There's a notable lack of buzz surrounding David Yates' The Legend of Tarzan, and there are a couple of reasons for it. One, it arrives when there's already one major jungle movie in Disney's live-action The Jungle Book, and there's only so many stories about humans being taken in by animals audiences can stand. Second, the trailer released a few weeks back wasn't terribly impressive, suggesting another Edgar Rice Burroughs adaptation that flopped a couple of years ago: John Carter.
Now a new trailer has debuted in hopes of making Tarzan cool for the modern age. Alexander Skarsgard leaps into his first big studio franchise as the civilized Lord Greystoke, now going by the name John Clayton III, who is called back to the Congo jungles with his wife Jane (Margot Robbie) to stop a greedy villain played by Christoph Waltz. Here's the official synopsis:
It has been years since the man once known as Tarzan (Skarsgård) left thejungles of Africa behind for a gentrified life as John Clayton, Lord Greystoke, with his beloved wife, Jane (Robbie) at his side. Now, he has been invited back to the Congo to serve as a trade emissary of Parliament, unaware that he is a pawn in a deadly convergence of greed and revenge, masterminded by the Belgian, Captain Leon Rom (Waltz). But those behind the murderous plot have no idea what they are about to unleash.
This trailer is different in that it embraces the classic story we already know, rather than going out of its way to present Tarzan as something brand new. It's probably the right approach, just as they're doing the smart thing by playing up the romance between Tarzan and Jane as much as possible.
Also starring Samuel L. Jackson and Djimon Hounsou, The Legend of Tarzan opens July 1st.
