March 16, 2018: Tomb Raider, Movie Review

A Brief History

On March 16, 2018, fans of the video game super heroine Lara Croft will be treated to a reboot of the movie version of the franchise, this time starring Swedish actress Alicia Vikander in the title role made iconic by Angelina Jolie. As expected, the film provides eye candy and lots of action, a worthy successor in the series.

Digging Deeper

Vikander is now 29 years old but looks much younger (married to Michael Fassbender since 2017), and brings a fresh, engaging personality to the character of Lara Croft. Not as much the “superwoman” as played by Angelina Jolie, this Lara Croft is a project in progress, learning the ropes of what it means to be a globe trotting adventurer.

Walton Goggins as the arch villain plays an excellent role, as he is somehow naturally (?) shady, or at least comes across that way.

This time around the film shies away from the overtly supernatural, although it definitely acknowledges it, and lends an Indian Jones sort of feel to the main adventure. Cinematography is great and the scenery is beautiful as well, filmed partly in South Africa. Unfortunately, we previewed the movie in 2D, and we think it would be even greater in 3D or IMAX. The danger scenes are thrilling, realistically portrayed although situations right out of video games. The sets are excellent.

Obviously, we loved the movie and think you will, too. Although there is some violence, both hand to hand and the shooting kind, we think most well-adjusted kids would be just fine watching this adventure/action film. This edition is definitely a differently nuanced model, with less glam and more down to Earthiness. Even people who have not seen the previous movies (this film is a reboot so the others are not prerequisites for understanding anything) or played the video games. The movie stands on its own as two hours of good entertainment.

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