Tomb Raider (2018) – A Movie A Day 2021 #24
Tomb Raider (2018) – A Movie A Day 2021 #24
I remember pouring hours and hours into the first Tomb Raider game when it was released on the Playstation back in 1996. It was one of the early games that I would play over and over to try to explore every inch of the locations and discover every secret. I Instantly became a huge fan of the series and of its main character, Lara Croft. Clearly lots of other people felt the same way I did (and still do) because many more games have been released over the years, and Lara Croft has become something of a pop culture icon. Lara has appeared in pretty much every form of media imaginable, and of course her stories have been adapted into live-action films. It’s been a while since I’ve seen the two movies starring Angelina Jolie as Lara, but I do remember enjoying them pretty well. For me though, the 2018 Tomb Raider movie is the best of the bunch.
Tomb Raider stars Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft, and the movie’s look and story are inspired by the 2013 reimagining of the Tomb Raider game series. The plots of the game and movie are vaguely similar, but there are some huge differences between the two that helps each stand on its own without inviting too many direct comparisons. In the movie, Lara Croft is a young woman struggling to make enough money to survive despite have a huge inheritance waiting for her if she chooses to accept it. Her father, Richard Croft (Dominic West), went missing seven years ago and is presumed dead, but Lara feels that if she accepts her inheritance, then she must also accept that her father is truly gone. One day Lara discovers that her father was leading a secret life as something of a treasure hunter, and some clues to his destination seven years ago lead Lara to the island of Yamatai near Japan. Lara’s father was chasing the legend of Himiko, an ancient queen who commanded power over life and death, and when Lara arrives on Yamatai, she discovers that it wasn’t just her father who was searching for Himiko. A group of dangerous mercenaries led by a man named Mathias (Walton Goggins) is on the island, and Lara’s unexpected arrival sets off a chain of events that could lead to dire consequences for the entire world.
Like the game it’s based on, Tomb Raider is full of brutal action and elaborate set pieces. Lara is forced to fight for her life against trained killers as she searches for answers about what happened to her father. Alicia Vikander is perfect for the role of this updated version of Lara Croft, and seeing her in action is a ton of fun. The character arc for Lara is pretty similar to how she progresses in the game, and I very much appreciate that. Lara goes from being overwhelmed and nearly dying multiple times to being a strong and determined force who uses her brains as much as her athletic ability to overcome incredible odds. Walton Goggins is also great as the cruel and merciless Mathias, a man who will do anything to anyone just so long as he can finish his job and go home after so many years on Yamatai.
The action in Tomb Raider is very good, and it does feel a lot like the 2013 game to me. It does take a long while to get into some actual tombs for raiding, but as an introduction to this new Lara Croft, I was still quite entertained. There are a lot of neat puzzles that Lara has to solve, and there are a lot of guys for her to kill, and that’s really what the game series comes down to for the most part. The games do tend to venture into supernatural elements, and that, unfortunately, is where the movie differs from the games the most.
The legend of Himiko is described multiple times throughout the movie, and when I first saw it in the theater I was hoping for a huge final act with some magic and mayhem. The movie goes a different route though, and that did disappoint me somewhat on my initial viewing. I’ve just recently watched it for the second time though, and knowing what to expect definitely helped me enjoy the final act a lot more. If I hadn’t been such a big fan of the games then I wouldn’t have felt that anything was missing. The buildup to the magic-lacking finale is foreshadowed well throughout the movie, I just wasn’t paying much attention to that when I first watched it. I enjoyed Tomb Raider the first time, but I enjoyed it even more the second time.
I’ve heard that a second Tomb Raider starring Alicia Vikander has been announced, but the disruption caused by the pandemic has put it on hold with no set date for when it might come together. Hopefully Tomb Raider II does get made though, because I really enjoyed it. Plus, in the next movie we can get right to the tombs and the raiding without all the buildup! I think Warner Brothers and Sony should get together and work out a deal to create a shared universe with Tomb Raider and the upcoming Uncharted movie. I’d love to see Lara Croft and Nathan Drake chase after the same artifact only to have them team up to defeat some nefarious terrorist organization in the end.
