Tomb Raider – Film Review
The new rebooted Tomb Raider is an extremely fun film with heart and contains an amazing performance by Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft.
Lara Croft’s (Alicia Vikander) father has abandoned her when she was a young girl. Years later as an adult, she has still not heard anything as to his whereabouts are. Now, she makes it her mission to find out where her long lost father is.
Vikander is absolutely brilliant and charismatic as Lara Croft. Every single time you see her on screen, you can just tell that she adores portraying the beloved iconic character and it is a great thing to see. Many times in Tomb Raider, Vikander acts with only her face, and she does a great job at portraying emotion. I do actually feel as if Vikander is a better Lara Croft than Angelina Jolie was in her two films Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), and Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003). Vikander’s action sequences are extremely fun eye-candy with explosions and tense sequences, although, those scenes often do include silly physics. Characters stay alive when in all reality, any normal human being would suffer from tremendously serious injuries, or maybe even die, but in the case of this film’s characters, they barely walk away with a scratch. Those fun action sequences did in fact remind me of 1999’s The Mummy, and 2001’s The Mummy Returns – two films that I heavily enjoyed.
The story of Tomb Raider is one that I could easily follow, and one that I was intrigued by. Its story absolutely contains many cliché elements, but it was still a story that I enjoyed. I always cared about Croft’s journey to find out where her father is. They do give a fair bit of characterization to Lara Croft – enough so to make you genuinely feel sympathy for her throughout the film.
Alicia Vikander gives a wonderful performance as Lara Croft. The film works too, even though it has multiple cliché storylines, and often has absurd physics. It mainly works cause it is a film with a lot of heart, and fun.
To watch my video review of Tomb Raider, please click this link: https://youtu.be/7Kz9EVjVSUQ
Overall Grade: B
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sequences of violence and action, and for some language
Cast: Alicia Vikander, Dominic West, Walton Goggins, Daniel Wu
Directed by: Roar Uthaug
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
Running Time: 118 minutes