Movie Review: 'Tomb Raider' is a Revitalized and Satisfying New Take on the Franchise by Dirk Hooper

Tomb Raider is a revitalized effort that is morphed and updated to comport much better with an audience outside of the typical young male demographic that used to be the backbone of the video game industry. That puts the new Lara Croft, Alicia Vikander, squarely in the cross-hairs to pull off this role, and she’s simply excellent.

Yes, of course we can’t talk about Tomb Raider without speaking of Angelina Jolie, and the two films she did at the turn of the century. I’m a fan of Angelina Jolie, but those films were largely a disappointment to me. They were aimless and silly. My apologies to anyone who loved them.

Alicia Vikander’s version of Croft is much more like John McClain in Die Hard, she’s inventive, she’s daring, but most of all, she’s vulnerable, and that makes for a much more interesting ride. Additionally, I outright refute anyone’s claims that Vikander is not attractive enough for the role (read that ridiculous claim almost anywhere on the internet).

Among the many improvements with the character is the fact that when we join Lara Croft she is not sipping champagne in that big mansion. She’s doing her best to survive on her own, and while she’s got her head above water (figuratively-speaking), she’s sinking.

Croft has eschewed her fortune because she refuses to believe her father is dead. A series of events leads her to her father’s secret lair and puts her on the trail of his last adventure.

The opening chase scene (which is bound to be duplicated on every college campus as we speak) is a “fox-hunt” that is exciting and shows how athletic and clever our new Lara Croft is.

The action scenes, composed by director Roar Uthaug are grounded and stirring, and better than a lot of the action scenes in much bigger movies. What separates these scenes are a take on Lara Croft that brings her humanity to the forefront.

Roar Uthaug had this to say about how he approached these scenes,

“First of all, get Lara in the middle of the action. But I also wanted the audience to be in the middle of the action with Lara and experiencing everything through her. It doesn't matter how big the explosions are if you don't care about the character in the middle of it. So, it's about really connecting with Lara and then experiencing it through her experience of it, and trying to bring the audience as close to that as possible.”
http://www.syfy.com/syfywire/tomb-raider-director-roar-uthaug-on-why-lara-croft-is-a-hero-for-today

Alicia Vikander, who has already won an Academy Award for acting, is the perfect choice for this new Croft. She’s lean and fast. She’s a believable and sympathetic character. Vikander gives us a nuanced performance that makes her real. Because she’s not a superhero, it invites us along for the ride, and when she’s in peril it’s effective.

Lara Croft employs a salty (and drunk) ship captain played by Daniel Wu (Into the Badlands). He’s mostly underused, but based on his presence here I think he’s poised for a much bigger role somewhere. When we hear that Asian actors should be given more roles, I’d like to nominate Daniel Wu to start filling them.

Walton Goggins plays the typical bad guy, but damn it, his intensity and gravity exceeds the lines he’s given here.

If you’ve played the most-recent iterations of the Tomb Raider video games, you’re going to see the influence on this movie. Some of the shots from this movie, the look of Lara Croft, and much of the trappings are mirrored in the Tomb Raider game from 2013.

This movie plays out like an origin movie, so it’s much more like the recent deconstructed version of James Bond that we’ve had with Daniel Craig. I don’t mind that at all; it’s a feature not a bug.

In fact, while mystery and magic is alluded to, this is a much more grounded affair all around, which I think improves the film overall. The filmmakers also focus on this movie first, and don’t spend so much time building the next ten films in the franchise (but don’t rush away too quick when the credits start rolling).

Where Tomb Raider fails is in delivering a surprising plot, characters that are fleshed-out beyond the title role, or dialog that is more than perfunctory. This is a film that has a minor twist at the end, but is largely predictable and superficial.

And that’s a shame. They had the elements here to give us more, but the script is sorely lacking.

Steven Spielberg recently suggested that a woman would take the role of Indiana Jones after Harrison Ford hangs up his hat. I think that’s going to end up looking a lot like Lara Croft, and that Alicia Vikander is everything that we need for that role already.

Unfortunately, they are going to need a better script to make that case the next time around.

Tomb Raider is entertaining as a popcorn affair, but with some more attention to the script it could have ascended beyond its roots.

While the action scenes are enjoyable and Vikander gives us a far more interesting Lara Croft, this film is perhaps less compelling than the video games it’s based on.

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All images are copyright MGM and used for purposes of review.

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