Breaking Down The Martian Visual Effects In John Carter

By Rudie Obias | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

Remember John Carter? At the beginning of the year it was considered one of the most disappointing science fiction movies of 2012. But strangely, when John Carter was released on Blu-ray/DVD, people seemed to come around to the movie and now it’s regarded as a pretty decent action adventure film. What a difference eight months can make.

One of the biggest takeaways from Andrew Stanton’s John Carter is the spectacle of Mars. Delivering a believable Red Planet was a daunting task for MPC VFX supervisor Adam Valdez and producer Phil Greenlow. In the video below, they show how exactly they brought the Martian landscape to theaters and homes everywhere.

The movie John Carter featured something called the “Warhoon Attack” and the “Helium City Throne Room.” Why didn’t this movie do better with sci-fi geeks? John Carter is oozing with imagination, creativity, and action. John Carter does have its problems, but they don’t come from its narrative, vision, or journey. Its problems come with the film’s pacing: John Carter feels very slack at times, and the on-screen “personality” of its lead, Taylor Kitsch, doesn’t help. If only the film was cast with Aaron Johnson-Taylor or Chris Evans as John Carter instead, maybe the film could’ve had a fighting chance with critics and audiences. Sadly, Kitsch couldn’t elevate John Carter of Mars, or Battleship, or Savages. Maybe he should take 2013 off.