REVIEW: The Legend of Tarzan (2016)
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Edgar Rice Burroughs was one of the first few writers who introduced the world’s first superheroes before the term was even coined. Man was leaping great bounds before Superman in a space opera called John Carter of Mars. While a young man with animalistic powers swinging through higher heights was depicted through Tarzan, only this […]
PLOT SUMMARY
“The Legend of Tarzan” – It has already been a decade when Tarzan (Alexander Skarsgard) left the jungle to settle to a normal life in England with his wife Jane (Margot Robbie) as he inherits his true name John Clayton III. But an inimical plot is afoot back in Africa as an agent of King Leopold, Leon Rom (Christoph Waltz) lures Tarzan to return to the jungle only to be chased down by an army and have Jane captured as bait. Now he finds himself protecting the jungle once again as he try to stop this scheme from going into fruition and save his beloved wife.
PLOT SUMMARY
Edgar Rice Burroughs was one of the first few writers who introduced the world’s first superheroes before the term was even coined.
Man was leaping great bounds before Superman in a space opera called John Carter of Mars. While a young man with animalistic powers swinging through higher heights was depicted through Tarzan, only this one is the king of the jungle and not just some kid from New York. These heroes were pretty much ahead of their time, but that was ages ago. Now with this many superheroes gracing our screens could it be that they are lifetimes behind to a now much larger audience?
With Disney making these live-action adaptations of their animated, the Average Joe may classify this film that way. With that burden behind David Yates’ back he had to make this more different somehow. And he did by making giving the same approach every modern character revamp we’ve seen these days – Before you could groan by the idea of “dark and gritty” let me continue by saying that this film does have a sense of levity to it. With that in mind, this movie feels as if it is both a marriage of fiction and non-fiction; having topics like the exploitation of Congo’s resources by King Leopold of Belgium, and the slave trade in Africa playing a huge part of the film’s plot having George Washington Williams running around.
Granted these are very ambitious ideas but then you get to the parts where Tarzan punches apes and a tribe of White Walkers with his super-strength (also Christoph Waltz with a killer Rosary) it does kind of take away the film’s experience of taking this seriously. You have all of these elements put together but it comes off being convoluted, I even forgot Djimon Hounsou was even in this movie as he disappears in the large chunk of the movie.
How can something so straightforward be so convoluted at the same time? Well, the screenwriters behind the film may have studied under the “David S. Goyer School of Coherent Screenwriting” (I italicized Coherent for the sake of sarcasm) for mixing flashbacks of Tarzan’s origin throughout the narrative itself. As if the movie is not convoluted enough already.
Gee, I know it sounded like this movie slipped and fell from a banana peel but is it at least entertaining? Yes, from the collection of scenes they have to offer it was a joy to see Tarzan swinging around and leaping through the tree branches, It was nice to see how real-world events can affect somebody like Tarzan, it is nice to see the origin we know and love through those flashbacks, the animals are almost surreal looking (almost Jungle Book tier CGI). Although it would’ve been more effective if they were more put together well.
The characters on the other hand, felt like they were just… there. I mostly left the theater thinking that they would’ve expounded more on certain things like why can’t we have the apes act sort of human-like ala the ‘Planet of the Apes‘ movies? Or why can’t they explore the that these slaves would be amazed by the fact that they are walking next to a well-dressed and intelligible black man of the American government? Why can’t Jane and Tarzan have more moments than just making out in every scene they have together? These things would’ve brought out so much for the performances and the story they want to tell. Alexander Skarsgard’s Tarzan is more capable of acting stoically. He had his moments and it was in moments where he would interacting with the animals of the jungle but not really much when it comes to sharing chemistry with human characters. They bash our heads in too much about Jane not being a damsel-in-distress and despite proving so; she just comes back to being one again. Christoph Waltz is unintentionally funny in some scenes; there were times where they made him act like the Duke in Moulin Rouge. While Samuel L. Jackson acts as the anchor to this movie who balances both the levity and the grit of the entire movie.
Conclusion:
In the end, if you are expecting this movie to be more light-hearted with talking animals and a Phil Collins soundtrack playing in every monumental scene, then you may leave the theater be sort of disappointed. This is Tarzan in the eyes of Edgar Rice Burroughs, though not best captured through the performances of Skarsgard and Robbie in this rather convoluted film. This may not be as legendary as the title sells it to be but hey, at least it’s not as bad as the version we had with Casper Van Dien a couple of decades ago.
“The Legend of Tarzan” is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures PH. Watch out for this movie swinging by to a theater near you – June 30, 2016!
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