Review of The Legend of Tarzan (2016) by Leon B — 05 Nov 2016

Review:

With so many Tarzan movies made over the years, this is definitely a different interpretation of the all time classic. Everyone is used to seeing Tarzan swinging on ropes, living in the jungle with the animals, and falling in love with Jane, which is in this movie but with a political element. The movie does look pretty spectacular and the animals and jungle setting, which was mostly CGI, does look real. Alexander Skarsgard plays Tarzan well and Christoph Waltz was brilliant as the villain but I would have preferred to have see the amazing journey of Tarzan in the jungle, than a movie about a corrupt political man, Leon Rom (Christoph Waltz) who goes to the Congo with the British army, in search for some priceless diamonds. Whilst in the Congo, Leon and his army are ambushed by Chief Mbonga (Djimon Hounsou), who is aware that he is there for the diamonds, so he agrees to give him the priceless gems, in exchange for Tarzan. Leon then uses his political connections to get Tarzan to the Congo, unaware that his wife Jane (Margot Robbie) and George Washington (Samuel L. Jackson) will be going with him, and when they attempt to capture Tarzan, he escapes with George but Jane is captures by Leon. The rest of the movie is basically about Tarzan saving Jane, with the help of the animals and sharp shooter, George. Its not a classic but it's a decent watch! There are some flashbacks about how John became Tarzan, which were more interesting than the movie itself but it still looked amazing, especially the fight between Tarzan and his vicious Gorilla who could have easily killed him. The "swinging ropes" scene looked extremely real and the love element was quite emotional but there was only a couple of scenes showing Tarzan?s relationship with the animals, which was what the original story was mainly about. Anyway, it's definitely one to watch but I doubt that it will go down as an all time classic. Enjoyable!

Round-Up:

You can definitely see were the hefty budget went in this movie, and after making a decent profit at the box office, I wouldn't be surprised to see a sequel. The movie was directed by David Yates, 52, who also brought you Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 1 & 2 and his latest movie, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which has a sequel scheduled for 2018. Judging by his previous work, he certainly knows how to tackle big budget movies, so he was the perfect choice for this film. I personally think that this should have been the sequel, and that the first Tarzan should have been about him growing up in the jungle. With that aside, I'm glad that Samuel L. Jackson added to some wit to the abnormal journey and I couldn't have seen anyone else playing Leon as well as Christoph Waltz. After watching the Revenant bear fighting scene, which shocked the hell out of me, this was a decent attempt by David, in terms of realism and cinematography but I still was expecting more from the overall concept.

Budget: $180million.

Worldwide Gross: $357million.

I recommend this movie to people who are into their action/adventure/dramas, starring Alexander Skarsgard, Christoph Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson, Margot Robbie, Rory J. Saper, Djimon Hounsou, Jim Broadbent, Ben Chaplin, Genevieve O'Reilly and Casper Crump. 6/10.