



My husband and I have looked forward to seeing The Legend of Tarzan for the past few weeks, we weren’t disappointed, we had our weekend escapism, it feels so nice to sit in a darkened movie theater, captivated by someone else’s vision and story. The Legend of Tarzan isn’t a new story of course, but the way the director and screenplay writer shape the story can breathe new life into an old legend and that’s what this version did for the both of us.
My take on the overarching theme was that man, in many respects, in seeking “honor” often acts dishonorably and those actions are against nature, the animal kingdom and mankind itself. We assign hierarchy in all manner of things, we are at the top of the food chain, we are at the top of the evolutionary ladder, essentially man is at the top of the world, we like being on top and to stay on top, we do horrific things.
My husband and I have liked Alexander Skarsgaard since we first saw him as the vampire Eric Northman in the HBO series True Blood. We believed him as a 1000 year old Scandanavian vampire and we believed him as Tarzan, the Lord Greystoke and King of the Jungle. We felt his struggles and his pain as a man caught between two worlds.
My first question, from the first few scenes showing the African continent, was where did they find their locations, because the geography of the world is very different in 2016 than the world of 1884. Africa was as much of a star in the movie then Alexander Skarsgaard, Margot Robbie or Christopher Waltz. I wondered how much of what I was seeing a result of CGI and how much was still a part of present day Africa. Speaking of the CGI, the effects were tremendous, just the scenes involving Tarzan and the great apes, I believed those apes were real, their mannerisms, their ferocity and their gentleness were brilliantly portrayed on screen. The marriage between technology and the real world was seamless and complimentary, it kept me in suspended disbelief which is why I go to the movies.
I loved the movie and so did my husband, as always I have to remind you that we are the worst movie critics, we love everything, lol.