly RoundUp in the bargins area every week.
Oh, I always do. One of my favorite threads here at HTF.
 

SilverWook

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Ted Van Duyn said:
Unfortunately the more I learned about the source material, the more annoyed I got with the handling of the film. Every single step that the marketing department took felt like a class in "How to not associate your film with previous flops". The title "Princess of Mars" is gone because nobody likes movies about Princesses and the "of Mars" title is gone because movies based around Mars haven't done well in the past. While having a flop is no fun for anyone involved with the film, I'm glad that the practice to distance the movie from the source material and make it more marketable didn't pay off. I hate those practices.
But that's not the reason why I didn't go see this movie. For me, John Carter felt like another one of those stories about a white human male (American even!) who ends up on an alien world, saves it and gets his prize female princess in the end. I guess I'm just bored with those story lines. At least Black Widow wasn't a prize for any of the male characters in the Avengers.
This year is not looking good for Taylor Kitsch.
The cheapo SciFi channel version aired as "Princess of Mars". I saw a dvd of it in Target recently, and now it's retitled "John Carter of Mars". Talk about poking Disney in the eye!
 

Ejanss

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SilverWook said:
The cheapo SciFi channel version aired as "Princess of Mars". I saw a dvd of it in Target recently, and now it's retitled "John Carter of Mars". Talk about poking Disney in the eye!
And even then, the cheapo-Asylum "Princess" believed it was knocking off the obvious (public-domain) associations with "Avatar"--
With Carter updated to a Marine who's transported to a planet as an experiment to cure his disease, and even then it's not the Mars but "A newly discovered planet designated Mars 23". :rolleyes:
Still, waste not, want not.
 

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I think this film gets the shaft when it comes to reviews, but I do agree that the 3D wasn't anything special and wouldn't be missed.
 

Mark Oates

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Here in the UK there's a £7 premium to pay for the 3D edition, and for that you only get the 2D Blu-ray as added-value. No Digital Copy, no DVD. As I've been disappointed by post-conversion 3D movies previously, I've decided to go with the standard "flat" edition. Had Disney been putting out a Super Play edition (3D, 2D, DVD and DC) at the more usual price of £17.99 rather than the eye-watering £22.99 (or £25 expected by some shops) I might have bitten.
I wonder if there may always have been some disconnect with ERB's non-Tarzan stories. While Tarzan has always enjoyed an audience in both print and film, his more exotic works have always been something of a niche interest. If you say "Tarzan" to most people they know who you're talking about. If you say "John Carter", "Carson Napier" or "David Innes" they probably won't.
I suspect that for those of us in the know about ERB's planetary romances, expectations are maybe higher than the books themselves deliver. The books are very much of their era in both language and character behaviour - the earliest Barsoom, Tarzan, Pellucidar and Caspak novels date to before the 1920s, with the first Tarzan and Barsoom novels actually pre-dating the First World War. Society, morals and language have changed so radically in the interim that you have a serious disconnect with a modern audience right there. Then there's the sheer volume of science fiction inspired by Burroughs since then.
How do you take something that (but for a relatively small cognoscenti) has been virtually forgotten but has inspired or been ripped-off by generations of writers, and bring it to a modern audience without that audience feeling as if it has seen it all before? Added to that, you have a modern-day Hollywood design style that reinforces the Star Wars feel for people not up to speed on the history of the project. I'm not surprised it ran into trouble.
 

Edwin-S

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It didn't remind me much of STAR WARS, except for the fact there were aliens in it. What did people expect from a movie based on a series of throwaway pulp novels? I actually have to give Stanton credit that he didn't go out of his way to update the morals and attitudes for our modern sensibilities. Now, that would have been an awful movie.
 

Ted Van Duyn

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Edwin-S said:
I actually have to give Stanton credit that he didn't go out of his way to update the morals and attitudes for our modern sensibilities.
He updated the wardrobe. :P
 

Joseph Bolus

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To be fair, this is *not* Science Fiction -- nor was it ever meant to be. This is "Science Fantasy". ERB even stated this when he wrote the novels. Science Fiction is meant to be an extension of present day science. Jules Verne and Isaac Asimov wrote Science Fiction. Star Trek is science fiction. Star Wars is *not* Science Fiction. It's a "Sword-and-Sorcery" tale with a Science Fiction facade.
Taken on those terms -- as a Fantasy epic with a science facade -- "Princess of Mars" is an exciting piece of fiction for its time. If this film had been marketed as a fantasy -- say "Lord of the Rings" in space -- it would have had a much better chance of reaching its target audience. As it is, it's a terrible victim of horrendously misplaced marketing.
BTW, i'm buying the 2D version of the movie ...
 

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