Tomb Raider 2018 Movie Review - Lara Croft in Danger

Whatever you think about the old Tomb Raider movies, one thing that everyone seems to agree on is that Angelina Jolie was perfect for the role of Lara Croft.

Personally I think the movies were really disappointing story wise, but there was still a lot to enjoy. The two movies were pretty self aware and embraced their cheesiness, so it was easy to just switch off your brain and have some fun.

Just like the games radically changed the tone of the series in recent years, the new Tomb Raider movie is also much more serious and tries to depict a younger and more vulnerable Lara Croft on her first real mission.

It's been 7 years since Lara's father disappeared, while searching for the grave of a mysterious witch, on a small island near Japan. As soon as Lara finds a secret message from her father, she travels to Japan to find out what really happened to him.

Is Alicia Vikander a good fit for the role?

It's too bad that we couldn't get more than two Tomb Raider movies with Angelina Jolie, but since she is not coming back, the first thing everybody was curious about is who her replacement would be.

Alicia Vikander is most known for playing the robot Ava in Ex Machina and I personally think she did a fantastic job in that film. When I heard that she would be the new Lara Croft I was very skeptical though. She just seemed to be too soft and fragile for the role.

After seeing that they were going for a young and inexperienced Lara Croft it made more sense to me though. Also she actually does look similar to the character from the latest games, since they gave her a softer, more feminine look, with more ehm.. realistic proportions.

I was also really surprised by how physically prepared she was, it definitely seems like she worked really hard to get in shape and do as much of the action herself as she could.

Acting wise I think she also did a really good job, of portraying a much younger Lara, who is actually afraid and has to struggle a lot and I really mean a LOT in her first adventure. She is constantly falling down somewhere, getting hit repeatedly, stabbed by tree branches and all kinds of other torture. It's actually pretty uncomfortable to watch.

We can also see that Lara is really shocked, when she has to kill someone for the first time and Alicia Vikander perfectly displays the emotions of that scene.

Can't it be a bit more fun?

I think the biggest problem with the movie is that it is a bit too dry and serious for its own good. It certainly isn't a bad movie, but there is just nothing really exciting about it.

The villain is absolutely forgettable and his motivations are not very convincing. There isn't a clear reason for him to act so cruel to everyone, since he's just doing a job and is not even interested in the grave of the witch himself.

The same thing can be said about Lara's father (Dominic West). He could have simply stayed at home with his daughter and probably nothing bad would have happened.

Lu Ren (Daniel Wu) is fine as Lara's sidekick, but he doesn't have that much to do in the movie.

Conclusion

I think Tomb Raider 2018 is not a bad reboot of the series, even though it lacks a bit of excitement, there is definitely potential for a sequel. It would be interesting to see how Alicia Vikander's Lara Croft develops over time and if she can slowly transform into a cooler and stylisher version of the character.