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Okay, with a 40%+ million domestic opening weekend I'm assuming we will get a sequel.  I've come to love this movie, but my first gut reaction was not 100% positive.  My main problem with the movie was that Tarzan loses a fight with a mangani.  I've been waiting 40 some odd years to see Tarzan whoop ass on an ape and it still hasn't happened.  He went toe to toe for what about 20-30 seconds?  My second big disappointment is similar to the first.  In every trailer they show Tarzan colliding with who I assumed was Kerchak, so I hoped we'd finally get to see Tarzan defeat Kerchak in defense of Jane.  Nope, he gets pummeled.  And my last picky disappointment was the final fight with Rom.  It didn't feel all that heroic to me.  I would have liked to see more of a fight and have Tarzan take Rom out.  I would have liked to see Tarzan throw him to the alligators or crocodiles I forget.  Those disappointments sat in my head during my first viewing and I left kind of bummed, but my second viewing was much better.  I was really surprised how much different I felt seeing it the second time.

In a sequel I just hope that Tarzan is more heroic.  Tarzan NEVER loses a one on one fight with anything.  Of course he's constantly getting captured by larger forces or treachery, but then we get to watch as he manages to escape in some awesome surprising way.

I'm still disappointed that no one has figured a way to incorporate what I consider to be his most amazing power, his sense of smell.  He uses this power all the time in the books.  In fact in Tarzan the Terrible he tracks a missing female up a rock cliff face and the locals start to believe he has supernatural powers.  I imagine something similar to the romantic bird call scene.  Tarzan and Jane play a game of hide and seek were she brushes articles of clothing or parts of her body (lips maybe) on objects and Tarzan finds her.  He then can use this power later in the film at a critical point when all seems lost.

We are still short of "likely sequel" but we are now in "possible sequel" realm.  Working against it - the Box Office result will be, at best, "on the bubble" -- and when you consider that and then consider the critical backlash against the idea of Tarzan...we'll, it's going to be an uphill struggle.  But we're in the fight -- not knocked out and bleeding on the canvas.

As for your concerns about heroicness.....I noticed all those things and they bothered me a little. I think Yates had reason to go the direction he did -- but might have gone a little farther in keeping Tarzan from fully being Tarzan in the fight scenes. I thought, for example, in the attack on the village he was definitely trussed up too easily.  It should have taken ten guys sitting on top of him to get him controlled -- and he could have created substantially more mayhem before that happened.  You CAN overcome Tarzan by force of numbers . . . . .

As for the ape fights ..... I liked the reality aspect of it and I liked not having Tarzan kill any apes.  But as in TOA, he could cause submission, somehow, using his brain, not brawn . . . . .

Those are quibbles for me, though. Not major problems.

So regarding your issues, I had another take on it.  Tarzan has essentially been domesticated for 8 years.  You get the idea that he's been trying to let go of his jungle roots and assimilate into "civilization", and I think you get a real sense of that with his declarations about who his mother is at the beginning of the movie and at the end.

To me, it makes sense that he doesn't win the fights.  He's not quite the Tarzan of  yore. He's hasn't been been fighting day after day, so I can believe his "rustiness".  We still get to see his physical prowess in certain scenes, but he's not so refined as he once was.  I see part of that has to do with just a lack of practice (which makes it totally believable to me) and his personal conflict.  For most of the movie, his drive is saving Jane, but it's not until the end where we see that he essentially accepts who he is.

If we're lucky enough to get a sequel, my guess is that we'll see that Tarzan. This first movie is just the start of the evolution or of his return.

That's exactly how I came to terms with the the lack of heroism early in the film.    He's a little rusty.  That's what this film was really about for me.  Now I'm very happy that by the end of the film we do have a Tarzan as close to the real Tarzan ever, which is exactly why I can't wait to contemplate the direction of the next movie because there will be the next movie.  I know Michael likes to see the numbers before he makes a statement about sequels, but me, I have no doubt LOT is going to overactive in the overseas markets.  My only concern was the domestic numbers.  Now that it looks like we're going to hit the mid forty millions I'm happy to state LOT is sleeper hit of the summer.  I also want to gloat that I predicted this very scenario right after WonderCon in Vegas.  I'm so happy right now.

The 8:15 pm showing at my local Cineoplis was sold out before noon today.  In my experience that usually only happens with hits.  This is where I'm taking my sister in law and her husband.  These are the forth and fifth person who probably would not have seen LOT opening weekend without me.  Another strategy to promote LOT.

Well I just came back from seeing LOT. Wow!!!! I LOVED it!!! One of the BEST Tarzan films EVER!!! Just beautiful! So well filmed, and VERY well cast! Alexander is definitely Tarzan -- excellent performance. And I loved Margot as Jane. Awesome chemistry btw her and Alex (as Tarzan and Jane should have)! And I also really enjoyed Sam Jackson's role in the film and his interplay with Tarzan. And the animals all looked amazing -- very photorealistic (terrific CGI work). Overall a VERY entertaining, exciting, gorgeous film...a worthy Tarzan film, faithful to ERB's creation! I certainly hope it gets a sequel, b/c I want to see one. And as a little side note...in the flashback scenes when Tarzan first met Jane...I liked seeing his hair in long dredlocks (like Disney's Tarzan). 🙂

I too thought that Tarzan was " rusty" because he had been out of the jungle leading life as the aristocratic Lord Greystoke for 8 years. Yates gave confirmation of this in one of his interviews. He said it would not be believable for Tarzan to return to the jungle after such a long absence and be at the top of his game. I also,think that he knew he would loose the fight to Akut going in since he only beav Kerchak because he had his knife. He didn't take any weapon into his fight with Akut. It seemed to me Tarzan's intention was to allow Akut to beat him and retain his position as leader of the tribe but at the same time gain acceptance and renewed respect by Akut.

As to why we don't get a flashback of him killing Kerchak,I thought that had to do with modern sensibilities regarding killing wild animals. Had they included more of the origin story and been able to show viewers how Kerchak hounded Tarzan over the years snd that eventually he saw Tarzan as such a threat,he wanted to kill him giving Tarzan no other choice but to fight him to the death to survive,then maybe, we could have had that scene.However Yates never intended to go that deeply into the origin story and had  already included more than he wanted due to requests by pre screen audiences.

If we do get a sequel, we will see a Tarzan who has embraced his wild primal nature much like we see him at the end of the movie ,after a year had passed,swinging joyously through the trees with Akut and his Mangani tribe dressed in a kind of short sarong with his knife at his waist. He will be in top form and the sequel will be an awesome Tarzan jungle adventure,most likely full of heroics.