The Legend Of Tarzan

Since 1912, Edgar Rice Burroughs' iconic Tarzan has been part of pop culture. Countless films have featured him and very few are definitive. The latest is The Legend Of Tarzan.

In 1884, John Clayton III aka Tarzan (Alexander Skarsgard) lives as the Lord of Greystoke in Victorian England, married to Jane Porter (Margot Robbie). However, King Leopold's envoy Leon Rom (Christoph Waltz) plans to lure Tarzan back to Africa for an old enemy in exchange for diamonds.

Tarzan's return was inevitable, particularly with the resurrection of the Planet Of The Apes series, though this reboot is a dud. The script haphazardly uses incessant flashbacks for exposition, leaving characters staring into nothing for most of the first act. The plotting, characters and motivations are also simply cliched, while tonally everything feels glum. David Yates (known for Harry Potter films) blandly directs, creating a languid pace, incomprehensibly filmed action and (outside the apes) poorly rendered, overused CGI.

Despite capable performers, none of the cast fully delivers. Skarsgard looks great as Tarzan, but is exceedingly one note. Robbie does her best with lacklustre material. Waltz again is typecast with poor, black-and-white villain material (a recent sad fate for the actor) and Samuel L Jackson provides humour but feels miscast.

The Legend Of Tarzan is dull and forgettable, lacking in resonance and fun.