The Legend of Tarzan

By: Cheyenne Abrams

 The Cinematic Universe has really gotten their lives together by remaking or adding on to the story lines of movies from the 90s. This brings a sense of nostalgia to viewers as they wander into the theater to relive earlier memories with friends, family, and even their children.

The Legend of Tarzan is no different. Directed by Harry Potter’s David Yates, the movie dives into the afterlife of Tarzan’s now diplomatic lifestyle in 1860s England. However, with new terror, Leon Rom (Christopher Waltz) rising in his homeland, Tarzan, now John Clayton (Alexander Skarsgard, True Blood) and his debutante wife, Jane (Margot Robbie, Suicide Squad), are convinced by Investigator George Washington Williams (Samuel L. Jackson, Pulp Fiction), to journey into the deep forest to take back a land once theirs.

The movie has very tense moments, from family scruffs to kidnappings and dangerous animal encounters. However, the directors and script writers tied it together with heartfelt flashbacks of Jane and Tarzan’s first encounter, Tarzan’s adoption by his Gorilla family, along with the couple’s struggle to start a family of their own.

The Legend of Tarzan is an international tale, and it is showcased throughout the film with Tarzan’s main conflict being Chief Mbonga (Djimon Hounsou, Guardians of the Galaxy), who wants to punish Tarzan for crimes he made before he discovered life outside of Africa. His support system is the tribe that Jane’s father worked with when Tarzan was found; they spread the legend from tribe to tribe through song.

The movie does, however, dive into the 1860s mentality in the treatment of women, as well as the harsh slavery aspect of the time period. There are no stones left unturned when looking into the period of the late 1800s. This movie, like many other tall tales of our childhood, leave people walking out during the credits thinking about how they treat others, greed, and the struggle that other countries face. The movie also focused on minor details about the time period like the creation of Ping Pong, and how Tarzan frequently plays the game in his home. 

I give the movie a 4 out of 5 star rating. While making me nostalgic, and leaving the theater with life lessons, I wish that Tarzan’s animal families played a bigger part in the film, rather than just Jane and her childhood tribe.