TOMB RAIDER: THE RISE AND FALL

WARNING: THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS SPOILERS.
There’s only one thing that I enjoy better than reviewing movies…you guessed it, reviewing movies based on video games! Cause I get to talk about two of my favourite things,  even though more often than not, these adaptations barely scratch the surface of the source material and almost never do it justice, it’s always a treat to see great characters come to life on the big screen. Lara Croft is perhaps the most successful video game character of the 20th century, and Angelina Jolie’s portrayal of the gun toting adventurer-archaeologist back in 2001 was quite an excitable experience back in the day (I was 16, and she was Lara Croft, do the math), it was also one of the first video game adaptations to be considered a ‘success’, raking in $274.7 million in the box office on a $94 million budget, Its relatively been a tough act to follow since then, being the most successful video game movie of all time, but in wake of the recent spew of remakes and reboots; like most of the poor souls whose tombs she’s raided, Lara Croft was always poised for excavation.

Angelina Jolie's Tomb Raider is still the most successful video game movie.

Tomb Raider (2013)

The Evolution of Lara Croft

Lara Croft is one of the most recognizable video game characters ever to grace living room screens and since her video game debut 22 years ago she’s pretty much been a mainstay in the action adventure gaming genre spanning 21 games across several platforms. In 2013, Tomb Raider got rebooted five years after the eight major installment (Tomb Raider: Underworld), a new Lara Croft for a new generation, after all, most of the teenagers who grew up with Lara were adults now (or at least we pretend to be), gone was the highly sexualized character that adorned the walls and screensavers of many teenagers for the last decade,  gone were the infamous double Ds, hot shorts and dual handguns  that we’d come to associate with Lady Croft (understandably not the most appropriate tomb raiding gear - imagine the mosquitoes or how those puppies would weight her down in any real ‘run for your life’ quick time event). This new Tomb Raider was relatable; younger, naive, strong willed and full of grit - just embarking on her first real adventure. The game laid a lot of emphasis on survival as a relatively untested Lara relies on her wits and sheer determination to survive both man and the elements.

Tomb Raider (2013) proved to be more than a reboot with a popular name, it was a great game put together by a team of clearly talented people; from its fresh and rewarding game-play, to its well thought out and captivating story, a refreshing take on a character that hadn’t relevantly changed since her debut, so when word got out a new movie would be based on it, fans were right to be excited.

Tomb Raider (2018)

There will be debates on who makes a better Lara.

With a successful platform as its base and a cast of some of Hollywood’s finest to bring it to life, Tomb Raider had a real chance, of perhaps becoming one of the more memorable video game adaptations in recent time. With the talents of Oscar winner Alicia Vikander as the main protagonist - becoming only the second actor to play the British aristocratic adventurer on the big screen since Angelina Jolie, it was certainly one to look out for.

Vikander's Tomb Raider was heavily based on the 2013 game.

Vikander’s Lara is quite a different package though, based on the video game reboot, Lara undergoes quite a number of changes (but her signature turquoise tank top survived the overhaul).  I really started out liking this new millennial Lara; smart, brave, witty and willful, she resonated the essence of the Lara we’ve come to know over the years. A rebel of sorts, who after her father’s mysterious disappearance 7 years ago refuses to accept his death by delaying her inheritance - earning a living being a bicycle courier, as she awaits some form of closure. She isn’t big on Archaeology and apparently on any kind of academic endeavor, and unlike earlier iterations her fondness for the subject since childhood is also nonexistent, probably because her biggest influence on the subject is not even an archaeologist himself, Lord Richard Croft (Dominic West,) is instead, an aristocratic businessman who in the wake of his wife’s death searches for answers through unconventional means and stumbles upon archaeology or what you might call it as a hobby, rather than as a profession.

Adventure Time

As events lead to Lara's discovery of her father's last known destination; a lost island called Yamatai, she meets fellow orphan and ship Captain Lu Ren (Daniel Wu) who reluctantly agrees to take her there. Once on the island she makes the uneasy acquaintance of  Mathias Vogel (Walton Goggins) and his band of mercenaries. Vogel is an agent of Trinity - a mysterious and ancient militant organization that seek control over the world and the fate of mankind; by acquiring mythical supernatural relics and harnessing their powers. Vogel has been assigned to discover the Tomb of Himiko, a mythical queen of Japan whose tomb houses a terrible power. Vogel's search has led him to Yamatai, where Himiko’s tomb is believed to be located, however he isn't closer to a breakthrough when Lara meets him, than he was seven years ago when he arrived. Vogel comes across as a capable and uncompromising man, dedicated to finish the task at hand, although he seems more like a prisoner of Trinity himself, as his one motivation isn’t that of a loyal religious zealot but that of a man longing to leave his island prison. However, the plot begins to thicken (so I thought) when Vogel claims Richard Croft was once on their side...before he killed him.

The Fall

Alicia Vikander would have loved to do more.

Tomb Raider started quite well and even held my interest up until the second act, just before it dives into the shallow waters where many video game adaptations have drowned themselves. Poor character development, script and overly creative choices cut this movie down to size. The talents of Alicia Vikander are clearly underutilized; as her Lara who started out so well eventually fades into the trope of ‘just another action hero’. It would certainly have been nice to have some of her familiar support cast from the series, perhaps Conrad Roth from the reboot, as her guide or Winston, her butler, to serve as a guardian and the voice of reason to an obdurate Lara before she leaves in search of her father. Characters that Lara could have played well off and thus added more texture to the character and film. These may have been way better options than the re-imagined and uninspiring Richard Croft.

Lara’s reunion with her not so dead father is as bland as they come. The unique relationship between father and daughter that has been teased all movie long is suddenly aloof. Agreed, being marooned on an island for 7 years having only yourself as company will do things to a man, but at no point during the rest of the movie do you ever feel as though Lara and her father were once that close. Richard’s motivations to keep Himiko’s secret from Trinity isn't cogent enough; it just doesn't feel serious or real and even his sacrifice to save the world doesn't feel weighty at all, rather its more of good riddance. Walton Goggins does his best to convey Vogel’s motivations but in the end a one dimensional script gives the character nowhere to go and he ends up being your run of the mill villain, the same could be said for most of Tomb Raider's characters as there's the opening for so much more to have been done with them, yet they are shrunk to fit the more commonplace action adventure setting. Inevitably the film's climax is as unsatisfying as you'd expect, a drab cliched affair.

Tomb Raider did have its moments though, as some of its scenes seemed to be ripped straight out of the video game; the decrepit plane/parachute escape scene was quite awesome and Lara's portrayal as a survivor first and action hero later was on point. Lara's first kill was a visceral and crude experience; it comes down to the most basic of all human instincts; self preservation. Its either him or her and even as she snuffs the life out of her would be captor/murderer with her bare hands/legs, she wishes she didn't have to. I wanted this movie to be great but it just gets by. Some rather inexplicable changes made to the Tomb Raider lore deprive the movie of great material that it could have really sunk its teeth into and as such make this film less noteworthy. But despite its shortcomings, Tomb Raider does enough to be largely entertaining to the uninitiated and might even be lucky enough to secure a sequel based on sales rather than merit. For an origin movie Tomb Raider manages to pull some of its weight, but as a debut for the new Lara Croft its an unexcitable outing which remains in the shadow of the first feature film. Sadly Tomb Raider joins the list of poorly made video game adaptations which revel in the mediocre realm of film making.

Reject Rating: 6/10