SWINGS AND MISSES
New Tarzan struggles
Tarzan has been dusted off, his abs polished and his vocabulary spruced up in David Yates’ handsome but altogether pointless The Legend of Tarzan, a chestthumping resurrection of the Ape Man that fails to find any reason for the iconic character’s continued evolution.
There have been more than 50 films based on the Edgar Rice Burroughs novels. But over time Tarzan has ceded his mass-market turf to a new set of brawny, questionably attired do-gooders, who swing not from vines but from webs and grappling hooks.
His relevance has also drifted. He was originally conceived as a pulpy fable for a society feeling nostalgic for nature as it watched Model Ts roll off assembly lines.
Can such a vestige of imperialera imaginations — dreamt up by a man who never set foot in Africa — be updated to today? The Legend of Tarzan suggests not, and the movie’s main source of suspense is watching it try to twist and contort a century-old property into something meaningful.
This script sets the tale a decade after the discovery of Tarzan in West Africa. Seen only in flashback is Tarzan’s origin story, including a more violent version of his famously loquacious introduction to Jane. Tarzan (Alexander Skarsgard) is now living in London with his wife, Jane (Margot Robbie).
He’s coaxed back to Africa by George Washington Williams (Samuel L. Jackson), a U.S. Civil War veteran who seeks to uncover what he believes is Belgium’s introduction of slavery to the Congo. The character, loosely based on a real historical figure, is the most intriguing if awkward addition.
But the film, searching for a purpose and some drama, doesn’t deserve the grandeur Yates gives it. Tarzan, played with sufficient muscle and smarts by Skarsgard, leads an uprising through his ability to communicate with animals and the (largely faceless) natives.
The wildlife is also comically over-stimulated. The CGI gorillas appear like Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons on steroids.
Agility is the prime trait of Tarzan, but Legend has little of it. The film strains to juggle the character’s baggage instead of embracing the tale’s innate silliness and spirit of adventure.