The Legend of Tarzan
Starring Alexander Skarsgård, Margot Robbie
Directed by David Yates
Not even Alexander Skarsgård’s rippling abs can deter Tarzan’s latest on-screen iteration from landing with a collective thud. The iconic character, created by pulp author Edgar Rice Burroughs (also of John Carter fame) in 1912, works best as a magazine serial hero but struggles to find footing and relevance with today’s audiences. The Legend of Tarzan begins later in the adventurer’s life when he is already an established English noble enjoying the buttoned-down life with the lovely Jane (Robbie).
Tarzan’s backstory is revealed through a series of flashbacks, which are well-placed at first but soon grow tedious and generic. It will come as a surprise to no one that he is lured back into the jungle after George Washington Williams – an actual American Civil War soldier, played here by Samuel L. Jackson – raises concerns about slave labour in the mines of the Belgian-controlled Congo. The team sets out to investigate and it’s not long before Jane is taken hostage by the nefarious Captain Leon Rom (Christoph Waltz).
The rest plays out utterly predictably with plenty of vine-swinging, gorilla-punching, and scenery-chewing. Unfortunately, the film offers very little new ground not already covered in the numerous Tarzan adaptations preceding it.
Skarsgård and Robbie are effective but Jackson is reduced to one-liners and two-time Oscar winner Waltz is once again reduced to a one-dimensional villain. Mix in some unconvincing CGI with a painfully pedestrian script and The Legend of Tarzan fails to capture the wonder beheld in his former glory on the page.
