Lara’s journey from bicycle courier to kick-ass adventurer isn’t necessarily believable but it is entertaining.
Tomb Raider, a series of games featuring the athletic archaeologist Lara Croft, launched in 1996. Croft is a mash-up of Indiana Jones and a gymnast with dual pistols. Since her debut, she’s been featured in over 15 games on various systems. In 2001, Lara Croft made her motion picture debut in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, starring Angelina Jolie. A sequel, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life, followed in 2003.
For the most part, movies based on video games haven’t fared very well creatively or at the box office. The two Jolie films weren’t critical successes but did well at the box office. In 2018, the film franchise was rebooted with Swedish actress Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina) cast in the role of Lara Croft.
This version of Lara Croft in many ways resembles the version found in the 2013 video game, Tomb Raider, which was also a reboot of the game series. Lara is the daughter of Richard Croft, a wealthy businessman with a penchant for archaeology. As the film opens, we find her making a living as a bicycle courier and struggling to pay her bills. Her father has been missing for seven years and has been presumed dead. Lara refuses to receive an inheritance because she’d have to sign papers acknowledging that he has died.
When an illegal bike race through London lands Lara in police custody, she’s bailed out by her childhood guardian, Ana (Kristin Scott Thomas.) Ana convinces Lara to sign the paperwork or her father’s estate will be sold. As she sits down to sign the papers, she is given a puzzle box that was also willed to her. Lara immediately solves and opens the box, discovering a key which opens a hidden room at her father’s would-be resting place. Inside the room, she finds a video camera that contains a recording of her father’s last wish: that all material he has compiled about the legend of Himiko, the Sun Queen, be burned before anyone else can get their hands on it. If anyone were to find and open Himiko’s tomb, evil would be unleashed upon the world.
Lara looks over the material and, rather than burn it, she travels to Hong Kong to follow her father’s trail of evidence to find out what happened to him. She eventually lands on the island of Yamatai, the location of Himiko’s tomb.
Tomb Raider is a true action/adventure film much in the vein of the Indiana Jones films. Like in the video games, Lara Croft must navigate her way through some precarious situations with only her wits and, occasionally, a piolet or bow and arrow to aid her. She sneaks through enemy encampments without detection, engages in hand-to-hand combat and barely escapes death more times than I could count. She’s not so much an archaeologist as she is a mixed martial artist and puzzle solver.
Lara’s journey from bicycle courier to kick-ass adventurer isn’t necessarily believable but it is entertaining. Much of the charm comes from Alicia Vikander’s portrayal and the script’s take on the character. She’s stubborn, independent, and refuses to back down from a challenge. Vikander brings a vulnerability to the character but never turns her into a wimp. This version of Lara Croft should appeal to girls looking to characters like Wonder Woman as a role model. She’s not superhuman but she can (and does) kick some ass.
Tomb Raider‘s main weakness is a story that doesn’t do anything truly unique. Despite some amazing action set pieces, there’s not much in this film that audiences haven’t seen done before or done better. That said, I’d give the character another chance in a sequel, especially if Vikander is playing her.
3.5 out of 5.0 stars
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