![]() Indeed, it's Vikander's performance as Lara that makes the film work, bringing a forceful presence to the many action-sequences, without reducing Lara to a one-dimensional archetype as was the case in the Angelina Jolie films.Īfter a sequence of events that includes an entertaining, if rather silly, cycle race through London and a brief stay in police custody, Lara finds herself back at Croft Manor, where she stumbles upon her father's secret study in a sequence that recalls the older Tomb Raider games. It's also held together by Alicia Vikander's convincing portrayal of the younger, less cocksure Lara, whose generally affable temperament is underlined with a moodier, stubborn streak which gets her in and out of trouble in equal measure. It's a somewhat unconvincing attempt to normalise Lara's massively privileged background, but as a way of introducing us to the various facets of Lara's character, these early scenes work well enough. But Lara refuses to sign the papers, as it would mean accepting that her dad is dead. It's a problem she could easily make go away by accepting the vast inheritance her father left her when he disappeared seven years previously. Whereas the game commenced en-route to Yamatai, the film introduces us to Lara in London, where she scrapes a living as a cycle-courier and struggles to pay her membership at her local mixed martial-arts club (we've all been there). The film uses the same setting and a similarly drawn Lara to tell a slightly different story, one which sees Lara travel to the mysterious island of Yamatai in search of her missing father. But it worked, sort of, and was also a cracking action-platformer to boot. It did this mainly by beating her up in lots of horrible ways and killing all of her friends (the standard solution to making a character appear more human). To be more specific, this cinematic reboot is itself based on the 2013 video game reboot, which aimed to reframe Lara from being a weaponised sex object into a more rounded, human character. Tomb Raider actually seems to understand what's good about its source material, and it does a decent job of translating that to the big screen, even if it does ultimately come off as inferior. It's also, in parts, pretty entertaining, which means it's a vast improvement on the phenomenally boring Assassin's Creed film from last year. ![]() Importantly, however, it is not a disaster, which marks it out from basically every other video game film ever made. At its very best, Tomb Raider is a straightforward and largely unremarkable action film. ![]() Now don't get too excited, I'm not saying it's a great film. I think the new Tomb Raider film might be alright. I'm going to say this very quietly, and I'll only say it once.
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