Review of The Legend of Tarzan (2016) by James R — 23 Dec 2016

A flawed, but overall entertaining film here. Not sure if everyone wanted a remake of the Disney version, but I actually liked that they start out with Tarzan (Alexander Skarsgard) already having lived in England for an extended time and married already to Jane (Margot Robbie).

We've all read or seen Tarzan's origins story plenty of times, so the movie only presents them in a few flash back sequences that actually help with the film. The plot itself is kinda convoluted through which is hard to describe, but in a nutshell the movie is about Tarzan being asked by King Leopold to journey with an American named George Washington Williams (Samuel L Jackson) to scope out the Congo region and see what changes have happened there boosting his own ratings and popularity.

George reveals to Tarzan he's secretly going because he know the King is bankrupt and can't be financing half the things he says he's doing, so he wants to find out what's really going on in the Congo.

Tarzan agrees and brings along Jane after much reluctance. Meanwhile one of the Kings envoys by the name of Leon Rom (Cristoph Waltz) has secretly planned the entire trip in order to trap Tarzan for a local chieftain named Mbonga (Djimon Hounsou) who is seeking revenge.

The plan lets Leon gain the chieftain's powerful diamonds which will be used to pay for a mercenary army who will be employed throughout the Congo to be used to further the Kings power and continuing to enslave the people and rape the land of its resources.

.whew. I applaud the film for going past the most basic, "Me Tarzan, you Jane" bullshit it could have done. In no ways am I saying this is a must watch, but I definitely got more out of it then I thought I was going to get.

There's a ton of negatives here. While physically imposing I think Alexander Skarsgard just doesn't come off as too likeable to the audience. The CGI is absolutely terrible at times and amazing on other scenes.

..it's like the budget for it was just for certain closeups. There's slight pacing issues anytime Jane is involved. I love Margot Robbie, but she's just eye candy in this one and could have been left off entirely and it wouldn't have changed the film at all.

..hell it mighta tightened up the editing. Overall, I would say its a solid 3 out of 5 and is definitely worth a Red Box rental!