Friday, August 12, 2016

Movie review: The Legend of Tarzan

The Legend of Tarzan

The Legend of Tarzan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
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Pre-order the movie: Amazon

About the movie

Tarzan, having acclimated to life in London, is called back to his former home in the jungle to investigate the activities at a mining encampment.

Review

When I first told my girl Bambi I was going to watch Tarzan, the first thing she said to me was "I've heard good things about Alexander's abs". Truthfully, that was all I saw about the movie too on my newfeed on Facebook. One of my friends even went so far as to say she really didn't know what the movie was about because she was too focused on his abs. So let me get it out of the way, yes, his abs are gorgeous, but he's clothed most of the movie. You only get to see the abs about two-thirds of the way through the movie.

The movie itself is spectacular, hence, the review. I'm not often moved to review a movie because (1) I mostly watch movies for pure entertainment and I don't want to think about it and (2) I don't watch many movies and finally (3) most of the movies I like to watch involve guns and explosions. Lots and lots of explosions. I like my movies to go boom.

Anyway, back to Tarzan. I didn't know what the movie was about going into the movie as I had not read anything about it. I pretty much learned as I went and discovered rather delightedly that the plot for the movie was outstanding. It's not a Tarzan origin story though they cleverly wove snippets of Tarzan's origins and his relationship with Jane into the plot via flashback scenes. The story itself focused on Tarzan returning to the Congo after being away in England for eight years in order to investigate claims of the Congo people being enslaved by the Belgians who had taken over the country.

Margot Robbie plays an excellent Jane Porter. In it, Jane is willful, feisty and strong. She has the strength to stand up to her husband (that would be Tarzan) and demand she be treated as an equal who is smart and able to take care of herself. She is also resourceful and resilient when trouble befalls her. In fact, she was such an excellent character and Ms Robbie did such a wonderful portrayal of her that my Steve even said he thought she made an excellent redhead (she has strawberry blonde hair which was slightly reddish in the movie) since Steve has definite opinions about redheads in romance. :-)

Tarzan
Source: US Magazine, Credit: Jonathan Olley

As for Alexander Skarsgard as Tarzan, well, we've already waxed lyrical about his abs and they were most excellent abs. Any girl would be happy to lick those abs. :-) I thought Mr Skarsgard did an excellent job of portraying a very animalistic Tarzan. His mannerisms were very reminiscent of how an animal would behave as opposed to someone who was raised entirely human. He made Tarzan as a man who had spent the better part of his life amongst animals, raised by and with animals very believable. I made the rather tongue in cheek comment though about how early Tarzan images had him in a loin cloth. I have to say, I'm certain that loin cloth was added for censorship and human sensibilities. I'm almost certain that if Tarzan had existed and had been raised by animals, fashioning and wearing a loin cloth would not have been a priority or even something he would think to need, although if he had been kicked in the privates by his gorilla pals one too many times, he might have made himself to protect those dangly bits. But cheekiness aside, I found Tarzan's character to be honorable and vigorous. I loved how gentle he was with Jane and how much he loved her, I loved how he cared for the animals and called them friend, most of all, I loved his athleticism and enjoyed the pure physical poetry of watching him swing from tree to tree with his gorilla pals. Mr Skarsgard really brought Tarzan to life in his portrayal of him.

It has now been almost a week since I've watched the movie and I am still thinking about it. I enjoyed it on much more than just a pure entertainment level. The scenery in the movie was spectacular from the majestic mountains to the lush forests and the stark rocky landscapes. The cinematography spanning the the land showed of the magnificence of the country. It also showcased the animals of the wild Congo to superb advantage from the gentle elephants to the long legged ostriches to the gorillas and stampeding buffalo. The animals were stunning shown against their natural habitat. Then there was the exploitation of the Congo people and the greed of the invading Belgians brought a depth to the story. The caring and love between Jane and Tarzan, and Jane, Tarzan and the tribe where Jane grew up showed the great connection that can develop between people of different cultures and backgrounds when people choose to understand and embrace their differences. Love is universal. And yes, Alexander Skarsgard is excellent eye candy.

I'd recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys a good adventure with plenty of action and a great love story built in.

The Legend of Tarzan


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4 comments:

  1. I think Ron and I might find the time to go see this one :0

    Thanks
    have Fun
    Helen

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    Replies
    1. If it's still showing near you, go see it. It's excellent.

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  2. LOL on the abs. Yay for it being so good. I might have to check it out. Love the movie poster.

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    Replies
    1. This is one I highly recommend. Very enjoyable. And the abs were epic!

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