“Tomb Raider” works well as a video-game based movie, but leaves something to be desired in terms of plot.
The latest in a long legacy of Tomb Raider movies and games, director Roar Uthaug’s rendition of Lara Croft and her adventures portrayed the character fairly well. Character development throughout the film was solid, and I enjoyed watching Lara transform from frustrated delivery girl
to purposeful Tomb Raider as the story progressed.
The action scenes were, for the most part, delightful, with settings and events just absurd enough to be perfectly at home in a video game or video game movie. Certain scenes reminded me of actual gameplay, while still being interesting and exciting within the film.
The plot of the movie, however, could have used a little work. Nothing was inherently wrong with the way things happened on screen and there weren’t any glaring holes or obvious omissions, but the whole plot was very linear, and a bit predictable. It was simple enough that you could, almost without fail, guess what would happen next. I also thought they relied a little too heavily on jump-scares toward the end of the film.
In addition, there wasn’t much in terms of puzzle solving or legitimate intellectual effort. Croft is supposed to be a whiz with puzzles, history and riddles of all kinds. This aspect of her character was portrayed in the film, but most of her puzzle and riddle solving happened off-screen. On multiple occasions, she is shown toying with some ancient riddle mechanism, only to solve it with no explanation of how. It may be a fairly minor criticism, but it left me disappointed.
The performances of Alicia Vikander as Croft and Dominic West as Croft’s father were actually very good, but some of the supporting cast delivered poor performances. The villain, played by Walton Goggins, was alright, although I thought he could have used a bit more development.
Thematically, “Tomb Raider” didn’t have much going on, but that’s okay considering the genre. It embraced the fact it is a video game movie, and incorporated that idea into its action, and even in its plotline. The film had its foundations on a long legacy of Tomb Raider games and movies, and it seemed proud of that fact. It was rife with casual references to the game series.
Overall, “Tomb Raider” was an okay movie. For a video game action thriller, it was actually pretty good. The film did a wonderful job detailing Croft’s origin story, and made the transformation from confused little girl to brilliant and bad-ass adventurer quite compelling. The plot was a tad basic, and not all the characters were acted very well, but the film remained at least somewhat interesting and exciting throughout. It was made in a way that rewards people who are familiar with Croft’s character, but doesn’t require you to be. You can enjoy the film if you’ve never seen or played a Tomb Raider before. If you have some extra time and extra money, “Tomb Raider” film is worth a watch.