Yes, the George Washington Williams played by Samuel L. But the extent of the brutality wasn’t known until George Washington Williams investigated and wrote an open letter with his findings. It was one of the great tragedies of the age and as many as 10 million Africans may have died. The filmmakers were, I think smart to choose to set the story in the real-life Congo, which was colonized by King Leopold as a private business venture. He does give Tarzan this posture-back slightly bent, arms a bit out and fingers curled-that I found off-putting at first but that serves to highlight where Tarzan belongs and feels comfortable. It’s Robbie who really exceeds my expectations-Tarzan largely succeeds by surrounding Skarsgård with more talent-but Skarsgård does well enough (he really isn’t nearly as suited for Tarzan as he was for Eric Northman). I was somewhat reticent going in because Alexander Skarsgård and Margot Robbie are primarily known for being competent actors who are really, really good looking. Jackson) pursues, though, and gives his real reason for wanting Tarzan to go: something is rotten in the state of Belgium. George Washington Williams (another real person, played by Samuel L. (Contrary to what you may have heard, Tarzan wears a shirt in this and in fact many other scenes.) They cast it as a money-making opportunity and he says no, one of the few words out of his mouth in the opening scenes. We’re introduced to Lord Greystoke as a group of politicos try to convince him to accept the invitation to the Congo from King Leopold of Belgium that we have every reason to believe Leon Rom orchestrated. Tarzan himself has been in England eight years. The Legend of Tarzan does open in the jungles of Africa, but it is to show us the film’s villain, Leon Rom (a real person, more on that later), cut a deal for access to a legendary lode of diamonds deep in the Congo. It’s flawed, but it’s a lot of damn fun and had way more emotional resonance than I ever expected. The question is: is the movie any good? Yes, yes it is. Instead, The Legend of Tarzan opens after Tarzan, er, Lord Greystoke and Jane have long since left Africa for sunny England, with the unnecessary backstory given through blessedly brief flashbacks.īut anyway, you know about Tarzan. And so we’re spared another origin story. And so director David Yates did something rarely done in Hollywood-something other than what everyone else is doing. So I come with that into the movie theater.

Except my wife, who thought The Legend of Tarzan was the sequel to The Jungle Book, which it obviously isn’t, because a tiger in Africa’s not very likely. Regardless, I would know who Tarzan is, because everyone knows who Tarzan is. Surely I did at some point in the last few decades, probably as a kid. Never heard a Tarzan radio drama (or any radio drama, to be honest). To my knowledge, I had never watched a Tarzan movie.

The legend of tarzan book