It’s a big day for Friday Night Lights alumni! This morning, the show itself and its lead actors Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton were recognized in the Emmy nominations, and now we have the teaser trailer for megatentpole John Carter, starring Taylor Kitsch (FNL’s Tim Riggins). It is clear that Kitsch’s time as Riggins has prepared him well for the shirtless demands of this role (the summer of action-hero beefcake will apparently continue into 2012), and what we see here is all very pretty. However, does it make any sense? You might argue that this is a teaser trailer, so it only has to entice and confuse us, but Carter’s got a fairly out-there premise — a Civil War veteran is transported to Mars and becomes embroiled in an alien war — and this clip does little to prepare you for any of it. There’s not even any confirmation that Carter is on Mars and not just in New Mexico or something. (Clearly, Disney is leery of this movie’s setting.) And that frankly confusing prologue featuring John Carter of Mars author Edgar Rice Burroughs … we just don’t know. We are hopeful, because this was directed by Pixar god Andrew Stanton (who, after making Wall-E and Finding Nemo, deserves at least as much veneration and respect as his animation colleague Brad Bird), but this movie has long been considered a big question mark, and based on this trailer, it hasn’t yet become an exclamation point.
