A More Realistic Lara

Tomb Raider

Directed By: Roar Uthaug

Grade: B-

I should caveat this review by saying while I’ve seen the original movie I’ve never played  any of the Lara Croft games. I also do not care about the way she looks or the size of absolutely anything in this movie 🙂

That being said it was quiet a nice surprise and definitely one of the better “based on a video game” movies I’ve seen in a while. Or possibly ever.

Lara Croft is basically aimless and unwilling to move on from the disappearance of her father when she finds a series of clues that might lead her to the last place he was seen and what he was looking for at the time.

I’m giving points because this was not only a more realistic Lara but the film also made an effort to ground the story in more realism. The film manages a believable reason to cut her off from all the money and she questions the sanity of her father as she follows in his footsteps.

I liked the supporting cast though Daniel Wu doesn’t really get a lot to do. Walter Goggins is a pretty decent villain. He’s probably the most desperate person in the movie to be honest. I also liked how they did what they could to ground the tomb and the artifact stuff in reality.

Alicia Vikander is a good Lara Croft. She could play the innocent quiet well and for the most part the action sequences involving her were believable- we see a bit here and there of her being trained to box and working as a child with the bow and arrow. So that was a nice touch. There was nothing were I specifically thought oh, she couldn’t do that… Although I do think some attempts at humor fell flat for her.

Until the very end where a lot of the action does devolve into the usual over the top movie stuff that no human person could probably survive. The points for having her injured and messed up at times.

While the story in this movie does get wrapped up it’s also very much an origin story for Lara. There’s a lot of potential there and a nice little set-up for the big bad. The only problem was sitting in my very large theater with only like ten people I have to doubt if it’s going to get a sequel.

And maybe for that reason as much as it was an enjoyable diverting movie I couldn’t really connect to it and I never got overly pulled in. Which is a shame because this Lara, at least, has some real potential.

Recommend: Overall yes. Though it’s one that you can wait to rent or stream.