I always feel weird talking about movies based on video games. As a, what I’d like to call, “passive gamer,” I’ve always enjoyed playing all the Tomb Raider. Although it used to scare the hell out of me when I would watch my cousins play it on their PS1, I’ve somehow grown some mild form of attachment to the series since then. Then came the two films starring Angelina Jolie. It’s been years since I’ve seen those movies, but they aren’t very memorable to begin with.
This Tomb Raider reboot isn’t groundbreaking by any means, but that doesn’t take away the good things. It was a sort of a surreal experience to watch this on the big screen after having played the most recent game reboot on my PS3. And, surprisingly, I left the big screen feeling oddly satisfied!
I personally couldn’t think of anyone else to step into these shoes. Lara Croft is now portrayed by Swedish actress Alicia Vikander but with some new changes that are faithful to the 2013 game. It’s not a Tomb Raider movie without the bobby traps and over-the-top action sequences — and it’s luckily all here. For the most part, the film has a nicely grittier texture when compared to the originals, confronting more of Lara’s transformation in more direct sense. This is also thanks to Vikander’s performance. And I’m not going to lie: this movie is one of the best looking video game-movie adaptation I’ve seen. It doesn’t attempt to look exactly like the game itself, but all of the sequences are shot intelligently that strikes the chord of fans of the video game.
Following a similar storyline, the film chronicles Lara’s journey in searching for her missing father since his disappearance years prior. She barely manages to pawn off her last valuables before embarking on a journey all throughout the East Asias and, ultimately, off on a mysterious, grid-less cursed island of Himoko, where the tomb of the queen of death, who turns everything she touches into death, is hidden away. Once Lara tracks down boat captain Lu Ren (Daniel Wu), they wind up nearly escaping death when their ship capsizes from tsunami waves on their way to the island. But as soon as they step foot on the island, we uncover more about the “twist.”
Without delving too much into the juicy details, I just want to say how oddly satisfying this movie was for me. Although the storyline isn’t inspiring and new in any way, I was impressed by the depth that Lara’s character had and how willing the filmmakers were were in order to capture some of the most complex emotional states that were so successful in the reboot game version. We’re not watching the super cool Lara like the previous movies had portrayed. Here, we see her vulnerable side, her flaws. There’s a heavier emotional punch in this film, which I believe adds more dimension in the Tomb Raider universe.
And while there are those semi-cringeworthy moments in the film, I still appreciated the film’s self-awareness. It’s not trying to be something it simply can’t be. Instead, the film feels like it’s embracing the ethos and myths of the game series and gives it a pretty decent Hollywood treatment. I also appreciated the more refined image of Lara as someone relatable, as well as the inclusion of an Asian supporting actor. As an Asian American myself, I appreciate this particularly ignored group.
Again, this new reboot isn’t groundbreaking in terms of the film’s storyline, but it carries a new standard for game-movie adaptations. Alicia Vikander fits her role extremely well and would love to see her play this character again. Unfortunately, the box office isn’t doing too well domestically, so I’m hoping the overseas earnings will justify more movies. It’s my ideal fun movie, and I personally recommend it.
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