Tomb Raider is a popular video game series starring Lara Croft which launched over twenty years ago in 1996 and has seen numerous releases over the years. The license was given the ‘movie treatment’ in 2001 and 2003 with big name directors Simon West (Con Air) and Jan de Bont (Speed) and both films starring Angelina Jolie who was a rising actress and current ‘it girl’ at the time. Unfortunately, both of those two films received poor reactions from both critics and fans, leaving the Tomb Raider movie franchise in question.
Lara Croft has always been a popular video game character in the community with thousands of cosplayers taking on her likeness over the years and in 2013 Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics released a new Tomb Raider game that helped rebound the franchise to its proper glory. The recent Tomb Raider video games released in 2013 and 2015 (Rise of the Tomb Raider) helped establish Lara Croft as a more grounded female action hero who can be injured yet still overcome obstacles to reach her goal.
The new Tomb Raider (2018) movie stars Oscar-Winning Actress Alicia Vikander in the role of Lara Croft and successfully conveys the core and spirit of the more recent video games onto cinema. The rebooted Tomb Raider movie was directed by Roar Uthaug who’s previous movie ‘The Wave’ (2015) caught attention visually and emotionally. Dominic West (The Wire) and Daniel Wu (Into the Badlands) star alongside Vikander in this epic adventure that takes her halfway across the world through unexpected circumstances and dangers.
Tomb Raider Movie Review Final Thoughts:
The new Tomb Raider movie will most likely be hailed as one of the best movies adapted from a video game as we’ve seen some horrible ones over the years especially from directors like Uwe Boll. The new movie starts off a little weak with scenes revolving around MMA-style kickboxing and a messenger bike race but once it gets into the jungle that is when Tomb Raider shines and is completely captivating throughout the second half of the film. Some of the logic around Lara’s decisions in life and what to do or not do are sort of un-explained and feel like plot holes but visually the movie is a treat like a good Indiana Jones movie and Alicia Vikander who is only 5’5″ carries both the dramatics and stunts convincingly. You’ll come away from the new Tomb Raider pleasantly surprised that you had a good time.