I've heard good things about John Carter from people who have seen it, but sadly the film's marketing has been a mess.  A recent featurette finally showed off the film's scope and so does the final trailer.  But none of the trailers (except one that was fan-made, and far better than any of Disney's trailers) took a single moment to explain who John Carter is, how he got to Mars, and why he has special powers.  Does any audience member who is unfamiliar with the source material, Edgar Rice Burroughs' novel A Princess of Mars, know anything about the character beyond "Shirtless Dude Who Fights Weird Creatures"?  The movie is titled "John Carter" and Disney never took the time to tell us anything about him.Hit the jump to check out the final trailer.  The film stars Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Samantha Morton, Mark Strong, Ciaran Hinds, Dominic West, James Purefoy, Daryl Sabara, Polly Walker, Bryan Cranston, Thomas Haden Church, and Willem Dafoe.  John Carter opens in IMAX and 3D on March 9th.Click over to Apple to see the trailer in HD.Here's the official synopsis for John Carter:

From Academy Award(R)-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.

john-carter-mondo-poster