The Legend of Tarzan (2016)
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The Legend of Tarzan Movie Review
The Legend of Tarzan is a 2016 historical adventure film directed by David Yates and starring Alexander Skarsgard, Margot Robbie and Samuel L. Jackson. It’s an underrated flick.
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“Your husband’s wildness disturbs me
more than I can easily express“
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I expected another remake walking into this film, but was surprised to find out that it’s not the original story at all but a sequel of sorts. Tarzan’s upbringing is only showed in flashbacks here and the story follows him going back to Africa to investigate an ongoing slavery issue there. It’s an interesting story and the movie is rather authentic and serious as a historical piece and a sequel instead of the same old story we’ve seen countless times before.
However, no matter how much I appreciated the more different approach with a Tarzan film here, I still found the overall execution so mediocre that it seriously derailed what otherwise could have been a fantastic movie. The pacing is absolutely horrendous and the structure with flashbacks was not necessary at all. The film is rarely truly adventurous and in that regard it shares the same problem of being overly serious with ‘Greystoke’.
Alexander Skarsgard is also rather weak in the main role. I do not get the appeal of this actor as he only got this role based on his looks and is otherwise as stiff as a board. Christoph Waltz’s villain is also overly caricaturist and he was simply too typecast. The animals are underutilized per usual and the black men in the film are mostly forgettable.
But Margot Robbie is terrific as a proactive and more feminist version of Jane. Samuel L. Jackson actually steals the show here as the best and most interesting character. Williams’ scenes with Tarzan stole the show for sure and he is the much needed comic relief in the flick.
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The Legend of Tarzan has an excessive use of CGI, but it still looks great for the most part. I liked the look of the animals, some of the scenery is excellent and the action is great, but rare. The attention to detail is also strong and the dialogue is respectable as well. It’s a very sophisticated, intriguing concept that needed a much better execution though. The direction is also expectedly weak from mediocre David Yates.
The Legend of Tarzan is a very flawed, but still quite solid and even underrated flick which is different in its storyline than other Tarzan adaptations by offering us a sequel, a more sophisticated historical approach and strong dialogue. Alexander Skarsgard is too stiff and Christoph Waltz is annoying, but Margot Robbie is memorable as a more proactive Jane and Samuel L. Jackson is a highly amusing comic relief. It’s an interesting, more thoughtful experiment that was ultimately derailed by horrendous pacing.
