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Best Legend of Tarzan Comment in the “Somewhat Jaded Film Enthusiast” Division

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Here’s an interesting comment from “jeves23” at Birth.Movies. Death:

I feel like this film will either just be a boring wasteland of CGI apes and Skarsgard abs, or it will be a modern pulp masterpiece that will be largely misunderstood and rejected by a large swathe of critics and filmgoers, but heralded in certain corners of the film nerd internet. I’m hoping for the latter. jeves23 at Birth.Movies.Death

I kinda like that comment in part because it expresses my two big personal fears about this.  The third option is of course what I’m really hoping for  – that it will be a success and achieve redemption for Edgar Rice Burroughs intellectual property in the wake of the John Carter debacle – but these two outcomes are definitely in play.  Guess we have to stay tuned.

3 comments

  • I am hoping for the third as well. I tend to think it has a good chance of being the third since Skarsgard said in interviews a good year before filming started that he was attracted to this movie because of the” awesome script” and he has a pretty good record of choosing movies with scripts that are well written,have depth and complexity of character and an intelligent narrative. He reads extensively and I wouldn’t be surprised if he hadn’t read most of the Tarzan books and this take on Tarzan appealed to him because it was closer to the book version of Tarzan than many previous films. He also, likes to explore the dichotomy of the lighter and darker sides of human nature and I can see why this version with it’s exploration of the civilized human and primal side of human nature, would interest him. As to whether or not all of this will translate into a financial success or not has a lot to do with how well WB sells it and how well executed it is.

    I don’t think it will be a CGI fest because one of the posters on IMBD who saw a screening last spring before the CGI was done, said that the action was interspersed throughout the story and it was not a non stop action film. I think the early marketing has dwelt on Skarsgard’s muscular well defined body because much of the earlier commentary against the casting of Skarsgard was about him being too skinny. Also, A lot of movie goers are very shallow and they are drawn to a movie by the look of the main cast,by plenty of action and lush exotic visuals be they from the world of Marvel or DC comics or that of Mad Max. So, it’s not surprising that the CGI animals,Tarzan’s physical strength and imposing muscular build and Jane’s lush femininity are the highlights of the first two trailers and other stills.However ,I think there’s a lot more to the story and the characters than this.

    I doubt it is as most critics claim about Batman vs Superman missing a story.

  • I think the big hurdle is getting people to take a Tarzan film seriously. Its cinematic history has been…mostly uninspiring, to say the least. I don’t take the CG complaints too seriously as there’s a percentage of the internet that makes such claims with every major film that is released, and I trust that this film, based on Yates’ career, will be interested in being more than just an effects-extravaganza.

    My view thus far is that the film has a solid cast, looks impressively scaled, and the direction is far from being bland, with impressive use of the wide aspect ratio. The premise has promise. I’m hoping for a good film, cautious about its success, but hoping critics and audiences will find something in it.

    • I think that’s a very reasonable analysis and pretty much right on target. I think it’s pretty amazing when you think about it that Tarzan books captured the global imagination when they were published; then the early movies did too although with the exception of the original silent version, they weren’t very similar to the books and Tarzan’s essential character was never accuerately depicted. Flash forward fifty or so films and you now have a situation where the books and movies seem to be coming together for the first time — at least the trailers and advance viewings give that impression. That said, it’s a very narrow path to success — so hard to thread the needle and create something that resonates for modern viewers and avoids dozens of pitfalls . . . . perhaps the greatest irony for me is that much of what might make it work for modern viewers is to actually, for arguably the first time, depict Tarzan as he was originally written in all but the first book/origin tale. Will it work? It will be interesting to see.

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