John Carter is a sniper serving in the US Army in Afghanistan. Following a serious injury suffered in the line of duty he if forced to take part in an experimental teleportation operation. He is sent to the fourth planet in the Alpha Centuri system; a planet the locals call Barsoom. When he awakens there he discovered that here he has the ability to jump great distances but is still captured by the reptilian Tharks. After helping during an attack he gains the trust of their leader. Later the group capture human Princess Dejah Thoris who was on a mission to take the new operator to run the planetary air-cleaning station... if what she says is true the atmosphere will become unbreathable if anything goes wrong at the plant... inevitably things will go wrong at it will be up to John Carter to save the day; but not before he has faced other dangers.
Perhaps it is because I expected so little of this that I ended up rather enjoying it. Yes, the plot is pretty simple, the effects are basic at best and the acting isn't going to be award winning but is far from terrible. It was more fun than I expected. Antonio Sabato Jr was solid as John Carter; I felt that he successfully avoided both taking it too seriously and the opposite and treating is as a joke. Not having read the books I can't say how close this is to the source material; obviously there are some changes as John Carter comes from the present day not the nineteenth century. The 'Mars' of this film has a good enough look even if the Vasquez Rocks filming location will be familiar to anybody who watched the original 'Star Trek' series. Overall I'd say that this film passes the time well enough if you like low budget sci-fi.
Perhaps it is because I expected so little of this that I ended up rather enjoying it. Yes, the plot is pretty simple, the effects are basic at best and the acting isn't going to be award winning but is far from terrible. It was more fun than I expected. Antonio Sabato Jr was solid as John Carter; I felt that he successfully avoided both taking it too seriously and the opposite and treating is as a joke. Not having read the books I can't say how close this is to the source material; obviously there are some changes as John Carter comes from the present day not the nineteenth century. The 'Mars' of this film has a good enough look even if the Vasquez Rocks filming location will be familiar to anybody who watched the original 'Star Trek' series. Overall I'd say that this film passes the time well enough if you like low budget sci-fi.