Review of TOMB RAIDER: Uneven and Unconvincing

March 19, 2018

I never played the Tomb Raider video game before. So for all intents and purposes, the only Lara Croft I know is the one played by Angelina Jolie in the 2001 film "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider". While the film itself was shaky, I thought it was a very strong portrayal by Jolie, I dare say it was iconic. Jolie felt so right for the role. She's got the look, the moves all down -- it felt as the character was created with her in mind.

That was why when they announced that they were going to reboot the Tomb Raider franchise, I guess they felt had to choose an actress so distinctly different from Jolie to play the lead character. So they chose Alicia Vikander. While I admire, Vikander's chops as an actress in her previous films like "A Royal Affair" and "The Danish Girl", I had my doubts she was right to be the new Lara Croft.

Lara Croft was living a bum's life following the disappearance of her father, adventurer Richard Croft (Dominic West). When she finally was forced to look through her father's things, she discovered his research about Himiko, a legendary Japanese queen who was also a shaman with vital powers. Disobeying his orders to destroy his research, Lara set off to Japan to continue his investigation. Unfortunately, she crossed paths with a sinister expedition looking to use Himiko's power as weaponry, led by the ruthless Matthew Vogel (Walton Goggins). 

From the start of the film, Vikander gives us a very different Lara Croft than how we remember Angelina Jolie's Lara Croft. She was younger, more carefree, her fighting skills still in training. This was why it was really so incredible in the second half of the film when when she suddenly and inexplicably turned into a super-heroic Lara, who can escape from a whole troop of bad guys by running through the wilderness, with both hands were tied together, while seriously injured with a fresh deep wound on her side. 

She is supposed to have been inexperienced and raw, so all her super skills came from seemingly out of nowhere. How did she become an archer with such deadly accuracy? How did she develop her rock climbing skills which allowed her to hang on to holds which were barely there? How was she able to possess the ability to long jump with hardly any room to gain momentum to jump over and clear a gaping chasm where the other side was collapsing dirt? Of course, we are expected to just suspend our disbelief, but this was asking for a bit too much suspending.

Anyhow, everything was so black and white in this film such that there were no real surprises anymore. There is never any sense of danger for Lara Croft at all. She was bound to survive all the challenges thrown at her, while the relentlessly evil Vogel and his henchmen were all doomed for the most gruesome deaths. 

The inspiration from the "Indiana Jones" films were too obvious to ignore, especially with the booby traps and the cursed coffin. This film by Roar Uthaug may be entertaining for younger viewers, but it will feel overly familiar and even cliched for older viewers. Anyhow, this is just the requisite origin film, there will be sequels to follow as hinted. 5/10.