Review of The Legend of Tarzan (2016) by Davrosdaleks1 — 19 Mar 2017

Surprised this didn't wow at the box office. I thought this was an enjoyable and competent popcorn adventure.

The film looks great with its lush jungle African nature environment. Also, nice to see a film that isn't completely grey-screen these days. Action and fight scenes were also good, especially the fight scenes involving animals.

I found it refreshing that the story wasn't a simple rehash of the first time Tarzan met Jane. It's a completely new adventure.

Margot Robbie and Samuel L. Jackson kill it in the film. Robbie is a spitfire and Jackson does what he does best. Before this film, I was worried about the casting of Waltz as the villain. He's played a lot of them lately and I was afraid he'd suffered villain decay like he did in Spectre. I was pleasantly surprised to find his villain was a different type in this. His Leon Rom is an understated survivalist. It's interesting to see a villain who's self-aware that he isn't always at the top of the food chain but masterfully rolls with the punches.

Skarsgaard is a good Tarzan, but I do fear he suffers from being more serious than the rest of the characters and there's a bit of a disassociation.

Yes, the film does suffer from "white savior" syndrome. A white guy is responsible for saving a lot of black people. It is uncomfortable.

Still, overall, I found this to be an action-packed thrill ride.