First seen onscreen in 1918, the Tarzan character appeared many times in movies as recently as the 1960s. This latest film struggles with the contradictions* in writer Edgar Rice Burroughs’ creation. The American writer is best known for his creations of the jungle hero Tarzan and the heroic Mars adventurer John Carter. Less a sequel* than a reworking of 1984’s “Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes,” the current movie finds John Clayton (Alexander Skarsgard), Viscount* Greystoke, living in London, reluctant* to return to Africa on a fact-finding mission with American abolitionist* George Washington Williams (Samuel L. Jackson). Shamed into investigating* reports of slavery in King Leopold’s Congolese colony, Tarzan is also forced to bring along his wife Jane (Margot Robbie). As Clayton, aka Tarzan, revisits his childhood haunts*, we see flashbacks to his childhood, his courtship* with Jane (getting beaten to a pulp by a rival ape melts her heart), and his conflicted identity as part-civilized, part-savage. Meanwhile, evil Leon Rom (Christoph Waltz), Leopold’s representative, has made a pact* with Chief Mbonga (Djimon Hounsou), Tarzan’s enemy. If Rom delivers Tarzan to the chief, he will have access to diamond mines to supply Leopold with badly needed funds. To do that, Rom and his men burn the village where Jane grew up, kidnapping her as bait* when Tarzan escapes. Tarzan and Williams follow their steamboat up the Congo River, at one point hijacking* a train and freeing the slaves aboard. Tarzan then must battle his way through the jungle before fighting his most dangerous enemy, Rom. The screenwriters have added subplots involving colonialism, slavery and the robbing of Africa’s resources. Harry Potter franchise director David Yates deploys dazzling special effects.(SD-Agencies) |