Tomb Raider

500 Days Of Film Reviews Tomb Raider Starring Alicia Vikander

Lara Croft (Alicia Vikander) is the fiercely independent daughter of eccentric adventurer, Lord Richard Croft (Dominic West), who vanished when she was young. Now 21 and living a life without any real purpose, Lara knows she needs to accept the fact that her father is dead. However, not before going on an adventure of her own to find out what happened to him.

I went into my screening of Tomb Raider with very little in the way of expectation. I left genuinely surprised at just how much I had enjoyed watching this adaptation of the (rebooted) Tomb Raider video game. 

Mirroring gaming levels, Tomb Raider moves across the globe action set piece by exhilarating action set piece. It is impressive (despite some shonky CGI here and there) adrenaline fuelled stuff. 

Admittedly, there’s nothing particuarly new on offer. Roar Uthaug’s film borrows from a variety of action adventures (the Indiana Jones and Hunger Games movies most obviously). However, thanks to Alicia Vikander’s compelling performance, Tomb Raider is a rare beast - an entertaining and enjoyable film based on a video game.

Tomb Raider’s exciting pace barely gives you the chance to stop and consider its plot - and that is a good thing. The film’s story doesn’t withstand much in the way of scrutiny. Indeed, the rare pauses for “emotional moments” almost derail the entire movie.

The trouble is this - at the heart of Tomb Raider lies the love between a father and a daughter and I did not (not for one second) buy their relationship. In fact, all of the scenes between Lara and Richard left me feeling rather irritated and queasy (sprout??). 

Thankfully, these moments do not linger long before we are back watching Lara engage in more runny, jumpy, fighty stuff. Vikander certainly gives an impressive (and exhausting) physical performance.

However, there is also something deeper here - a spark and a layer of intelligence that keeps us engaged and makes us root for Lara even though we can (of course) guess the film's eventual outcome. 

Vikander has real screen presence and thanks to her this reboot stands a real chance of achieving (a welcome) franchise status. Post Wonder Woman, it is great to see another female action hero kicking ass and taking names.  

Tomb Raider is, of course, a reboot of the film series starring Angelina Jolie. It is also based on the 2013 reboot of the video game. 

Have you seen Tomb Raider? If you have, what did you think of this movie? Let me know in the comments section below or via Facebook or Twitter (@500DaysOfFilm).