While I thought Angelina Jolie was near perfect as Lara Croft, Tomb Raider extraordinaire, in the two Lara Croft films that she made in the early 2000s, those movies were far from perfect overall. Based on the popular series of videogames where a gun-toting female archeologist battles everything from mercenaries to death traps in the ancient tombs that she raids, the Jolie-led Lara Croft films were fun, but they often slipped into extreme silliness, as if the filmmakers couldn’t quite bring themselves to take their subject matter seriously. And after all, why should they, since the games had a woman running around tombs in just a tank top and shorts?
But the Tomb Raider videogames were completely rebooted in 2013, with a photo-realistic Lara (who actually wore practical clothing) in a far more gritty adventure. The movies followed suit, giving us Tomb Raider, this time starring Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina, The Man From Uncle remake) as a younger Lara who’s new to the tomb raiding game. As expected, the new Tomb Raider movie takes a more down to earth tone with Lara, who refuses to declare her wealthy father legally dead because she believes he’s still alive, somewhere. When she finds a secret lair that belonged to her dad, loaded with research about the location of the tomb of an ancient Japanese queen, Lara sets off to find him.
Vikander is very good here, she makes for an endearing Lara (and she’s the second Oscar winning actress to play this video game character), who already has some background in martial arts--which comes in handy once the real adventure begins. The problem is that this movie follows the 2013 videogame storyline somewhat slavishly, which doesn’t offer anything new for those who played the game. While I never played Lara Croft games, Tomb Raider still felt very familiar to me because it reminds me of the CW TV series Arrow, starring Stephen Amell.
In Arrow, Amell plays Oliver Queen, who had been shipwrecked on a desolate island for five years, where he has a series of adventures prior to becoming the superhero Green Arrow. It’s these adventures on the island--told in flashback in the episodes of Arrow along with the present day story--that honed Queen’s skills as a fighter. And the same basic thing occurs in Tomb Raider, with Lara Croft being shipwrecked on a deserted island, where she learns to fend for herself and also gains the skills she needs later on in life.
But Tomb Raider’s superb production design and imaginative direction manages to raise it above the flashback segments of Arrow. And there are some enthralling scenes, like that of Lara trying to get free of a wrecked Japanese bomber before it nose-dives off of a waterfall. Lara’s father is played by the always good Dominic West (300, The Wire), who gives a heartfelt performance here. And Walton Goggins is another standout as the villain, a smooth-talking backstabber who just wants to get his job done and go home--at any cost.
Although Tomb Raider is supposed to be an origin story, it still never really feels like it truly takes off. Vikander does a superb job with what she’s given, but she lacks the devil may care attitude that Jolie brought to the part. And I’m getting a little tired of movies that try so hard to set up the next film in the ongoing (they wish) series that they wind up shortchanging the movie they’re presently making. While I enjoyed this new version of Tomb Raider, its faults made me miss Angelina.
For a truly amazing, action-filled take on Lara Croft, be sure to check out the fan-made film Croft
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