The Legend of Tarzan
Director: David Yates
Stars: Alexander Skarsgård, Margot Robbie, Christoph Waltz, Samuel L Jackson
Two stars
It’s been more than 100 years since Edgar Rice Burroughs’s ape-man first appeared in print, during which time he as been portrayed dozens of times on the big screen.
True Blood star Alexander Skarsgård is the latest actor to swing through the jungle, taking the title role in Harry Potter director David Yates's The Legend of Tarzan.
But in the internet-era, when “vine” means something completely different than it did in Johnny Weissmuller’s Tarzan heyday, you have to ask whether the jungle hero is really what audiences want now. Smartly, the film dispenses with an origin story. There are a few brief flashbacks to Tarzan’s time in the jungle, when he was raised by apes after his parents died, but the real story starts several years later, in Victorian England.
Tarzan is now John Clayton III, Lord Greystoke. He is married to Jane (Margot Robbie) and drinks tea with the prime minister (played by Jim Broadbent), who asks him to return to the Congo at the invitation of Belgium’s King Leopold II.
After much needling from George Washington Williams (Samuel L Jackson), an American who believes the Belgians are enslaving the Congolese, Clayton agrees to go – but soon falls foul of Leopold’s envoy, Captain Léon Rom (Christoph Waltz), who has struck a deal with an African tribal leader (Djimon Hounsou) to hand over Tarzan in exchange for enough diamonds to save his near-bankrupt country.
To be fair to the perfectly sculpted Skarsgård, he truly looks the part and embodies the character’s earthy masculinity and primal heroism. Robbie is good, too, more than just a helpless heroine.
Coming so soon after his villainous turn in the Bond movie Spectre, Waltz is less impressive, bringing little added depth to an admittedly thinly sketched character.
The real problem, however, lies not in the performances, but the production values. It was shot on a studio backlot (stitched together with background images of Gabon in Africa), and so there is an overwhelming sense that this jungle doesn’t feel real.
True, when Skarsgård first arrives on the savannah and reintroduces himself to a lioness, the CGI animals look fantastic. But too often, the digital technology lets the film down.
Maybe it’s churlish to be so harsh about what is, after all, a jungle fantasy. But with such a surfeit CGI, the film is more hollow than heroic.
It leaves you feeling sorry for Skarsgård, after all the dieting and exercise, to be stuck in such a flabby blockbuster.
artslife@thenational.ae
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The specs: 2018 BMW R nineT Scrambler
Price, base / as tested Dh57,000
Engine 1,170cc air/oil-cooled flat twin four-stroke engine
Transmission Six-speed gearbox
Power 110hp) @ 7,750rpm
Torque 116Nm @ 6,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined 5.3L / 100km
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Abu Dhabi GP Saturday schedule
12.30pm GP3 race (18 laps)
2pm Formula One final practice
5pm Formula One qualifying
6.40pm Formula 2 race (31 laps)
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Family reunited
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was born and raised in Tehran and studied English literature before working as a translator in the relief effort for the Japanese International Co-operation Agency in 2003.
She moved to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies before moving to the World Health Organisation as a communications officer.
She came to the UK in 2007 after securing a scholarship at London Metropolitan University to study a master's in communication management and met her future husband through mutual friends a month later.
The couple were married in August 2009 in Winchester and their daughter was born in June 2014.
She was held in her native country a year later.
TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
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The specs: 2017 Lotus Evora Sport 410
Price, base / as tested Dh395,000 / Dh420,000
Engine 3.5L V6
Transmission Six-speed manual
Power 410hp @ 7,000rpm
Torque 420Nm @ 3,500rpm
Fuel economy, combined 9.7L / 100km
Company%20Profile
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Brief scores:
Toss: Nepal, chose to field
UAE 153-6: Shaiman (59), Usman (30); Regmi 2-23
Nepal 132-7: Jora 53 not out; Zahoor 2-17
Result: UAE won by 21 runs
Series: UAE lead 1-0
Meydan racecard:
6.30pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round 2 (PA) Group 1 | US$75,000 (Dirt) | 2,200 metres
7.05pm: UAE 1000 Guineas (TB) Listed | $250,000 (D) | 1,600m
7.40pm: Meydan Classic Trial (TB) Conditions | $100,000 (Turf) | 1,400m
8.15pm: Al Shindagha Sprint (TB) Group 3 | $200,000 (D) | 1,200m
8.50pm: Handicap (TB) | $175,000 (D) | 1,600m
9.25pm: Handicap (TB) | $175,000 (T) | 2,000m
10pm: Handicap (TB) | $135,000 (T) | 1,600m
Joker: Folie a Deux
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson
Director: Todd Phillips
Rating: 2/5
RESULT
RS Leipzig 3
Marcel Sabitzer 10', 21'
Emil Forsberg 87'
Tottenham 0