The Legend Of Tarzan

The Legend Of Tarzan, much like The Jungle Book before it, is another modernisation of a literary classic made more famous by Disney and featuring, at its core, a character raised in the jungle. The comparison extends further as both feature amazing CGI visuals and have made significant moolah at the box office.

Unfortunately for Tarzan the comparison doesn't flatter it too much as it's competitor trumps it in every conceivable way.

The issue with this movie is just that there's not too much story; Tarzan is rather limited with what you can do and David Yates has tried to shoehorn in an oh-so-modern political drama involving colonialism which is rather lacking in politics, drama and sense.

The, frankly brilliant, cast all do their best with the limited material on offer but, make no mistake, you'll leave the cinema and fail to remember a single dramatic event, moment of intrigue or coherence of story.

We start with Tarzan (sorry, John Clayton III) who is now a gentrified Englishman living with Jane in London. For some bizarre reason (seemingly because he wants to see his old friends) he agrees to travel to Africa with Samuel L. Jackson's American diplomat to stop a Belgian monarch from introducing slave labour to the Congo. It's baffling and the plot holes are rife. There's too much to explain here but you'll itch your head.

When you want the action there are some nice moments but it's all a little slow (considering it's basically a chase movie in parts) and there never feels like too much threat. There's some silly moments as well; Margot Robbie brings a lot to Jane but, whilst she's always quick to say, and indeed prove, how strong and independent she is she spends the entire movie getting kidnapped and needing rescue.

They also establish some animal characters which could add some meat to the bone (the apes particularly) but these get forgotten all too quickly. There's even an 'evil' ape (distinguished, like in Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes, with a white eye - why is this?!) but he doesn't reappear.

It's left to Waltz to bring the evil and, although he gives it as much gusto as he brought to Hans Landa and Blofeld (he's just so watchable!) and has a cool, alternative weapon which should be placed up there with No Country For Old Men's oxygen canister, his evil plan is quickly foiled.

The worst thing by far is the cheesy ending which feels overwrought and aggravating. Jackson's "Well isn't that a thing" line will literally make you throw popcorn at the screen.

Skarsgard, whilst ridiculously buff, brings relatively little to the titular role. No depth and, whilst the flashback sequences are nice, he's just not very likeable.

Yates brings his usual visual splendour and there are some lovely establishing shots throughout but, as highlighted, this doesn't really make you feel anything. It's just too 'meh' which is a huge crime as far as blockbusters go, especially with the competition on offer this year.

No Tarzan film has really hit the spot (is George Of The Jungle the best? Really?!) and this doesn't change that run of form.

3 stars ***