Review: The Legend of Tarzan

UGH! Not one of these again

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Okay, look. If you’re attempting to remake a more faithful Tarzan movie – notwithstanding the VAST abundance of other Tarzan movies – you better go all out with it. The original stories by Edgar Rice Burroughs may hold a huge influence of decades-old adventure stories, but one cannot help to notice its largely uncomfortable racial issues, especially in an age where our literary society grows more sensitive by the day. I mean if you think about it, it's inescapable: A white hero representing a total embodiment of powerful, Anglo-Saxon race fighting unusual enemies in uncharted territory. Yeah, I’m sure THAT won’t turn some heads, to say nothing of the unpleasant Colonizing that came with it. Yikes! But what made these stories hold their lasting weight lies in their fun, pulpy adventure style in wacky scenarios.

So call it compensation: “Sure this sounds racist, but it’s also about a guy fighting bad guys with his Jungle friends, and that’s awesome enough!”

So with that in mind, there are angles to get around this for a modern update on Tarzan. On my money, the best angle is the 1999 Disney version, where they keep the action and the human races simplified in order to develop a man-vs-nature story that actually develops the hero as a character. The other movies went for broke and just became silly action adventure romps. The Legend of Tarzan, on the other hand, decides to take this subtext into the main thrust of the movie, whereas Tarzan is tasked with stopping Colonialism in Africa. Sadly, since the Warner Bros company clearly comforts itself with the gritty reboot template, any speck of goodwill from this otherwise exciting premise gets sucked out in an utterly dull, bloated, occasionally phony, carcass of a movie.

The story takes place after the whole shenanigans in the Jungle and Tarzan has made a name for himself in Britain where he takes a new persona as John Clayton. After a meeting with George Washington Williams (Samuel L. Jackson), he persuades the former ape-man to aid him in his efforts to abolish King Leopold’s slave efforts in the Belgian Congo. Little did they know that he and Leon Rom (Christoph Waltz) are in cahoots with each other in an uninteresting villain plot with diamonds and mines. Jane (Margot Robbie) eventually tags along because she misses her homeland and the movie really needs a good excuse to get captured for a third-act rescue. So yeah, it’s up to Tarzan and his reunited animal buddies to take down the interlopers, rescue Jane, and despite trying their best to reduce the materials racism, inexplicably take credit from Williams in abolishing black oppression in Africa. Really.

Apart from being overstuffed yet simplistic, the biggest problem with the movie lies on how much it blunders on its own intentions. The film constantly emphasizes the horror of colonizing Africa at this time period for little reason other than to address the race issue, yet couldn’t find ways to go further with it other than a “great white savior” story. Whether or not they couldn’t conjure another angle with the whole “Belgian Slavery but with Tarzan” or they just thought we would think it’s noble, but the result ultimately makes him the hero while Samuel Jackson's character gets stuck as a wacky sidekick. It’s like trying to fix a wine-stained tuxedo with splashing more wine onto it.

           Outside of this irony, the rest of the film befalls into boring and half-baked. The writing consists of lazy exposition and awkward comedy, the characters are paper-thin, and the few CGI action scenes – save for a third act animal stampede – lack so much punch and scope it's borderline bizarre. I know Warner Bros hired director David Yates to helm this because he banked a lot of money with the gloomier Harry Potter movies, but most of his blockbuster panache and overall dreary aesthetic falls limp here. (Or maybe he’s saving his energy for Fantastic Beasts) Most of the performances are all wasted but try to bring charisma, save for Skarsgard who couldn’t even hold the medal in appeal against Jai Courtney. Most damming, the movie tries to fill up Tarzans origin story via flashbacks, which serves little more than rush the character development and set up one needless plot points after another.

  Admittedly, the movie brings itself up a few notches during the aforementioned third act stampede. It all looks straight out of a pulp adventure romp detached from the rest of the movie, but rarely does a film benefit from that. I mean, why can’t a Tarzan movie stop refrain from gloomy pretense for once and actually becomes a Tarzan movie?

  However, in the end, this movie left me conflicted on who this movie is for. It fails to be a historical piece by adding fictional ape brawling. It fails at being aimed for old Tarzan fans by its “gritty reboot” style and the fans of said style would get zoned out by the rest of the tedium. Most damning, though, the movie admirably faces the racial implications but winds up biting its own ass. Credit is due for intentions despite the fact, but sometimes that just isn’t enough.

Rating: 4.5/10