The Legend of Tarzan (2016) film review

Year: 2016
Running Time: 110 minutes
Director: David Yates
Writers: Edgar Rice Burroughs (based on the 'Tarzan' stories created by), Craig Brewer and Adam Cozad (screenplay)
Cast: Alexander Skarsgard, Margot Robbie, Christoph Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson, Djimon Hounsou

The Legend of Tarzan is now showing in cinemas everywhere and is distributed in Australia by Roadshow Films.

Bringing 'Tarzan' back to the realm of live action in 2016 is not even half a bad idea. It is actually a concept that is easy to get excited about when you consider how much could be done with it. However, it takes only five minutes to realise that that is all The Legend of Tarzan is and is instead exceptionally dull, flawed and overly cliché.

In what is an attempt to be unique and original with a story that has been told many times, The Legend of Tarzan is essentially a sequel to the more traditional Tarzan tale and takes place in the years following the "Tarzan meets Jane" fiasco. Tarzan (as played by Alexander Skarsgard), now known as John Clayton, has brushed up to become quite the civilised English gentleman with his American bride, Jane (Margot Robbie) at his side. He is coaxed back to Africa under the instruction of Belgian King Leopold to see what he has done for the countey and is accompanied by both Jane and American, George Washington Williams (Samuel L. Jackson). When they arrive, they find a new enemy in Leon Rom (Christoph Waltz) who is ruthlessly ripping through tribal villages with no guilt and has his eye set firmly on Tarzan.

While it is admirable that screenwriters Craig Brewer and Adam Cozad have tried to do an original take on Tarzan, there is nothing unique in the fact that it is merely a sequel being released at a time when cinemas are literally flooded with origin stories and sequels. It has been a significant amount of time since the last live-action Tarzan film so it can be presumed that the idea for the film came from that lightbulb moment of "Imagine what we could do with that story now!"

Visually, yes. There was a lot that could be done with The Legend of Tarzan and it does not disappoint in this department. The production design is very impressive and the CGI of the African animals and scenery is superb. This is where the excitement and intrigue exists with the film as the story is hardly suspenseful nor action-packed and very predictable. Of course the argument is that Tarzan films and television shows are supposed to have an acceptable level of tackiness and are not supposed to be taken too seriously, but with anything that isn't supposed to be taken too seriously you expect a level of enjoyment and a bit of fun. The Legend of Tarzan doesn't have any of this. It is a Tarzan film that is perfect in so far as capturing the atmosphere of the Congo, but doesn't succeed in capturing the sense of adventure in the way a Tarzan adaptation should.

The Legend of Tarzan is not just a new story about Tarzan, but the revealing of Tarzan as a new man. Alexander Skarsgard's Tarzan is a lot more civilised than the jungle man of old and the animalistic side of his personality is barely existant. He is a man caught between two worlds, but in the situation he finds himself in in this film, you would expect fragments of the man he used to be to come through in his behavior. Physically is a different matter. This isn't just in relation to his physique and his unnatural male model poses that were undoubtedly the basis for him being cast in the role, but he progresses in stature from a very well-to-do man to the King of the Jungle just fine,

It is Margot Robbie's Jane who has a bigger personality than Tarzan himself and has the fire that you would hope her husband would have. As well as Robbie does do performance wise, Jane is a little too contemporary for the film's time period. She is being presented as a cross between a strong woman and a damsel in distress, but with a less than refined accent and vocabulary that was not typical of the time. The fact that in her final close up you can see that Jane has pierced ears, when ear piercing did not come into fashion until the 1920's does not help this case either.

Samuel L. Jackson adds some humour to the film in a role that is again very contemporary, but probably more accepted than Jane. His addition to the cast makes things a bit more entertaining and animated, even if his character is quite Tarantino-esque minus the swearing. Christoph Waltz is fine as the villain Leon Rom, but sadly isn't too much of a stretch from the characters he has been playing of late.

The Legend of Tarzan proves to be nothing more than an exciting idea that cannot carry the excitement through to it's execution.

4/10

The Diary of A Teenage Girl (2015) film review

 

Year: 2015
Running Time: 102 minutes
Director: Marielle Heller
Writers: Phoebe Gloeckner (novel), Marielle Heller (screenplay)
Cast: Bel Powley, Alexander Skarsgard, Kristen Wiig, Abby Wait, Christopher Meloni, Madeline Waters

The Diary of A Teenage Girl is now showing in limited release in Australia and is distributed by Sony Pictures.

The Diary of a Teenage Girl is a confronting expose of one adolescent's sexual awakening and swift transition into adulthood that is both powerful and frightening. However, it captures the mindset well of a young woman who believes she is worldly, but is still naïve about the distinction between love and sex, while also embracing the concept of how children subconsciously imitate their parents behaviour. Marielle Heller's film based on the novel by Phoebe Gloeckner is an exaggerated coming of age story set against the backdrop of 1970's San Francisco which will strike terror into the hearts of all those who are parents of teenage girls.

Upon meeting fifteen year old Minnie (Bel Powley), her adolescent logic regarding her sexual curiosity and then her first sexual encounter is endearingly comical. The way in which her psych approaches and then questions her new experience is fairly typical of her age and how she questions her appearance and body type in relation to how she believes the opposite sex perceives her is something every female will feel they can relate to how they felt at her age. However her days of innocently thinking about sex come to an end when she begins a heated affair with her mother's (Kristen Wiig) boyfriend, Monroe (Alexander Skarsgard). As their affair continues and becomes more and more intense, Minnie becomes entrenched in a dangerous world which could set her on a destructive path for both herself and her family.

While The Diary of a Teenage Girl has a surprisingly tame moral and it's underlying themes are relatable to any young woman, the film is extremely confrontational as it is largely built around the sexual act and is visually rather graphic. It is frightening to see someone so young (although Bel Powley at time of filming was seven years older than the character she played) involved in these situations and watching as she gradually becomes more and more self destructive in the process. It is a particularly frightening film for anyone who has a daughter as through her voice-recorded diary (a technique that could not be pulled off had it been set in after 2000), her character is humanized as her inner thoughts are fairly typical of a fifteen year old girl and these musings could be that of any girl. Minnie gets confused differentiating between love and sex and see's Monroe's rejection of her as an weight related insult, which is hilarious as it is such a stereotypical conclusion for a teenage girl to make.

Yet, there are reasons Minnie's curiosity takes a disastrous turn and this along with the "free love" atmosphere of 1970's San Francisco can set parents minds at ease after watching The Diary of A Teenage Girl. Much of Minnie's behaviour is a product of watching and unknowingly imitating her mother's behaviour and also not having a strong and stable male presence in her life. She is seen many times throughout the movie to be watching in the background as her mother enjoys a good time with men, alcohol and various substances. Minnie is also affected by the lack of physical contact from her mother and is therefore craving a feeling of closeness from anyone in any form. As Monroe is the only stable male figure in her life, she is inevitably drawn towards him even though he is less than a appropriate or responsible figure to have in ones life. The extreme turn her normal teenage sexual curiosity takes is a product of her environment rather than a representation of what is expected in an average teenage girl.

The time period in which the film is set brings a certain acceptability to the graphic and open sexual nature of the film. San Francisco was the epicentre of the hippy lifestyle in California during the 1970's and it was a time in which people were learning not to be afraid of sex and to embrace their sexuality. This vibe is felt loud and clear in The Diary of A Teenage Girl and the 70's replicated in wonderful fashion. The artistry and animated graphics featured throughout the film not only support the psychedelic nature of the time period, but also supply a youthful, playful feeling that should be associated with these teenage years.

Bel Powley proves her star power with her powerful and extremely brave performance as Minnie. As previously mentioned, Powley is well out of her adolescent years, but is extremely convincing as her fifteen year old character who she embodies perfectly. She completely nails Minnie's awkward teenage mannerisms and her emotional ups and downs. Kristen Wiig also does very well as Minnie's mother, Charlotte and is a rather empathetic character that the audience feels for.

The Diary of A Teenage Girl has it's heart in the right place and wants to make an example of how one's environment can send them down the wrong path, but it's powerful and confrontational edge do not make it an easy nor enjoyable watch. This is not to say that the film isn't entertaining, but it's graphic representation of a teenage girl in a sexual relationship with an older man and such a young girl becoming so promiscuous result in a tense and uncomfortable film experience.

6.5/10