Tomb Raider - Review
This review of Tomb Raider is spoiler-free!
Making a video game movie is for some reason an extremely difficult task for film studios to undertake. Whether it be something like Assassins Creed which managed to nab a major star in Michael Fassbender, but lacked the same historical intensity and focuses that the video games tend to have; or something like Warcraft which seeks to tell a story in the universe of the games but feels more like a CGI-fest than anything; they're always having problems in one way or another. For me, this has been a disappointment because for the longest time I have had the belief that if the right studio took the right property, we could finally see an outstanding gaming film. Today we're presented with the next stab at the genre: Tomb Raider. Let's discuss how it did.
Tomb Raider is the story of Lara Croft, a young woman who has been without her father for many years. She's independent and refuses to get help from anyone. Her father was unbeknownst to her an avid adventurer and help to uncover mysteries across the globe. Eager to find out what truly happened to her father after making a discovery at their family home, Lara sets out on an exhibition to Japan. When she arrives at the place she believes is where he last was, things only get worse and she has to use everything in her arsenal to survive and find him. Tomb Raider's story at times is a bit generic and feels like what you'd expect from an action film and something that wants to tie in supernatural elements. Tomb Raider has always taken heavy influence from the Indiana Jones films and I felt a bit of that here. Sure sometimes it felt heavy-handed but all in all, I wasn't really impressed but it didn't disappoint me.
For characters, there's really only two people that are worth discussing: Alicia Vikander's Lara Croft and the villain of the film: Mathias Vogel, played by Walton Goggins. Let me start off by saying that Vikander's portrayal of Lara Croft is excellent and for me one of the bright spots of the film. There was a lot of discussions online to the belief that she was only brought on for star power and to grunt during action scenes, but for me, this is the closest I believe we could ever see to Lara Croft on the big screen. Vikander is a great addition to the cast and getting her better the film as a whole because she's just a fantastic actress all around in this role. To talk about the villain, Mathias Vogel, is to talk about the overall concern I had with Tomb Raider. He was very generic and the usual expectation for an adventure film villain. Goggins does what he can with the role, but all in all, he just felt too familiar and too much like a cliche.
Finally, I want to just talk about this film as a whole. If I were to think of a Tomb Raider film, this is fairly close to what I would expect that film to be. Over the top set pieces placed between moments of quiet companionship and a lot of ass-kicking from Lara. That leads me to state that Tomb Raider is a true film for the property that it comes from and gives us that real experience we got from the games with some added cinematic elements to make it work better on the big screen. The problem for me though is that after seeing this movie I fear that sometimes even a perfect movie for the franchise isn't necessarily a great movie on its own. Fans of the franchise will enjoy this movie like I did, but there's a lot of flaws. If we are to see great video game films I believe we're going to have to be very open about how they're done and how the story is changed to work better on screen.
So while Tomb Raider is a faithful adaptation of the story of Lara Croft and how she begins her adventure, it really just doesn't grab you as a movie on its own. For those who don't really know the world of Tomb Raider, they'll probably see this movie with glazed eyes and confusion. I can't be upset with them for this as the movie doesn't have much to offer to someone who hasn't played the games. They've managed to step out of the shadow of the sexualized Lara Croft that Jolie brought to screen by bringing in a high-caliber actor in Vikander, but it's not enough to elevate the film. But regardless of all these issues, it's undeniable that I had a good time watching Tomb Raider. So while I can't say it's an overall good movie, it was a fun experience and if you've ever played the games, this is a great movie for you.
