The British Prime Minister offers Lord Greystoke an invitation from Leopold to visit Boma. John Clayton, Earl of Greystoke, has left Africa for his ancestral estate in Britain with his American wife, Jane, and embraced life as a wealthy nobleman. The man once called "Tarzan", The Rt Hon.
Rom's expedition is massacred by warriors led by Chief Mbonga, who offers Rom diamonds in exchange for Tarzan.
Five years later, Leopold has accrued massive debts in exploiting the resources of the Congo Free State, and sends his envoy Léon Rom to secure the fabled diamonds of Opar. It grossed $356.7 million worldwide against a budget of $180 million and received mixed reviews from critics.Īt the Berlin Conference of 1884–1885, the Congo Basin is claimed by King Leopold II of the Belgians. The film premiered at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on June 29, 2016, and was theatrically released in the United States on Jin 2D, 3D, and IMAX, by Warner Bros. Principal photography began on Jat Leavesden Studios in the United Kingdom and wrapped four months later. The story follows John Clayton (Tarzan), who, after moving to London, is convinced by George Washington Williams to return to his former home in the jungles of Africa, to investigate claims of slavery. Jackson, Margot Robbie, Djimon Hounsou, Jim Broadbent, and Christoph Waltz. Based on the character Tarzan created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the film stars Alexander Skarsgård, Samuel L. This Tarzan isn’t quite the jungle VIP – but it’s got a little swing.The Legend of Tarzan is a 2016 adventure film directed by David Yates. But at least the animals are memorable – best of all is a pack of scene-stopping silverback gorillas digitally created for the movie. Skarsgård himself is fairly bland as Greystoke, delivering a po-faced Byronic spin on the character, all velvet coats and dreamy romantic stares at his belle while sitting barefooted in the boughs of trees. The most lively performances come from Christoph Waltz, preening and over-cooked as a colonial villain (an envoy of the Belgian King Leopold) and Samuel L Jackson as George Washington Williams, a real-life critic of Belgian imperialism in the Congo, who is awkwardly shoe-horned into this movie’s comic-book plot. It gives Tarzan’s other half Jane (Margot Robbie) the voice of a twentieth-century feminist – not exactly credible but very welcome – and pays some attention to the exploitation of indigenous peoples and the pilfering of natural resources. Still, it might leave you scratching your head with a few questions of your own, like: where does Greystoke buy his shaving razors in the wilds? And, more importantly, which jungle gym does he visit to work on those freakishly sculpted and very twenty-first-century abs? (Not that fans of Skarsgård will worry too much about that.)ĭirected by ‘Harry Potter’ stalwart David Yates, this ‘Tarzan’ tries hard to be more than a creaky adventure story. The film plays as an old-school historical action-adventure, with lots of animal attacks and jungle chases and plenty of distracting flashbacks to answer questions about Tarzan’s complicated backstory.
It’s the 1880s and Greystoke is back in the African Congo as a trade emissary for the British government and facing down colonial skullduggery. It imagines Viscount Greystoke (Alexander Skarsgård), best known as chest-beater Tarzan, all grown-up and civilised after a childhood in the jungle raised by apes. This high-energy, big-budget new spin on the old Tarzan story is fun to watch if you take it as throwaway kitsch.