A new full-length trailer for the upcoming film John Carter premiered this weekend during the Super Bowl. Due to its length format, the trailer probably won’t be seen on television again, so if you missed it, here it is.
We’ve got some special effects we haven’t seen before, and the Deja Thoris actress, Lynn Collins, manages to display some genuine emotion, but otherwise this trailer doesn’t really provide us with much fresh material. However, every time I see something new about this film, I find myself eagerly anticipating its release.
I’ve been a fan of the John Carter stories since I was a kid, and, just like any time an adaptation is announced for a story I love, I was really worried about what the film would do (good or bad) to the franchise. Every piece of development news made me sick to my stomach with apprehension. Fortunately, the first trailer cleared the fog, and each photo and subsequent trailer just reinforces my belief that this team did it right.
Of course, there is still the chance I’ll arrive at the theater and the film will fall flat for me, but I’ve let myself get my hopes up. Unfortunately, there is no going back now.
The official synopsis is thus:
“From Academy Award-winning filmmaker Andrew Stanton comes “John Carter”–a sweeping action-adventure set on the mysterious and exotic planet of Barsoom (Mars). “John Carter” is based on a classic novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, whose highly imaginative adventures served as inspiration for many filmmakers, both past and present.
“The film tells the story of war-weary, former military captain John Carter (Taylor Kitsch), who is inexplicably transported to Mars where he becomes reluctantly embroiled in a conflict of epic proportions amongst the inhabitants of the planet, including Tars Tarkas (Willem Dafoe) and the captivating Princess Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins). In a world on the brink of collapse, Carter rediscovers his humanity when he realizes that the survival of Barsoom and its people rests in his hands.”
In the original A Princess of Mars, John Carter, an American Civil War veteran turned prospector, is set upon by natives in the wilderness of the American West. Left for dead in the brush, John is whisked off to Mars, Dorothy-style. There he meets the Martians, who are vying for control over the scarce resources of the dying planet.
One of the factions is the city of Helium, the princess of which Carter falls in love with instantly, and whose frequent need for rescuing is the driving force in much of the story. The Dejah Thoris in these clips, however, seems a bit more self-sufficient that the one in the first novel, though she does become less ‘damsel in distress’ and more ‘warrior princess’ in the later books – so I suppose that’s the version of the character director Andrew Stanton decided would work best here.
John Carter, starring Taylor Kitsch (Friday Night Lights), Mark Strong (Green Lantern), Willem Dafoe (Miral), and Lynn Collins (Drift), his theaters on March 9, 2012.
