I always thought the appeal of Tarzan is that the guy is totally free. He does what he wants in the jungle all day, is beholden to no law, and when a mate comes along they set up their own little Eden in the trees.
“The Legend of Tarzan” doesn’t care about any of that. Here, Tarzan is a superhero, called back to Africa to save the people of the Congo from colonial exploitation.
We first meet the man called Tarzan in London, where his jungle childhood is behind him. He prefers to be known by his ancestral name, John Clayton, Earl of Greystoke. (Flashbacks provide the origin story of how he was adopted by apes in infancy.)
Tarzan, or Clayton, is played by a buff Alexander Skarsgard, the Swedish actor from “True Blood.” Skarsgard’s good at non-verbal communication, so it’s easy to believe his feral upbringing.
Wife Jane (Margot Robbie, from “Wolf of Wall Street”) insists on tagging along to Africa, and so does an American activist and former guilt-ridden Indian hunter called George Washington Williams (Samuel L. Jackson). He wants to expose the Belgian government’s savage exploitation of the Congo.
Lying in wait for Tarzan is a mercenary agent of Belgium’s King Leopold, one Leon Rom (Christoph Waltz). He’s got a fiendish plot to capture the ape man and hand him over to a Tarzan’s tribal enemy (Djimon Hounsou).
The story is labored, but the movie scoots along quickly. Director David Yates, who did some of the “Harry Potter” films, has a pretty decent sense of when to stop for a pesky dialogue scene and when to mount a jungle chase.
Not that you go to a movie like this for the dialogue, but some of the lines here sound as though they came from Quentin Tarantino’s stylebook (an effect reinforced by the presence of QT regulars Waltz and Jackson). It’s funny at times, and also very meta about the Tarzan legend — the characters speak teasingly of the Tarzan yell and the “Me Tarzan, You Jane” line.
All the good stuff here doesn’t quite add up to a complete movie. The action gets more ludicrous as it goes on, culminating in Tarzan leading a stampede of computer-generated animals against the bad guys.
Tarzan himself still swings from vines, and talks to apes, and does the yell. What’s changed is that instead of the usual escapist adventure fun, the filmmakers are careful to frame their tale as a story of European imperialism run amok. “The future belongs to me,” says Waltz’s greedy villain. Historical realities prove him tragically right, even if Tarzan wins this round.
“The Legend of Tarzan” (21⁄2 stars)
The ape man (Alexander Skarsgard) is civilized and living in London when he’s called back to the Congo to fight against imperialist invaders. Not too plausible, but the movie scoots along pretty well even as it gets increasingly ludicrous. With Margot Robbie, Samuel L. Jackson, Christoph Waltz.
Rating: PG-13, for violence
Showing: Alderwood, Cinebarre, Everett, Monroe, Marysville, Stanwood, Meridian, Sundance Cinemas, Thornton Place, Woodinville, Cascade Mall
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