'The Legend of Tarzan' Review

Image of Screen Rant

By Darian Scalamoni

       When I first heard that there was going to be a new take on the legendary Tarzan story directed by David Yates (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2), I was extremely excited. Not only Yates directing, but a cast that includes True Blood standout Alexander Skarsgard as Tarzan, Margot Robbie as Jane and Christoph Waltz as villain, Leon Rom made it seem like it could be a great movie. But that was before the first trailer was released.

            David Yates attempts to build another epic with his attempt at The Legend of Tarzan. The film isn’t horrible, but there are tons of problems within it. The first problem is the tone of the movie; it acts not only as an origin story of sorts for Tarzan but also, the movie seems like a sequel even though no film was a predecessor to this one. While Disney is pumping out fantastic live-action remakes at an impressive rate (The Jungle Book, Cinderella), Warner Bros. fails with the objective of this film as they did with one of last year’s biggest flops, Pan. The film jumps from Skarsgard living in England in 1890 and his “other life” as Tarzan within the confines of the Congo, the editing is fine but there is something off about the way the movie comes together as a whole.

            Unfortunately more problems follow within the movie, including the script penned by Adam Cozad and Craig Brewer. There are poor moments where the pair of writers try to throw humor at the audience that mostly falls flat. This includes Samuel L. Jackson as George Washington Wallace, a veteran of the American Civil War who follows Tarzan and Jane on their journey to the Congo to see if Leopold II may be enslaving the natives of the country. Jackson is not right for this movie at all. Though it takes place within 1890, he speaks as if it is a film taking place in the modern day. Part of that, also, goes back to the script. Also, it feels like another one-note performance from Christoph Waltz which makes me think is he just another actor who flourishes from the scripts and films of Quentin Tarantino? This movie makes you feel like you could’ve put another menacing actor in his place and not much would’ve changed.

            My last major complaint is the CGI in this movie. Though the apes look great, the rest of the animals/environments throughout The Legend of Tarzan just feel extremely subpar. He seems to focus so much on providing the audience with a great landscape but it doesn’t pay off. It’s hard to compete when The Jungle Book was released in the same year with quite possibly the best CG work in the history of cinema.

            Though it seems based on what I’ve talked about already this film is a disaster, it truly is not. Skarsgard does a tremendous job portraying both sides of his character and Margot Robbie is great in the movie as well. The cinematography from Henry Braham, who is working on his first big budget film since The Golden Compass, does a tremendous job of feeling tension between characters through clos-ups and brilliant wide-shots that give the audience at a true look at how massive the scale of the jungle really is.

            The important thing to know about The Legend of Tarzan is that overall, the movie is entertaining. There is action, battle sequences and of course, the man raised by apes glides along the trees. Though, it had potential to be a much better film, the final product comes together as just an okay movie in the middle of the summer blockbuster season.

5.5/10