shametarr We've all seen interpretations of Jane Austen, William Shakespeare, H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, etc.. This is yet another! Despite the fact that John Carter in this film was not a Civil War soldier does nothing to destroy the basic premise of the Edgar Rice Burroughs story. Please watch before you form an opinion.

Hubert Jassol Remember the old Alka Seltzer commercials where the guy is moaning and rubbing his stomach while saying, "I can't believe I ate the whole thing"? Well, I can't believe I watched the whole thing! This was truly awful.First off, Antonio Sabato Jr. is not a very good actor and I sincerely hope those tattoos aren't real. How many men have 'tramp stamp' lower back tats? You've gotta' be kidding me. Traci Lords appears as The Princess and, let me tell you, she looks none too happy about it. She wears one expression throughout the entire movie - that of a really angry former porn queen who can't believe she's been reduced to this, just to make a buck.The costumes appear to be left over from some gladiator movie and the makeup consists of some really bad masks. I'm talking Halloween here. They were that bad. So bad, in fact, throughout the movie I had to resist the urge to jump out of my seat and shout "Trick or Treat"!The dialogue appears to have been written by a 12 year-old refugee from a Dungeons and Dragons club and the plot, well, I can't comment about the plot because even after sitting through the whole movie I have no idea what the plot was.I love bad movies and can usually find something that merits recognition even if it's only comedic value. This piece of dreck, on the other hand, has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Avoid it at all cost and don't say I didn't warn you.

Shaun Choo This is my third review in the series of Asylum films. This film is undoubtedly the worst Asylum film I have seen so far. Let me tell you why.First of this film's DVD cover has the tag line "The classic story that inspired James Cameron's Avatar." I think you can tell what film they are trying to use to market this film.So anyway the story is about a soldier who meets an almost fatal end. But before he dies, his commanding officer sends him to Mars. Not the Mars that we have come to know of today but a different type of Mars where he can rest and recuperate. Inevitably he lands in the middle of a war on the planet and instead has to find a way to put an end to this war. Oh and there is a princess thrown in just for fun.Lets start with whats good about this film. The CGI is the only thing that does not suck that much.Now the bad part. Where do I begin. OK firstly the character that Antonio Sabato Jr plays is just plain boring,half the time his acting is just plain stiff. I was dying for just a hint of decent action. Even the fight sequences is boring. Then there's the princess played by former porn star Traci Lords. Her acting is probably the worst among all the actors.As a matter of fact the whole movie was boring and lame with the same cheesy lines you know of.The writing is just stupid and clumsy. With no thought of anything original to write about. And as for the directing I seriously think that the director has not the slightest clue on where the camera should be placed.Give this damn film a pass, believe me you will not be missing anything out if you skip this film.My next Asylum review will be on the film "I am Omega".

TxMike This straight to video movie is a 'B' movie all the way, it doesn't pretend to be anything more. As I watched it I was reminded of the 'B' movies of the 1950s that I grew up with. The special effects are sometimes crude, and the fight scenes are closer to what you might see two neighborhood kids perform with wooden swords. I even saw John Carter duck one time right before his opponent swung his sword. Most of the time they just seem content with hitting each other's sword, not really trying to inflict pain.But don't take my opening comments as totally negative, because this is part of the charm of the film. As a 'B' movie, it works, it is appropriately entertaining. The cheesy dialog, the stilted acting, especially former porn star Lords. Sometimes it can be refreshing to take a break from the mega blockbusters of today, many of which are not nearly as entertaining as this one. On to the plot. Antonio Sabato Jr. is military man John Carter, who is gravely wounded during some fighting, and is given a special experimental treatment to save his life. With no explanation, he awakes, healed, on another planet, called Mars. But this is not the Mars we know, it is a planet in a different, far-away star system. It is quite a coincidence that they call their atmosphere "air" just like the Earthlings do. And the gravity seems to be a lot less because Carter can jump far and high with ease, giving him a type of superpower.Most of the inhabitants of this Mars are grotesque-looking creatures, but there are some who look like humans. Traci Lords is Dejah Thoris, who we find is called the Princess of Mars. We are never told why she has the title of Princess. But her people run the royal pumping station, which contains the device which filters and keeps the air 'day by day and night by night, clean and bright' as they are fond of saying. But the other inhabitants have come to believe all that is a lie, no such station is required. And that raised the specter of a giant conflict, led by Matt Lasky as Tars Tarkas. Also a nemesis is fellow human, Chacko Vadaketh as Sab Than who gets transported along with John. Worth a watch, just for the novelty. No, it is not a good movie, but it is a decent 'B' movie. Sometimes you have to watch movies like this to really appreciate the good ones.SPOILERS: Sab Than manages to destroy or disable the purification mechanism, soon all creatures start to have trouble breathing. But in a protracted fight Carter manages to get the upper hand while Than is carried off by a giant flying insect. Carter and the Princess make their way to the back-up purification unit (appering to be filmed in an idled chemical plant) and she starts it. Soon everyone starts to feel better and she smiles for the first time in the movie. But then Carter finds himself back on Earth, and became healed and returned to action. He did not tell of his transport to the strange planet, fearing humans would then take the opportunity to go there and overrun it. So the movie ends with him looking forward to the day he can return there, presumably after getting badly wounded again, to see the Princess he has fallen in love with.