Meet the New, Highly-Sculpted Tarzan
By Skip Sheffield
Meet the new, improved Tarzan, Alexander Skarsgard in “The
Legend of Tarzan.”
Skarsgard, a Swedish actor who is a towering 6-foot-4,
underwent intensive training and dieting to become the most finely-chiseled
Tarzan ever. He is teamed with the delicately beautiful Australian actress
Margot Robbie as Jane.
Director David Yates is responsible for the last four of the
Harry Potter movies, all of which had eye-popping visual style. For exteriors,
Yates flew his crew to the magnificent Gabon National Parks in Africa, lending
the movie a wild visual beauty.
Only vaguely inspired by the original Edgar Rice Burroughs
yarns, “Tarzan” is set in 1884, after the origin story of an orphaned boy
raised by a family of apes in Africa. Tarzan has left Africa and returned to
England to claim his title as the 5th Earl of Greystoke, John
Clayton III. Clayton has married his American girlfriend Jane, and they have
settled into the life of the landed gentry, with Clayton a member of the House
of Lords.
Meanwhile back in the Congo, claimed by King Leopold of
Belgium, diamonds have been discovered. Something even more valuable than
diamonds has evolved; the enslavement of natives under the greedy, ruthless power of King
Leopold’s emissary, Capt. Leon Rom (Christoph Waltz). Rom has entered in an
agreement with tribal Chief Mbonga (Djimon Hounsou) to deliver Tarzan in
exchange for diamonds. Rom concocts an excuse to lure Clayton back to Africa,
where he can be captured.
In the revisionist script by Adam Cozad, Craig Brewer and a
committee of others, Jane has become a feisty feminist, insisting she come
along for the trip. Also muscling in on the mission is Civil War veteran George
Washington Williams (Samuel L. Jackson), who knows about the slave trade and
wants to expose it to the world.
It doesn’t take Clayton long to doff his shirt and prepare
for battle. Jane predictably is captured and Tarzan revives his gift of
communication with animals, most of whom are computer-generated, to defeat the
bad guys. Jackson serves as comic relief in an otherwise sober story of
exploitation.
Belgium was not the only European country with a shameful
history of colonialism and exploitation in Africa. This is the first Tarzan
movie of my recollection that has worked in modern social commentary. Olympic
swimmer Johnny Weissmuller remains the gold standard of Tarzans, but for sheer
physical perfection, Skarsgard has set the bar the highest yet.
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