The Legend of Tarzan (2016) Action Movie Review
Ever wonder how certain movies even get made? Take "The Legend of Tarzan," for instance. I don't know the nitty-gritty details of its production, but one can't help but think that maybe the folks involved were a bit oblivious to the world outside of Hollywood. I mean, seriously, was now the best time to revive a story about a white guy with superhero vibes who bosses around animals and certain African folks?
The movie's opening credits boast a fancy "Tarzan" with an upper-case "r" in a circle – probably some trademark thing they had to flaunt. But seriously, in the midst of the Black Lives Matter movement, was pushing a narrative with a white savior swinging through the African jungle the smartest move?
Well, apparently the creators tried to do damage control. In the film's quick one hour and forty-five minutes, "The Legend of Tarzan" throws in some text about the colonization of the Belgian Congo in the late 19th century. There's a villain, Leon Rom, played by Christoph Waltz, who's up to all sorts of nasty schemes involving mercenaries, slave labor, and stolen diamonds. Oh, and he's got a rosary that sometimes doubles as a noose – subtle, right? Rom's big plan? Trade diamonds with a fierce chief named Mbonga in exchange for delivering Tarzan, his arch-enemy.
%20Action%20Movie.jpg "The Legend of Tarzan (2016) Action Movie")
Tarzan's back, but this time he's all refined and Lord Greystoke-ish in England with his wife Jane. The plot thickens when an invitation lures him to check out Belgium's so-called "progress" in the Congo – a trap set by the villainous Rom. Enter George Washington Williams, played by Samuel L. Jackson, a diplomat wanting to expose illegal slave trading, convincing Tarzan to join him. Jane insists on tagging along too, making it a trio despite Tarzan's protests about her stress levels.
Once on the continent, they swing by a tribe Jane knew from her missionary parents' days, cueing a Hollywood-style celebration that feels straight out of the past. And surprise, surprise, Hollywood hasn't changed much in sixty years.
Now, to address the elephant in the room – race. "The Legend of Tarzan" attempts to be woke, pausing to explain itself whenever things get tricky and throwing in Jackson's character for good measure. The German-accented, rosary-wielding bad guy becomes the focal point of blame.
But when Leon Rom wreaks havoc, the movie takes a strange turn. A noble African leader can take a bullet, but Jane, once kidnapped, faces the unsettling threat of rape. The villain's performance is too familiar, and the way things unfold gets a bit cringe-worthy, even if you're not scrutinizing closely. Despite establishing Tarzan as a unifier, the compromise with his African nemesis involves some uncomfortable scenes of Alexander Skarsgård taking on a group of men of color. And if you wonder why I'm bringing up politics, well, the movie started it by revising history in the Belgian Congo.
Surprisingly, if you can overlook some things—or never cared about them in the first place—“The Legend of Tarzan” turns out to be a pretty solid action-adventure flick. It keeps the story tight, smoothly blending Tarzan's origin with the current plot through painless flashbacks. Most of the main actors, except the overly familiar Waltz, deliver engaging performances, and the action scenes are well-executed.
There's a clever nod to a "Blazing Saddles" joke, where cattle stampede through the Vatican, used as inspiration for a climactic scene. Oddly enough, it works. In comparison to the dull and pretentious "Greystoke" from over thirty years ago, “The Legend of Tarzan” stands out as several notches better. (And let's just forget the 1998 “Tarzan and the Lost City” because, really, nobody even saw it, let alone talked about it.)