I love this film! I’ve read the critics reviews which are fifty-fifty and I think the criticism is that the movie is not Indiana Jones (nor should it be) and that it should be some expectation of an action movie. Tomb Raider is fun giving us a great heroine in Lara Croft, a fierce, clever character who is vulnerable, but relentless. Superior to the icy Angelina Jolie superhero who can kick through stone statues. This Lara is a video game character without unlimited lives.
One of the challenges of a video game adaptation is that one player is in control and takes certain actions.
I felt this is one of the best video game movies because even though I haven’t played any of the games, there were scenes were I felt actions would be taken by a player, press Shift to run, Left Click to catch hook and swing yet it is entertaining as an action movie. The film is directed by Roar Uthaug, a Norwegian director, like the duo on Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017). The script is by Geneva Robertson-Dworet who is working on the Captain Marvel film and Alastair Siddons. The film has a production credit to the video game company Square Enix.
One of the challenges of a video game adaptation is that one player is in control and takes certain actions.
I felt this is one of the best video game movies because even though I haven’t played any of the games, there were scenes were I felt actions would be taken by a player, press Shift to run, Left Click to catch hook and swing yet it is entertaining as an action movie. The film is directed by Roar Uthaug, a Norwegian director, like the duo on Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017). The script is by Geneva Robertson-Dworet who is working on the Captain Marvel film and Alastair Siddons. The film has a production credit to the video game company Square Enix.
It opens with the narration of her father, Lord Richard Croft played by Dominic West who was the brutal Sab Than in John Carter (2012) and I remember him first as General Titus in Centurion (2010), all rugged parts, here he is refined at home, but soon becomes lost. He explains about the Japanese death goddess, Himiko, based on the real life queen. She is the focus of the 2013 game. The film cuts to seven years later with twenty-one year old Lara (Vikander) fighting MMA in a ring. If there are any doubts about Vikander’s physical abilities, they are all answered here.
She is given encouragement by the owner of the gym, Terry (Duncan Airlie James), but defeated by a sleeper hold. Lara has no money and goes to her job, as a bike courier for Snack Cycle, she stops by an Indian restaurant for delivery and the cook, Nitin Ahuja (Antonio Aakeel) is too shy to ask her out even though his parents nudge him to do so. Then, we get Lara with the other couriers who are talking about the Fox Hunt. Lara is interested when she is told the prize is 500 pounds, UK currency of course, for the one who catches the fox or to the fox if she manages to escape them.
She is given encouragement by the owner of the gym, Terry (Duncan Airlie James), but defeated by a sleeper hold. Lara has no money and goes to her job, as a bike courier for Snack Cycle, she stops by an Indian restaurant for delivery and the cook, Nitin Ahuja (Antonio Aakeel) is too shy to ask her out even though his parents nudge him to do so. Then, we get Lara with the other couriers who are talking about the Fox Hunt. Lara is interested when she is told the prize is 500 pounds, UK currency of course, for the one who catches the fox or to the fox if she manages to escape them.
The bikers line up on the London streets. Lara with the fox tail on the back of her bike has the paint can punctured to leave a trail. They chase her through the streets, but she manages to escape them. Lara starts off, but is distracted by someone who looks like her father. She is knocked over a car splattering it and herself with paint, it’s a police car and the officers take her into custody! Lara’s freed by Ana Miller played by Kristin Scott Thomas, the quintessential British actress, here an executive for her father’s business, Croft Holdings. She wants Lara to sign the papers acknowledging her father’s death after seven years missing so the Croft Manor will not be lost.
Lara returns to her rooftop home and dreams of her father. Richard is about to leave 7-year old Lara (Maisy De Freitas) and kisses his fingertips to place on her forehead. This is the gesture that runs throughout the movie. The next day, Lara heads over to the Croft Holdings building to get past the man at the desk who doesn’t recognize her. She meets with Ana and also another official, Mr. Yaffe played by the great British actor, Derek Jacobi, he classes up every movie he’s in. He gives Lara a puzzle tube that he was supposed to give her on her father’s death. She spins the various dials and out of it comes a photo of Lara and her father and also a note to check on his last whereabouts.
Lara returns to her rooftop home and dreams of her father. Richard is about to leave 7-year old Lara (Maisy De Freitas) and kisses his fingertips to place on her forehead. This is the gesture that runs throughout the movie. The next day, Lara heads over to the Croft Holdings building to get past the man at the desk who doesn’t recognize her. She meets with Ana and also another official, Mr. Yaffe played by the great British actor, Derek Jacobi, he classes up every movie he’s in. He gives Lara a puzzle tube that he was supposed to give her on her father’s death. She spins the various dials and out of it comes a photo of Lara and her father and also a note to check on his last whereabouts.
Lara excuses herself from signing the document and returns to Croft Manor. She uses the clue to activate a secret door at her family tomb. Lara walks the stairs into her father’s room filled with explorer maps and mementos. She plays the tape that was heard at the beginning of the film and then a video camera. This is a father daughter quest like A Wrinkle in Time, less fantasy, and more of an adventure. Lara uncovers a receipt to a Lu Ren in Hong Kong and sells her jade necklace to a pawn shop owner, Max, played by Nick Frost. Always funny, but this is a cameo bit part. She travels to a Hong Kong dock looking for the boat. Lara asks about the boat, which she is told is the Endurance, then her backpack is stolen by three thieves.
She chases them down and reaches the Endurance. The thieves are scared off by a drunken boat captain who is Lu Ren (Daniel Wu). I was reading about Wu in the entertainment section this morning. He is an American actor who is incredibly famous in China, but has difficulty catching on here with only his cable series, Into the Badlands.Lara finds out that it was Lu’s father who took her father to the island, Yamatai. She manages to persuade him to take her to the Devil’s Sea, an actual place 100 km south of Tokyo. They travel on the Endurance to reach Yamatai whose coordinates are discovered by both of them. Lara dreams about her father’s last visit where she is 14 and practicing with a bow. He tells her that she never gives up. She wakens to find the Endurance battered by a storm.
She chases them down and reaches the Endurance. The thieves are scared off by a drunken boat captain who is Lu Ren (Daniel Wu). I was reading about Wu in the entertainment section this morning. He is an American actor who is incredibly famous in China, but has difficulty catching on here with only his cable series, Into the Badlands.Lara finds out that it was Lu’s father who took her father to the island, Yamatai. She manages to persuade him to take her to the Devil’s Sea, an actual place 100 km south of Tokyo. They travel on the Endurance to reach Yamatai whose coordinates are discovered by both of them. Lara dreams about her father’s last visit where she is 14 and practicing with a bow. He tells her that she never gives up. She wakens to find the Endurance battered by a storm.
Lu heads to the aft to get the life boat while Lara tries to gather her father’s notes. She leaps off as the boat is swamped by a wave. Lara manages to reach the shore, but is knocked out by a rifle butt. Lara recovers to find Mathias Vogel (Walton Goggins) who works for Trinity and says he killed her father. Mathias was the villain in the game, but he was part of the Solarii Brotherhood. He knows about her father’s papers in her backpack. Vogel has a team of gunmen who have workers under their rifles. Lara is sent to the mining operation to find the entrance to Himiko’s tomb. This reminded me of Raiders. She also finds that Lu has made it to the island and put to work with other survivors and people taken by smugglers. Lara manages to make her escape, it is almost haphazard series of incidents, and has to eventually open the tomb of Himiko. There is a nice twist on the supernatural, the hallmark of the Indy films, which has to be understood for Lara to pass through the traps.
The story is a building of Lara as tomb raider, it sets us in the real world of London, travel to Hong Kong with Lara an innocent in this foreign land, and then dropping us into the lost island with it’s dangers and a mysterious group of gunmen. They are given an interesting development at the end of the film. Lara is not taking charge as an action hero, she has to face killers, and this pushes her to the edge of survival. The waterfall plunge to hanging off of rusty bomber and leaping off it’s wing. It is not just a stunt or CG, you really feel Lara’s peril, Vikander lets out a ragged scream. She gets bruised and wounded on the course of her adventure. This just steels her to being the tomb raider. Alicia Vikander has fashioned a hero that I could follow through a number of films, Continue?, yes!
The story is a building of Lara as tomb raider, it sets us in the real world of London, travel to Hong Kong with Lara an innocent in this foreign land, and then dropping us into the lost island with it’s dangers and a mysterious group of gunmen. They are given an interesting development at the end of the film. Lara is not taking charge as an action hero, she has to face killers, and this pushes her to the edge of survival. The waterfall plunge to hanging off of rusty bomber and leaping off it’s wing. It is not just a stunt or CG, you really feel Lara’s peril, Vikander lets out a ragged scream. She gets bruised and wounded on the course of her adventure. This just steels her to being the tomb raider. Alicia Vikander has fashioned a hero that I could follow through a number of films, Continue?, yes!
Five Jade Necklaces out of Five!
#TombRaider, #RoarUthaug, #AliciaVikander, #DanielWu
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