Review: THE LEGEND OF TARZAN

THE LEGEND OF TARZAN
(ACTION-ADVENTURE) 
3 out of 4 stars 
Directed by David Yates
Starring: Alexander Skarsgard, Margot Robbie, Samuel L. Jackson, Christoph Waltz, Djimon Hounsou, Jim Broadbent, Sidney Ralitsoele, Osy Ikhile, Mens-Sana Tamakloe, Antony Acheampong, Edward Apeagyei, Ashley Bayam, Casper Crump
Rated PG-13 for sequences of action and violence, some sensuality and brief rude dialogue.
110 minutes
Verdict: Even while smartly updating the material for modern sensibilities, David Yates' THE LEGEND OF TARZAN is a delightfully old-fashioned, exotic adventure story with great performances, exciting action and sensual romance that mostly overcome its weaknesses.
YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN THE LEGEND OF TARZAN IF YOU LIKED:
JOHN CARTER  (2012)
THE LONE RANGER  (2013)
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2  (2011)
THE JUNGLE BOOK  (2016)
TARZAN  (1999)

To be perfectly forthcoming, it should be noted that I'm predisposed to like "old-fashioned" action-adventure movies, the kind descended from pulp serials and swashbuckling romance novels from the 19th and early 20th centuries, with dashing, strong-jawed heroes, charming scoundrels, feisty ladies (admittedly, not depicted in a particularly progressive fashion back then, but recent movies have fortunately improved that), mustache-twirling villains and exotic locations.  They don't make enough of those sorts of movies though.  The only studio that regularly tries is Disney, but outside of the Pirates of the Caribbean series, they usually wind up becoming expensive failures.  So when these old-fashioned, period-set action-adventure movies come along, I tend to appreciate them more.
THE LEGEND OF TARZAN, the first movie directed by David Yates since he wrapped up the Harry Potter series in 2011 (Yates is best known for directing the second half of installments in the Harry Potter film series, movies 5 thru 8, and is directing the upcoming FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM), may not be perfect, but it delivers where it counts.

A comparison to HOOK will probably discourage a good many people, but it applies only in a broad sense (In any case, that movie wasn't as bad as it's cut out to be.  It has some high highs.).  Like Spielberg's Peter Pan movie, THE LEGEND OF TARZAN is a continuation of a story best known to general audiences through its previous adaptation of an animated Disney movie, where the hero has to "re-become" the character as we know them best.  Also, despite telling a new story, the elements of the original still exist and are addressed with some more specific faithfulness than in the well-known Disney film.  This story is set in 1889, and Tarzan (Alexander Skarsgard) has accepted his civilized identity as Lord John Clayton III, Earl of Greystoke, and lives a relatively quiet existence with his American wife, Jane Porter (Margot Robbie), in England, but he's still well known for his earlier life as the man who was raised in the African jungle by apes.  Scenes of Tarzan's jungle life as told in Edgar Rice Burroughs' first of many Tarzan books, Tarzan of the Apes, are shown in flashback, such as his adoption by the Mangani ape (differentiated from gorillas (as they appeared in the Disney film) as "Gorillas are gentle. The Mangani are not."), Kala, his confrontations with the vicious Mangani chief Kerchack, and of course, his fateful first encounter with Jane.  But in a plot that draws from some pretty dark historical events, trouble is brewing in Tarzan's childhood home of the Congo as bankrupt Belgian colonial efforts turn to the scheming Captain Leon Rom (portrayed by Christoph Waltz and loosely based on the historical Leon Rom, who oversaw atrocities and massacres committed against African natives during his time as a district commissioner for King Leopold II in the Congo Free State) to obtain the fabled diamonds of Opar.  The diamonds are fiercely guarded by the tribesmen of Chief Mbonga (Djimon Hounsou), who holds a grudge against Tarzan and agrees to deliver the diamonds to Rom in exchange for his delivering the legendary ape man.  Although initially disinterested in offers to accompany an expedition in Africa, Tarzan is persuaded by the American Civil War veteran and repentant "Indian fighter" George Washington Williams (Samuel L. Jackson, based on another historical figure, who helped bring attention to the crimes of the Belgian regime in the Congo in 1890), who then accompanies Tarzan and Jane on a trek down memory lane from the African Savannah and into the darkest jungles.

Skarsgard, best known for the HBO series True Blood, doesn't exactly have the most gripping screen presence, but he's doing something interesting here as tamed wild man, speaking little and speaking softly when he does, like he's uncomfortable with this whole speech thing, talking out of bare necessity.  He's working things out on a level of animal instinct, and as he eases back into the jungle, losing the trappings of his civilized life until he's down to a pair of dirty, seemingly misplaced suit trousers, he's evidently back in his element.  What Skarsgard lacks in magnetism as a leading man though (and it is substantial) is filled handsomely by Robbie and Jackson.  Initially, Robbie seems as though she'd be miscast, a thoroughly modern and aggressively sexy bombshell as the 19th-century Jane Porter, but not only does she adapt to her surroundings surprisingly well, but she carries with her an enormous amount of likability that goes a long way in the movie's slower moments.  Jackson, of course, is Samuel L. Jackson (the 'L' stands for 'motherf***er'), and at first, it seems like he's wandering in from a Tarantino film, but it works long enough to get to where the character is more complex than you'd expect in this sort of adventure, and he provides the charisma next to Tarzan's cooler nature.  Waltz's villain is less congealed than the main trio of heroes, a fairly stock bad guy with some potentially interesting quirks like a bit of obsessive compulsion and sentimentality for a rosary that doubles as a deadly snare, but nothing that lends itself substantially to his part in the story or his motivations.  The movie doesn't break down around him, but it especially seems like a missed opportunity to pluck a sadistic figure like him from the history books and make him out to be relatively milquetoast.

The script passed through a lot of writers on the way to the screen, ultimately being credited to Adam Cozad and Craig Brewer, and there are somewhat half-baked concepts and plot threads that seem to be lacking a full resolution, but Yates' handle on the environment, balanced with an unexpected emotional weight to a number of the characters, keeps otherwise muddled proceedings moving along decently for an unusually contemplative adventure yarn.  The movie plays with fire by introducing historical atrocities into an already racially problematic source material, something that worked out very poorly for Disney's THE LONE RANGER, but here has a somewhat finer touch, though usually avoiding dealing with the darker realities of this colonialism head on.  It's more occupied with spectacle than following too far through on the serious historical issues it raises, but it's a starting point that I don't think is likely to offend, and smartly updates Tarzan's stories (many of which are incredibly racist) for modern sensibilities.
Yates' penchant for tense, beautiful and dramatic action in the Harry Potter series carries over to the African jungle, with some really fun moments, like some spectacular train-based mayhem, a sinking steamboat swarmed with crocodiles, a man vs. ape showdown, and of course, vine-swinging, rendered with technology that allows for much more elaborate acrobatics than in the days of Johnny Weissmuller (not to dint those films, some of which are still a lot of fun).  The movie really does have a lot going for it; great performances, exciting action, and old-fashioned romance both in the sense of a love story and as an exotic mystique; but it's also the kind of movie that feels rare, regardless of its shortcomings (especially exceptional is that this is already the second "jungle adventure" movie this year after Disney's THE JUNGLE BOOK).  It's an old-fashioned, pulpy, swashbuckling jungle adventure, and even while it aims admirably for more, it's no less a thrill ride.

Images via Warner Brothers