It’s hard to think of a movie based on a video game that’s good.
Like, actually good.
Not just entertaining or watchable, I’m talking about a video game adaptation that you watch and say “wow, that was good”. Can’t think of one, either? That’s because there’s not one. They’re very difficult to adapt. Will Tomb Raider finally break the mold or will it fall into place with the rest of its genre?
Tomb Raider stars Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft, the daughter of an eccentric adventurer who disappeared when she was a teenager, now a young woman who is trying to forge her own path and refuses to take control of the global empire her Father left behind just as she refuses to believe that he is truly gone. Fascinated with puzzles, she finds a clue that could lead her to her Father’s final destination; a fabled tomb on a mythical island off the coast of Japan. Getting to the island is treacherous enough but once she is there, armed with only her wits, intelligence, and stubborn bravery she finds herself in a race to stop an ancient plague from covering the Earth. Tomb Raider is based on the video game series that launched in 1996 and is a reboot of the 2001 film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider which starred Angelina Jolie.
Here are some observations I had while watching Tomb Raider:
(During a bicycle race that she’s winning) “Will she see something that reminds her of her Father that causes her to lose the race?”
(There’s a scene in the trailer in which Lara Croft buys the signature Lara Croft: Tomb Raider pistols. She visits the Pawn Shop before going to Hong Kong and doesn't buy the pistols.) “I wonder if she’ll end up back at the Pawn Shop later in the film?”
(She’s got her Dad’s notes and heads to the island with them after he asked her to destroy them.) “I wonder of there will be some sort of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade ‘I should have mailed them to the Marx Brothers’ comment.”
(She escapes from the bad guys but the trailer shows her helping them solve puzzles in the tomb later.) “I bet I know what happens to make her change her mind.”
(She finds a recorded message from her father.) “Is this movie basically Rogue One?”
“I hate that filmmakers think everyone understands British currency.”
What is the British pound equivalent of a quid? Turns out “quid” is a slang term for a pound. I’ve been confused by this for years.
Alright, enough about how predictable this movie was, there’s even a twist that you can see coming a mile away.
What I liked about this film is that it’s setting up a franchise (which is a weird thing to say) but Alicia Vikander’s Lara Croft is not a seasoned adventurer. She’s tough as nails and shows nothing but bravery but at the same time exhibits a lack of confidence and a sense of searching for her purpose. She hasn’t come to terms with her father’s disappearance and that shows up in everything she does. I liked her version of Lara Croft better than Angelina Jolie’s.
I liked this Tomb Raider more than Angelina Jolie’s and I think you will too.
Also new in theaters this week…
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7 Days in Entebbe is a thriller inspired by the true events of the 1976 hijacking of an Air France flight en route from Tel Aviv to Paris, the film depicts the most daring rescue mission ever attempted. It stars Daniel Bruhl and Rosamund Pike.