Movie Review: 'The Legend of Tarzan'
By Bill Wine
KYW Newsradio
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Second in frequency only to Dracula as a film-adapted literary character, Tarzan has been swinging from Hollywood and Vine on movie and television screens for nearly a century.
The action-adventure drama, The Legend of Tarzan, is just the latest in its line, which dates back to Edgar Rice Burroughs' 1912 story, Tarzan of the Apes.
The last Tarzan-featuring theatrical movie was in 1999 and that was an animated musical.
The Legend of Tarzan is almost the opposite of an origin story, although elements of the origin story do surface.
We look in on the iconic former jungle dweller, Tarzan, the Lord of the Apes, played by Alexander Skarsgard, after he has acclimated to civilized life in London.
He's married to his beloved Jane Porter, played by Margot Robbie, and lives life now as the aristocrat, John Clayton III, otherwise known as Lord Greystoke.
He's called back to his former home – accompanied by Jane and Samuel L. Jackson as a real-life American soldier -- in the African jungle in the Congo to serve as a trade emissary of the House of Commons and investigate suspicious activities at a mining encampment.
There are rumors of colonialist atrocities and a conspiracy involving the possible re-institution of slavery that poses a threat both to Tarzan and to his former home.
Little does he know that he's merely a pawn in a plan hatched by a greedy, vengeful, and corrupt real-life Belgian captain played by Christoph Waltz.
The screenplay by Adam Cozad and Craig Brewer, which includes several rather haphazardly inserted flashbacks, explores the same theme that all Tarzan vehicles feature: the person/beast dichotomy in the natural world.
But their interest in telling this based-on-fact story, while admirable, doesn't sit with the Tarzan thrust quite comfortably enough to arouse the kind of rooting interest that leads to real emotional investment.
That said, there has been some interesting and justified updating and the psychology on display is at least somewhat more complex than most of the past outings.
That is, the "Me Tarzan, You Jane" thrust is well behind us: T and J are a team these days and, his musculature notwithstanding, she's certainly no damsel in distress.
David Yates, who directed the last four Harry Potter films, is at the helm of this one. His balance of drama, action, and romance is sufficient for the task without being especially exciting: we remain curiously detached. The special effects, on the other hand, even though we have become more or less used to the illusions on hand, remain remarkable.
A buff Skarsgard certainly looks the part, but he lets his abs do his acting and is a very bland, uncharismatic Tarzan: he just does not deliver the kind of compellingly conflicted hero who takes and holds center stage. Yates seems to have taken Skarsgard's command for granted and, truth be told, he brings little if anything to the table besides his physicality.
Jackson provides welcome comic relief, Waltz has cornered the market on driven villains, and Djimon Hounsou is also aboard as an African tribe leader.
But It's Aussie Robbie who stands out, "out-Janeing" every previous Jane by bringing conviction and resolve to the role and transcending the material: she continues to impress and improve with each prominent new role.
Which leaves us swinging from 2-1/2 stars out of 4. The Legend of Tarzan is a jungle adventure you'll politely appreciate without going particularly ape.
