Film Preview: The Legend of Tarzan (2016)

Page Revisions:

(December 13, 2015) Original
(May 8, 2016) New Trailer (#2) / New Poster (#2)
(June 26, 2016) New Trailer (#3) / New Posters (#3-#6)

Release Date:

July 1, 2016

Synopsis:

From IMDb: “Tarzan, having acclimated to life in London, is called back to his former home in the jungle to investigate the activities at a mining encampment.”

Poster Rating: C- / C- / C+ / C- / C / C-

SEE ALL TRAILERS BELOW
Review: (#1) I’m actually kind of surprised that they aren’t trying to sell this on Alexander Skarsgaard’s sex appeal. It’s there, but the distracting nature of his vacant glance shouldn’t be lost on anyone.

(#2) The designers for this film don’t seem that interested in creating a visual flourish with their designs. This is another weakly simplistic effort that is certain not to draw enough attention to the film.

(#3) Dwarfing the central characters might seem like a strange thing to do, but here they still manage to stand out. This gives the viewer an opportunity to see that everything is much bigger than its core components. (#4) This close-up version of the third design takes away all of its spectacle and strength.

(#5) Action-oriented, but not particularly exciting. This design seems like the kind that some viewers see and become interested, while others just walk on by. (#6) While this puts our protagonist in the midst of his childhood family, it doesn’t sell the film very well.

Trailer Rating: C+ / B- / C+

SEE ALL TRAILERS BELOW
Review: (#1) Everything in this trailer foretells a story of a film that was shoehorned into the summer landscape in an attempt to revive a long-absent franchise icon. There are some interesting elements in the trailer, but it’s largely derivative work.

(#2) Finally giving the audience an idea of what your film is about shouldn’t be a bold move, but these days it seems to be. While the narrative certainly feels a bit more compelling and the visuals more interesting, everything looks entirely too one-dimensional, including yet another poor Christoph Waltz performance.

(#3) XXXX

Oscar Prospects:

The film could be a flop at the box office, but even that might not prevent it from at least being in consideration for several of the tech categories.