'The Legend of Tarzan' did have a good deal going for it, with talented actors in the cast, entertaining and insightful source material that has been adapted to variable but mostly entertaining effect on film and media and with David Yates as director.
Despite not being sure what to make of the trailers/advertising, which indicated a visually beautiful but muddled film, this reviewer saw 'The Legend of Tarzan' anyway because of the above things. Sadly, 'The Legend of Tarzan' is a let down, not an awful film but one where mixed perceptions of the trailers were not improved upon in the film itself. Some very good things here, but a rather bland and dull film without much swing.
Luckily, there are some quite big merits here. Mostly, 'The Legend of Tarzan' looks great, with beautiful evocative period detail and even more stunning scenery, while not skimming over the fact that the jungle is also still a place of many dangers, complemented by the wonderful mix of the darkly brooding and sumptuous London and the lusciously colourful and appropriately earthy jungle in the cinematography. A great score was also done with the film's music score by Rupert Gregson Williams, it has energy, whimsy and a cool and again brooding atmosphere.
Of the performances, which mostly didn't do very much for me, Christoph Waltz comes off the best. Can't say that I was completely enthused, it is another typecast villain role and character-wise it is one of Waltz's least interesting, however Waltz does inject a good deal of menace and charisma without being too overt or too low-key. Alexander Skarsgaard is at times wooden and a bit too civilised for the title role, but he at least looks the part mostly, does his best with giving energy and feeling and fits within the period.
This cannot be said for Margot Robbie, who sleepwalks through her role as Jane and makes her very annoying as well, the snarky attitude really grates too much. Despite looking beautiful and having obvious sex appeal, Robbie has a look far too modern and it sticks out like a sore thumb. Samuel L. Jackson is also out of place and more obnoxious than amusing, with some not particularly funny and often ill-timed comic relief in a role that is like a badly watered-down parody of other much more interesting Jackson performances. Saddled once again with a clichéd and incredibly one-dimensional noble savage character, with a back-story every bit as simplistic and predictable, Djimon Hounsou tries but lacks the dignity and passion needed, it can be one-note at times.
Although it has been said that 'The Legend of Tarzan' looks great, not everything in the visual department comes over completely successfully. The editing is too often incredibly choppy and indicated that more was actually filmed but was cut out for time constraints, which accounts for the cheapness of a few scenes and the jumpy incompleteness in some of the more eventful scenes. Particularly bad was the train vine scene, a pretty risible scene in general. The special effects are variable, most are fantastic like the elephants and the gorillas (different to the gorillas one usually is acquainted with but fits the descriptions of the gorilla species from the source material), some like the lions are mostly well-rendered but are hindered by rushed editing and tighter budget constraints seemingly in busier scenes and others like the ostrich, the buffalos and to a lesser extent the crocodiles are so fake-looking and lack the finesse shown elsewhere that it took me out of the film.
Scripting was a huge issue here (Jane getting a lot of the worst of it), aside from the story it was the asset that most brought 'The Legend of Tarzan' down. There is a lot of clunky soap opera in the interactions between characters, and it never seems to know which direction to take with distracting shifts in tone, the darker and more tense scenes feel too safe and are too often fatally undermined by comedy that kills the mood, the comedy misfires badly more than it hits and there is a lack of emotional connection. The story gets off to a sluggish start and never recovers, trying too to cram in too many characters and subplots that not only are so simplistic and lacking in dimension but don't make the story as clear as it should be, which does make the film a slog to get through and makes the characters and their relationships not developed enough or as relatable as they should (that's including the one between Tarzan and Jane). Yates shows great technical competence but lacks focus when it comes to the more substance-related elements (story and pacing).
Overall, not without its good points but lacking in a lot of areas...including swing. 4/10 Bethany Cox
Despite not being sure what to make of the trailers/advertising, which indicated a visually beautiful but muddled film, this reviewer saw 'The Legend of Tarzan' anyway because of the above things. Sadly, 'The Legend of Tarzan' is a let down, not an awful film but one where mixed perceptions of the trailers were not improved upon in the film itself. Some very good things here, but a rather bland and dull film without much swing.
Luckily, there are some quite big merits here. Mostly, 'The Legend of Tarzan' looks great, with beautiful evocative period detail and even more stunning scenery, while not skimming over the fact that the jungle is also still a place of many dangers, complemented by the wonderful mix of the darkly brooding and sumptuous London and the lusciously colourful and appropriately earthy jungle in the cinematography. A great score was also done with the film's music score by Rupert Gregson Williams, it has energy, whimsy and a cool and again brooding atmosphere.
Of the performances, which mostly didn't do very much for me, Christoph Waltz comes off the best. Can't say that I was completely enthused, it is another typecast villain role and character-wise it is one of Waltz's least interesting, however Waltz does inject a good deal of menace and charisma without being too overt or too low-key. Alexander Skarsgaard is at times wooden and a bit too civilised for the title role, but he at least looks the part mostly, does his best with giving energy and feeling and fits within the period.
This cannot be said for Margot Robbie, who sleepwalks through her role as Jane and makes her very annoying as well, the snarky attitude really grates too much. Despite looking beautiful and having obvious sex appeal, Robbie has a look far too modern and it sticks out like a sore thumb. Samuel L. Jackson is also out of place and more obnoxious than amusing, with some not particularly funny and often ill-timed comic relief in a role that is like a badly watered-down parody of other much more interesting Jackson performances. Saddled once again with a clichéd and incredibly one-dimensional noble savage character, with a back-story every bit as simplistic and predictable, Djimon Hounsou tries but lacks the dignity and passion needed, it can be one-note at times.
Although it has been said that 'The Legend of Tarzan' looks great, not everything in the visual department comes over completely successfully. The editing is too often incredibly choppy and indicated that more was actually filmed but was cut out for time constraints, which accounts for the cheapness of a few scenes and the jumpy incompleteness in some of the more eventful scenes. Particularly bad was the train vine scene, a pretty risible scene in general. The special effects are variable, most are fantastic like the elephants and the gorillas (different to the gorillas one usually is acquainted with but fits the descriptions of the gorilla species from the source material), some like the lions are mostly well-rendered but are hindered by rushed editing and tighter budget constraints seemingly in busier scenes and others like the ostrich, the buffalos and to a lesser extent the crocodiles are so fake-looking and lack the finesse shown elsewhere that it took me out of the film.
Scripting was a huge issue here (Jane getting a lot of the worst of it), aside from the story it was the asset that most brought 'The Legend of Tarzan' down. There is a lot of clunky soap opera in the interactions between characters, and it never seems to know which direction to take with distracting shifts in tone, the darker and more tense scenes feel too safe and are too often fatally undermined by comedy that kills the mood, the comedy misfires badly more than it hits and there is a lack of emotional connection. The story gets off to a sluggish start and never recovers, trying too to cram in too many characters and subplots that not only are so simplistic and lacking in dimension but don't make the story as clear as it should be, which does make the film a slog to get through and makes the characters and their relationships not developed enough or as relatable as they should (that's including the one between Tarzan and Jane). Yates shows great technical competence but lacks focus when it comes to the more substance-related elements (story and pacing).
Overall, not without its good points but lacking in a lot of areas...including swing. 4/10 Bethany Cox