The Legend of Tarzan (2016)

The Legend of Tarzan is a 2016 adventure film directed by David Yates and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.^[4] It is based on Edgar Rice Burroughs' fictional character. The film was written by Adam Cozad and Craig Brewer and stars Alexander Skarsgård as the title character, as well as Samuel L. Jackson, Margot Robbie, Djimon Hounsou, Jim Broadbent, and Christoph Waltz in supporting roles. Its story follows John Clayton (Tarzan), who after moving to London, is convinced by George Washington Williams to return to his former home in the jungles of Africa, to investigate claims of slavery.

Principal photography began on June 21, 2014, at Warner Bros. Leavesden Studios in the United Kingdom and wrapped four months later. The film premiered at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on June 29, 2016, and was theatrically released in the United States on July 1, 2016, in 2D, 3D, IMAX, and IMAX 3D.^[5] It grossed $38,527,856 in its opening weekend and $356 million worldwide against a budget of $180 million. It received mixed reviews from critics and has a 36% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

At the Berlin Conference of 1884–1885, the Congo Basin is claimed by King Leopold II of the Belgians. Five years later, Leopold has accrued massive debts in exploiting the resources of the Congo Free State, and sends his envoy Léon Rom to secure the fabled diamonds of Opar. Rom's expedition is massacred by warriors led by Chief Mbonga, who offers Rom diamonds in exchange for Tarzan.

The man once called "Tarzan", The Rt Hon. John Clayton, Earl of Greystoke, has left Africa for his ancestral estate in Britain with his American wife, Jane, and embraced life as a wealthy nobleman. The British Prime Minister offers Lord Greystoke an invitation from Leopold to visit Boma. The Prime Minister and an American envoy, George Washington Williams, explain that Leopold is defaulting on his loans, and a visit from Greystoke – whose exploits as Tarzan have made him a celebrity – would secure Britain's influence in the Congo, but Greystoke refuses. George reveals to John, Lord Greystoke, his suspicions that Leopold is enslaving the Congolese population, and persuades John to go to the Congo to discover the truth. When he arrives back to at Greystoke Manor, a flashback reveals the deaths of John's parents after their shipwreck in Africa, and his adoption by the great apes called the Mangani. In Greystoke country house, Jane is telling visiting children a story. After a fight with Jane that evening, John has a flashback to when he was 5 years old playing in the treehouse with his ape foster mother, Kala and foster brother, Akut, and then is chased by Alpha Male Kerchak.

John, Jane, and George journey to the Congo, circumventing Rom and his corrupt financier Mr. Frum, and are welcomed by the Kuba village of John and Jane's youth. Jane tells George of John's life with the Mangani, and how she first met him. Rom and his men capture the villagers, killing Chief Muviro, and taking Wasimbu along with other able young men to serve as porters. George rescues John, but Jane and the captive villagers are taken aboard Rom's steamship. Rom reveals to Jane that he arranged John's invitation from Leopold to deliver him to Mbonga. Pursuing the steamship, John, George, and the village's remaining warriors seize a train carrying Belgian soldiers and enslaved Congolese. An engineer informs them of Rom's plan to take over the Congo, sanctioned by Leopold: using slave labor, Rom has built forts across the region, linked by railway and river travel, for an army of 20,000 mercenaries soon to arrive. With Leopold bankrupt, Rom needs the diamonds of Opar to pay for the army.

Finding documents that will expose Leopold, John and George leave the proof with the Kuba warriors and rescued slaves to deliver to Boma, and the pair continue on through Mangani territory. Confronted by the apes, John is forced to fight their leader, his foster brother Akut. John loses, but he and George are permitted to travel on. Jane and Wasimbu escape the steamship and flee into the jungle. Jane send Wasimbu off to rally the other tribes, knowing Rom's men will follow her. Jane encounters the Mangani, and Rom's men open fire on the apes. John arrives, saving the surviving Mangani, and pursues Rom, who takes Jane to Mbonga's tribe. It is revealed that years ago, Mbonga's son was killed by John for killing John's foster mother, Kala. Mbonga attacks John, who gains the upper hand but spares the chief. George and the Mangani arrive, and he and John convince Mbonga that Rom is their common enemy.

Rom takes Jane and the diamonds to Boma, where the mercenary army approaches shore. John and George send a massive stampede of wildebeest through the town, overrunning Rom's men, as the Kuba warriors arrive by train and free their families. John rescues Jane and pursues Rom, who prepares to deliver the diamonds to Frum and the mercenaries. Williams sinks Rom's steamship, but Rom strangles John with his rosary. Using a mating call to summon crocodiles, John breaks free and leaves Rom to be devoured by the crocodiles, escaping as the vessel's boiler explodes. Frum and the fleet of mercenaries depart. George returns to London and presents the prime minister with an open letter to Leopold exposing the slavery and abuses of the Congolese people. One year later, John and Jane have relocated to Africa, in Jane's father's old house. They celebrate their newborn child, and John returns to the great apes as Tarzan.