The Legend of Tarzan
The Legend of Tarzan boasts a stellar cast that incudes Alexander Skarsgard, Christoph Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson and our very own Margot Robbie as Jane.
Waltz delivers yet another electric performance as a power-hungry career villain, while Jackson brings some much-need comedy to his role as Tarzan’s sidekick. Robbie manages to hold her own among a pack of Hollywood heavy weights, despite being frustratingly confined to ‘damsel in distress’. Jane has so little influence over her own fate, let alone the fate of others, that Jackson’s character can only remark “nice dress” at the end of the climactic battle scene.
The return to the Congo also sees the return of some stale ideas about the white man’s place in history. The film is a massive missed opportunity to authentically portray the African experience at the hands of European colonisers in the late 19th Century. Instead, Africans are confined to minor and passive roles, merely providing a colourful backdrop to the more developed story of Tarzan and Jane.
Looks like audiences will have to continue to wait to see the other side of the story on the big screen. (CB)
★★1/2
BY CAITLIN BURNS
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