John Carter is a movie that spends $250 million telling a story about a man who jumps between planets and can’t find the right footing anywhere. Based on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Barsoom novels, Disney’s 2012 release wants to be a grand adventure, a love story, and a spectacle all at once. It fails to be any of those things consistently enough to justify its price tag.
The film opens with a Civil War veteran named John Carter (Taylor Kitsch) being chased through the desert by Confederate soldiers. He stumbles into a cave, touches a strange rock, and wakes up on Mars. There he meets Tars Tarkas (Willem Dafoe), a green-skinned Thark warrior, and Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins), a princess whose planet is under threat from a tyrant named Sab Than (Mark Strong). The setup is simple and promising. What follows is a slog.
Trailer, via Disney UK.
Taylor Kitsch Struggles With the Lead Role
Kitsch plays Carter as a gruff loner who doesn’t know why he’s suddenly on another world. That’s a fine starting point, but the script never lets him become invested in the characters around him. Kitsch’s performance is competent, but he’s stuck delivering lines meant for a more charismatic hero. The chemistry between Carter and Dejah Thoris is supposed to be the emotional core of the story. It isn’t.
The romance feels forced, and the film rarely takes the time to establish why these two people matter to each other beyond plot convenience. Collins is better than her material allows. She carries scenes that the script can’t, but she’s left with little to work with. The love story collapses under the weight of a script that cares more about action sequences than character connection.
Dafoe gets the best material as Tars Tarkas. His Thark is a gruff father figure who protects Carter, and their bond is the film’s most genuine relationship. But even that thread is underdeveloped. The film rushes past moments that could have grounded the story in human feeling. Instead it favors spectacle over substance.
Willem Dafoe Carries the Thark Bond
Dafoe brings real menace to his role as Tars Tarkas, the Thark warrior who finds Carter after he crashes on Mars. Their partnership is the film’s strongest thread. Tars Tarkas is protective and loyal, and Dafoe sells that commitment with a physical presence that fills the screen. Their scenes together are the rare moments where the film feels alive.
But even this bond is rushed. The film moves quickly from meeting to fighting, skipping the middle ground where real connection builds. The result is a partnership that feels functional rather than essential. It’s a shame, because Dafoe’s performance could have anchored the whole production.
Lynn Collins Struggles With Underwritten Material
Collins plays Dejah Thoris, the princess whose people are threatened by Sab Than. Her character is meant to be brave and intelligent, a leader of her own people. But the script gives her little to do beyond being rescued and looking worried. Collins tries to bring warmth to a role that’s mostly window dressing, and she occasionally succeeds. Mostly she’s left reacting to events rather than driving them.
The film’s central romance is built on a foundation that keeps shifting beneath it. One scene sets up Carter and Dejah Thoris as soulmates. The next cuts that thread entirely. The film can’t decide whether it wants them together or apart, and that indecision bleeds into every scene they share. The result is a love story that never quite lands.
Mark Strong Is a Hollow Villain
Strong plays Sab Than, the villain who threatens Dejah Thoris’s people. He’s meant to be a calculating warlord, a figure of dread. But the film never commits to making him scary. His speeches are hollow, and his schemes feel mechanical. He exists to push the plot forward, not to intimidate the audience.
Strong is a capable actor, but the role asks him to play a cartoonish evil ruler. The film never gives him the depth to make that work. Sab Than is a shadow, not a threat. The climax depends on him being terrifying, and he never rises to the occasion.
The Script’s Biggest Problem
The film’s biggest problem is its pacing. Large stretches of it feel padded. The middle section, in particular, drags as Carter wanders through Martian deserts and fights generic foes. The film keeps promising a payoff that never arrives. By the time the final act rolls around, the audience has forgotten why they should care.
The script also suffers from a lack of focus. It wants to be a historical epic, a space opera, and a love story all at once. None of those threads get the attention they need. The result is a film that feels scattered, with ideas introduced and abandoned within the same scene.
The Action Sequences Are Fine
The action sequences aren’t bad. The fight choreography is fluid, and the set pieces are staged with energy. But they’re empty without stakes. A chase across a cliff face is thrilling in the moment, but it means nothing to the characters involved. The film is full of motion and light, but it’s missing the spark that makes motion matter.
The film’s visual effects are impressive. The Martian landscapes are rendered with care, and the alien creatures look convincing. But the polish only highlights the flaws underneath. A beautifully rendered world can’t hide a story that doesn’t engage the viewer.
The Final Act Fails to Land
The film’s final act is where everything should come together. Instead it fragments. The resolution feels tacked on, and the ending leaves questions unanswered. It’s a letdown after a build-up that promised something more.
The film’s failure isn’t technical. Its failure is structural. It’s a film that knows how to stage a battle but not how to build a narrative around it. The pieces are there — a likable lead, a strong supporting cast, a rich setting — but they’re assembled without a clear plan.
| Scene | Length | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Opening desert sequence | Long | Establishes Carter’s humanity |
| Meeting Tars Tarkas | Short | Introduces the Tharks |
| Wandering Martian deserts | Longest stretch | Feels padded |
| Climax | Short | Fails to deliver |
| Ending | Short | Leaves questions open |
A Film That Misses Its Mark
John Carter is a film that misses its mark at almost every turn. It has moments of genuine promise — the bond between Carter and Tars Tarkas, the striking Martian vistas — but it can’t sustain them. The pacing is off, the characters are underwritten, and the story loses its thread. It’s a frustrating watch, one that demands patience it doesn’t earn.
The film’s failure is instructive. It shows what happens when ambition outstrips execution. A $250 million budget can buy a lot of special effects, but it can’t buy a coherent story. The film’s legacy is a cautionary tale: spectacle is not a substitute for craft.
The film’s best moments come from its actors working against the script, not because of it. Dafoe and Kitsch find chemistry in scenes the writers barely support. That’s a small victory in a production that struggles everywhere else.
John Carter is a missed opportunity. It had a great premise, a rich source of material, and a cast capable of doing justice to both. None of that mattered in execution. The film is a reminder that even with the right ingredients, a recipe can still fail.
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