Even though they scrapped the "Of Mars" from the movie's title, you probably know by now that Disney's upcoming John Carter takes place in outer space, specifically on the red planet that we call Mars. But the title character, as you might guess from his very Anglo name, is in fact an American Civil War veteran who finds himself out West after the war and, eventually, transported to Mars inside a mysterious cave. But there's a lot of action before John Carter ever gets to Mars, and that's what we're seeing in this brand-new, 10 minute clip from the movie, in which we meet John Carter's nephew Edward (Daryl Sabara), who reads his uncle's journal and learns about his very, very strange journey. Eventually we meet Taylor Kitsch as John Carter and Bryan Cranston as the military officer trying to bring him in… but see that for yourself by watching the clip below.
This clip contains one of my favorite sequences of the film, in which John Carter attempts to escape his captors and is constantly brought back in. You get a nice sense of Carter's stubborn personality in the scene, but perhaps even more importantly, you can feel director Andrew Stanton in there, the prankster storyteller who made WALL-E's best friend a cockroach and who frequently blends character development and humor flawlessly. The action on Earth doesn't really affect what happens when John Carter gets transported to Mars, but you learn a lot about how he handles himself in trouble-- something he'll find plenty of when he arrives on the faraway planet.
John Carter opens in theaters this Friday. Let us know in the comments what you thought of the clip, and if getting to know the title character a little better makes you more interested in seeing the giant sci-fi adventure.
