3 Ups & 7 Downs From The Legend Of Tarzan

5. Too Serious, Not Fun Enough

It's par for the course these days that almost any "reimagining" of an iconic property gets the gritty, serious treatment, because The Dark Knight proved how profitable it can be.

Unfortunately, studios forget that not everything is suitable to such a treatment, and The Legend Of Tarzan is absolutely a victim of this mindset. It wants to be a dark, harsh, violent retelling of the character's origins, but as such it struggles to be much fun at all.

At his best, Tarzan is an exhilaration action adventure hero, but there's little in terms of wonder or spectacle here: it takes itself incredibly seriously and so even the scattered attempts at humour (mostly through Samuel L. Jackson's sidekick character) often fall flat or clash with the grimdark tone.

One hoped a director of David Yates' experience with adventure fare and tonal juggling might bring as much joy out of the character as possible. Sadly not.