The UnPopular Opinion: The Legend of Tarzan

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

THE UNPOPULAR OPINION is an ongoing column featuring different takes on films that either the writer HATED, but that the majority of film fans LOVED, or that the writer LOVED, but that most others LOATHED. We're hoping this column will promote constructive and geek fueled discussion. Enjoy!

****SOME SPOILERS ENSUE****

Hollywood has struggled to reinvent classic franchises. From THE LONE RANGER to CONAN THE BARBARIAN, genre offerings have suffered more than most when it comes to trying to take a classic tale and refresh it for contemporary audiences. Older fans malign the changes to their beloved characters and cinematic landscapes while many youthful audiences just don't cnnect or care with these retro tales. Disney faced this issue when it came to JOHN CARTER being seen as derivative to STAR WARS and AVATAR despite being written almost a century prior to either film, but in the last few years very few films have been as unheralded as David Yates' THE LEGEND OF TARZAN. This is a shame as it is one of the most enjoyable summer adventures of the last several seasons.

The story of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan has been told many times on the big screen. From pulpy serials to the marquee Christopher Lambert GREYSTONE, every iteration of the Ape Man character has been a hit with audiences. Most recently, Disney's animated TARZAN became one of the most popular takes on the story which made it natural for a new take to eventually hit screens. With HARRY POTTER director David Yates passionately developing this new film, THE LEGEND OF TARZAN seemed like a sure fire hit. Even though it cast Alexander Skarsgard for a shirtless leading role and hot talent like Margot Robbie, Christoph Waltz, and the always welcome Samuel L. Jackson, fans and critics did not connect with what is really a sequel to a first film that never happened. Or, you could see this as a sequel to GREYSTOKE. In either case, no one was quite sure what to make of this movie and that is a shame.

THE LEGEND OF TARZAN gives us glimpses as to Tarzan's origin but begins years after he left his jungle home when he is pulled back in by nefarious mercenaries enslaving the natives and threatening the Congo. Having already acclimated to life back in society, John Clayton III is a pop culture phenomenon who has abandoned his Tarzan namesake. Living happily with his wife Jane (the always gorgeous Margot Robbie), Clayton reluctantly returns to the Congo with George Washington Williams (Samuel L. Jackson) when Jane is kidnapped. While the film takes some time to get going, once Jane is kidnapped, THE LEGEND OF TARZAN turns into a CGI-filled adventure. While some of the effects may border on silly, Yates directs with an eye towards the fun and pulpy nature of the stories that inspired the movie.

If you revisit the Burroughs stories, THE LEGEND OF TARZAN is not far from a stretch from the over the top adventures from those classic tales which got crazier than just a man who lives with primates. Yates' film gives us a dastardly villain in the form of Waltz's Rom as well as Chief Mbonga (Djimon Honsou), the leader of the Leopard Man of Opar. Between these two antagonists, the heroic John Clayton devolves form a suited aristocrat to his primitive self the further into the film we get. Seeing Alexander Skarsgard literally change before our eyes is quite stunning and imbues the film with a much needed boost of energy that it lacks for the first act. Even though countless fans are familiar with this story, the formulaic origin steps are still vital to ingratiate rookies to this world.

There is also the unique element to THE LEGEND OF TARZAN that blends real historical figures with this fictional tale. Both Samuel L. Jackson and Christoph Waltz play fictionalized versions of their namesakes which gives a context to this Tarzan tale that has long been missing from the majority of film versions of the story. Even GREYSTOKE focused more on the general era of 19th Century Africa and England but Yates' film firmly gives us the themes of slavery and imperialism which clash within the character of Tarzan. Skarsgard gives an understated performance that becomes more and more feral which can be seen as a parallel to what the British Empire and other colonial powers did in taking over African countries for their own plunder. You may call this heavy-handed and unwarranted in a pulpy adventure, but I found it to be informative and provided a level of detail missing from other movies.

There are a lot of things to love about THE LEGEND OF TARZAN. For one, it proves Yates as a capable director of non-HARRY POTTER movies and I would love to see him handle more movies outside of the fantasy genre. Still, Yates commands the CGI as if it were tangible and that gives a much needed boost to this story. We also get a nice score from Rupert Gregson-Williams and the cinematography by Henry Braham is suitably epic is scale. The screenplay by Craig Brewer (HUSTLE & FLOW) and Adam Cozad (THE SUICIDE SQUAD) takes THE LEGEND OF TARZAN out of being just another remake and gives it a distinct story and approach that really sets it apart from everything else out there. This truly is Tarzan as you have never seen him.

Had THE LEGEND OF TARZAN reached theaters before Jon Favreau's THE JUNGLE BOOK, critics may have been gentler but this movie does not have the same brightness or pacing as that Disney film. Still, THE LEGEND OF TARZAN is an all ages appropriate adventure that takes itself seriously but still manages to have fun doing so. There are so many quirks and foibles to these creations that you can get lost in the crazy world of apes and man apes and ape men and the women who love them. David Yates may never get to make a sequel (or a prequel) to this story but it will remain in fine company alongside Andrew Stanton's JOHN CARTER as a pitch perfect vision of the writing of Edgar Rice Burroughs.