If Avatar had never existed, it's possible that John Carter would have
seemed like more of a genre breakthrough, given the premise of a distant
planet penetrated by an Earthling who begins an interplanetary romance
and is ultimately accepted into the alien culture (Mars here even has a
huge arboreal structure at the heart of things). But echoes resonate
from many other sources as well: What came first, the Jedi of Star Wars
or the Jeddak leaders here? Was Taylor Kitsch's buff loincloth look
inspired by how good Charlton Heston looked similarly attired in Planet
of the Apes? Doesn't John Carter's background consist of one part Outlaw
Josey Wales and one part Indiana Jones? And doesn't the specter of the
ancient Greeks noticeably hover over the everlasting battles being
fought among the various neighbors?