One of the uglier tendencies among film critics and movie writers in recent years is when a mob mentality develops and decides to collectively hate a movie before it’s even been released or seen. Two examples that come to mind are 2012’s John Carter and 2013’s The Lone Ranger. The latest target of derision appears to be The Legend of Tarzan.
Perhaps it’s not a coincidence that those movies were based on older properties (pulp novels, radio serials) that didn’t immediately have an appeal or name recognition to younger audiences looking for the next big thing. Even fans that are slightly older might gravitate more toward nostalgia and the movies, TV shows and comic books they grew up with. So it probably shouldn’t be a surprise that the latest punching bag among movie critics and bloggers is a new Tarzan movie, based on the iconic character from Edgar Rice Burroughs’ classic novels.
Tarzan has been adapted into many movies, radio shows, TV series and comic books over the past 100 years. He’s a character immediately recognizable throughout generations, regardless of whether or not anyone has seen him featured in a film, TV show or cartoon. Everyone knows that Tarzan was raised by apes in the jungle, that he swings on vines, can communicate with animals, has his famous yell and is romantically linked to Jane.
So it was probably smart of director David Yates, along with screenwriters Adam Cozad and Craig Brewer, not to bother retelling the Tarzan origin story for an audience already familiar with it, especially if there was no new spin (besides modern digital effects) to put on the mythology. Flashbacks do touch on the important notes of Tarzan’s origin — how he came to be in the jungle in the first place, how he was discovered by apes, how he met Jane — but giving that story a modern retelling likely would have felt tedious. We know who Tarzan is. Let’s get on with this particular story.
The question is whether or not this new story is compelling enough to warrant a modern big-screen blockbuster. The Legend of Tarzan reunites — or introduces — us with the famed character eight years after he’s left the jungle and gone to his family home in England. John Clayton III (Alexander Skarsgard) is now Lord Greystoke, married to Jane, and is a civilized man of society. This Tarzan story is a piece of historical fiction, incorporating King Leopold’s development of the Congo. But the Belgian government is nearly bankrupt because of it. So through the British Prime Minister, Clayton is invited to look at what’s been built in the Congo and presumably bring a positive report back to the United Kingdom, which shares the territory with Belgium and could pay off Leopold’s debts.
But Clayton isn’t too keen on returning to Africa. He left Tarzan behind in the jungle, and isn’t interested in doing any favors for the British (or Belgian) government. But George Washington Williams (Samuel L. Jackson), an American envoy to England, shares his belief that Leopold is enslaving the native population and convinces Clayton to take King Leopold up on his invitation. Much more eager to go back to the jungle is Jane (Margot Robbie), who is craving some adventure. She also has an affinity for the Congo, having spent a significant portion of her life there while her father taught in a Congolese village.
The entire venture is a ruse, however, concocted by Leopold’s representative, Leon Rom (Christoph Waltz). Rom wants access to the diamonds found in the territory ruled by Chief Mbonga (Djimon Hounsou), which could pay off Belgium’s debt without England’s help. The diamonds would also allow Rom to bankroll an army that would control the territory and allow Belgium access to all of the Congo’s natural resources. But in return for the diamonds, Mbonga wants Tarzan, who killed his son years ago. And what better way to lure Tarzan to Mbonga than by kidnapping Jane and use her as bait?
That’s the premise which gets Tarzan back to the jungle. But most of the story is concerned with the hero’s reacclimation to his former home. For a guy who’s been gone for eight years, Clayton has no issues jumping right back into the Tarzan life. Apparently, it’s like riding a bike. Once you’ve learned how to communicate with lions and elephants, how to navigate the jungle by running on tree limbs and swinging on vines, you never forget. Or maybe it’s that you can take The Lord of the Jungle out of the jungle, but can’t take the jungle out of him? Something like that.
Tarzan does have to go through some initiation rituals to earn back goodwill among several denizens of the jungle, notably the apes who rule through brute force and intimidation. That results in the signature battle of the film, when Tarzan has to fight the leader of the apes in order to gain safe passage through the jungle and gain some important allies who will help later on. The brawl doesn’t turn out as you might expect, which is one of the more refreshing aspects of this story. It would have been more intriguing to see Tarzan encounter some difficulty with resuming his jungle life, but he does encounter some struggles along the way.
Unfortunately, The Legend of Tarzan is at its most interesting when the title hero is in the jungle, doing the things we’re familiar with him doing. When Tarzan isn’t communicating with or fighting animals, when he’s not bounding from tree to tree, and most importantly, when he’s not swinging on vines to speed through the jungle, the movie just isn’t that compelling.
Most of the movie seems like a 1980s or 1990s treatment in which the budget didn’t allow for many effects shots of Tarzan swinging through the jungle, so instead we get scenes in the Congolese village, on the boat where Jane is being held captive, or the jungle hideaway shrouded by fog. Those sequences feel like filler, allowing the movie to avoid showing Tarzan being Tarzan.
But the main problem with the movie is its story structure. The story doesn’t seem to know what its climactic battle is. The clash between Tarzan and Akut, the leader of the apes, happens early on, yet is far more stirring than Tarzan’s eventual fight with Mbonga, which is supposedly what the film has been building toward. Perhaps that’s because Tarzan has no quarrel with the jungle chief. If only the writers had realized that earlier on and tried to adjust the script accordingly.
In addition, Rom is no physical match for Tarzan which makes their eventual confrontation a non-starter. Waltz always does an excellent job playing a fiendish villain, yet there’s no question that Tarzan is going to defeat him, even if he doesn’t directly pummel him. The story seems to be setting up one of Rom’s henchman for a showdown with Tarzan, but that never develops, despite the attempts to get the audience to dislike him because he’s mean to Jane. (Also, the movie tries to establish Jane as a strong woman who doesn’t need rescuing, yet that’s exactly where she ends up by the third act of the film. Maybe if she had dispatched Rom’s henchman, that would have been satisfying.)
Since this project was announced, I’ve been hesitant to share my excitement for a Tarzan movie because I thought it would just give away how old I am. Tarzan has little significance to a modern audience who doesn’t remember any of the movies, cartoons or books. Making a new Tarzan movie is a reach out to an older viewership, an appeal to nostalgia. But I grew up enjoying the character’s adventures. Up until high school, I was a swimmer and one of the ways my father got me interested was telling me about Olympic swimmer Johnny Weissmuller and how he went from winning gold medals to playing Tarzan in several movies. (Many of those movies were shown on Saturday afternoons, when sports didn’t rule the broadcast schedule.)
I also fondly remember the Filmation Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle cartoons that played on Saturday mornings, as well as before and after school during the week. That theme music would play in my head when I was swimming. Even to this day, decades later, when I’m hiking through the woods, those notes come to mind. Tarzan was a superhero before the term applied to brightly colored characters in costumed tights. He’s a character that I’ve been waiting to see in the movies again.
So I was presumably the audience for this new film. And maybe that’s why I enjoyed it more than many other critics seem to be. In my view, The Legend of Tarzan isn’t nearly as bad as the poor reviews have been saying. No, it’s not a great movie, and probably should have done more with Skarsgard and Robbie as its stars. Even if the story takes place in the late 1800s, Tarzan and Jane could have been modernized better for a new audience. Maybe Warner Brothers would have eventually gotten there, whether it was with Yates directing again or not.
Unfortunately, unless this movie is a huge international hit, the box office won’t come close to surpassing the film’s reported $180 million budget. (That money presumably went into creating the jungle landscapes and animals, but it sure felt like more of it should have been spent on creating better action.) Everyone involved with this deserves better.
https://youtu.be/BN0ZshvOG8s
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