Spoiler-Free Review - The Legend of Tarzan



By DJ Momo


Spider-Man, Terminator and Cinderella; What do these movies have in common? They are all movies that, in recent years, have had some sort of reboot. This week saw the release of another one of those remakes in the form of The Legend of Tarzan. The Legend of Tarzan is a new movie made by Warner Bros that tries to recreate the eponymous story with a more adult twist and, I have to say, I am really divided on the whole issue.

Let’s start with the cast. Alexander Skarsgard stars in the movie as Tarzan opposite of Margot Robbie’s version of Jane Porter. The movie also includes Samuel L. Jackson as George Washington Williams, a friend of Tarzan’s and Christoph Waltz as Captain Leon Rom, a captain sent by the King to the Congo. The acting of the main four actors in the movie was impeccable, but I was left expecting more. While Skarsgard’s and Jackson’s roles were well-rounded, Robbie’s character was not as likable as intended and Waltz’s role as Rom was not worthy of him.
Talking about the plot, the movie faced quite a few problems. First off, the movie started out really slowly, taking about 30-40 minutes before getting in the actual plot of the story. This really pushes people’s patience because not only was it slow, it was also boring and tedious. Also, the movie spent quite a lot of time working on the African setting, trying to build this whole community of animals with “traditions” and “customs”. This is all fun and good, but for a movie that takes around 2 hours, there isn’t enough time to present this stuff. But even worse is the fact that five seconds after they are introduced, these customs, without advancing the plot, go out the window and are forgotten for the rest of the movie. A good example of what they should have done is the recent The Jungle Book which really managed to introduce those customs without it killing the plot. They honestly would have fit better in a television show with more time and more build-up. Another problem, and it’s important to mention here that this is a Warner Bros movie, this movie had the EXACT. FORMULA. OF A MARVEL MOVIE. The movie literally made it feel like it was trying to be part of this universe with the battles happening the exact way they happened in the Marvel movies and every other plot point following. One last thing: When you spend the whole movie making bets with the guy next to you, and winning every single one because there is no surprise whatsoever, it is problematic.
Looking at directing, I have nothing but praise for David Yates. The shots were amazing, the score’s placement in the movie was perfect. I honestly felt like the movie was really well built and well led. While talking about his directing, its important to note the work that was done on the setting, and how the light was used in multiple scenes, you really can see the attention to details he has. Then, you have the effects:  they were AMAZING. The gorillas, the ostriches, all the animals felt so realistic, I really thought they must have trained real animals to act like that.
Finally, it is worth noting that, even with all the negatives, the movie was a good experience. I honestly enjoyed watching it as it felt fun and exciting at the same time. I would give that movie a 5.5/10.

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