Well, could it be “third times the charm” for the Tomb Raider franchise? It’s the third film in the series and filmmakers have added academy award winner Alicia Vikander as the lead in 2018’s Tomb Raider. Not unlike the last few games in their series, Lara Croft has been given the big-screen make over. Gone are the days of her being the scantly clade two-gun toting adventurer badass that she was, now she has been reimagined for the current day: normal attire, strong, flawed, but still a full on badass. This isn’t your grandfather’s Tomb Raider: this is all new and totally different.
Loosely based on the hit 2013 game, we find a young Lara Croft at the start of her adventuring career. We find that Lara has taken a different path than the one her father would have wanted. After he disappeared many years ago, Lara rejected the upper elite lifestyle she was raised in and is trying to survive as one of us: bad job, barely making rent, etc. She uncovers her father may still be alive, and she sets off to Hong Kong to hire a ship to take her to a mysterious island no has ever come back from. There she finds all the answers and action/adventure you’d expect from a Tomb Raider movie.
Alicia Vikander is great as the new Lara Croft. She brings a different quality than Angelina Jolie (who did a passable early 2000s job) and the video game actresses that have come before her. Her accent is on point and believable. She is strong and confident: a woman who clearly knows what she wants and will stop at nothing to get it. A woman you’d go to hell with if she asked. And Vikander fills the role marvelously. Hopefully we will get to see more films with her in the role.
It’s true what they say: “ a hero is only as good as their villain.” And here is a good example of such a trope. Enter Mathias Vogel, played devilishly by Walton Goggins. He plays an archeologist rival of Richard Croft, Lara’s father, and a member of an evil shadow organization called Trinity. We’ve seen his type of villain before. Without needing his whole backstory he gives you just enough information for you to infer what archetype he’s portraying: lower-level stooge being controlled by some shadowy figure. Has a power complex and likes killing. He’s probably the most two-dimension character in the film, but what he lacks in character development he makes up for in his villainy.
One of the major criticisms from the last two films was not enough tomb-raiding, which can be a problem in a film called Tomb Raider. Here the filmmakers ramp up the Indiana Jones-style action and really give Lara challenges to overcome: rooms of puzzles, deadly traps and plenty of action. From moment to moment Lara’s life is in jeopardy and she is continuously fighting off some sort of problem, whether it’s a foe in the movie or her own personal demons. The filmmakers really nailed the conflict in Lara’s life: to follow in her father’s footsteps or become her own person. In the end she finds a way to do both for the greater good.
If there are some weak parts in the movie it has to do with the script, which is actually solid for a video-game-turned-live-action movie. There are certain scenes that totally play just like the game: running from falling or crumbling debris, jumping and landing from impossible leaps of faith, and tumbling with ease though a jungle. It’s fine, but you do get smacked in the face with remembering that, at its core, this is a video game.
The score is terrible, composed by Junkie XL. Yes. A man in his 50s going by the name Junkie XL. He’s had some decent credits in his film-scoring career, but this isn’t one of them. It feels like he didn’t even see the movie before or during scoring. None of the music beats land and they try really hard to tell you what to feel with their emotional tones. We as the audience don’t need your music to tell us how we should feel. The scene and actors should be able to do that. And with such a talented cast, they were doing it perfectly. This was a major weak link in an otherwise good chain. Music should add to a movie. If it’s added correctly you shouldn’t notice it unless it’s a theme to a character (Superman, Batman, etc.) But here it’s so jarring it’s sometimes all you hear. That’s not good.
The special effects are great! Top-notch work from the many studios that contributed. The scenes where Lara does an incredible stunt look great and seamlessly transition from CGI or stunt actor to Vikander. There are many fights scenes and they are all pretty brutal. For these characters this is life or death and they fight accordingly: cheap shots and kill strikes the whole time. Your action needs be met for sure.
Overall this new Tomb Raider is pretty solid of a film. Some structural issues here and there, but nothing that pulls you out of the film. Other than the awful music, this movie is fun and worth seeing in the theater. Alicia Vikander is the Tomb Raider and I hope to see more adventures with her.
