Tomb Raider is a 2018 action adventure film directed by Roar Uthaug, starring Alicia Vikander, Dominic West, Walton Goggins, Daniel Wu, and Kristin Scott Thomas.  Lara Croft, the fiercely independent daughter of a missing adventurer, must push herself beyond her limits when she finds herself on the island where her father disappeared.

Positives:

• Maintains tension
• Great performances
• Good set pieces
• Great action
• Awesome score
• Interesting story

Negatives:

• Writing is lackluster
• Generic story
• Few memorable characters

Plot:  The story follows Lara Croft who’s hoping to solve the mystery of her father’s disappearance. Croft embarks on a perilous journey to his last-known destination — a fabled tomb on a mythical island that might be somewhere off the coast of Japan. After a shipwreck she finds herself on the mysterious island of Yamati where agents of the mysterious organization Trinity are searching for the tomb of Himiko, a vengeful spirit said to haunt the island.  The story for this movie was alright.  There are some problems with how they take the story and drive it away from the awesome story of the game, and just make a generic plot.  The whole subplot of her father being on the island does feel unnecessary as his presence in the film was strong enough to start Lara on her journey.  Really the only interesting twist is that Himiko was suffering from a disease rather than her actually having powers.  Also, the film does feel a little rushed, particularly during Lara’s survival and her finding her father. (3 out of 5)

Characters: The main protagonist is Lara Croft, daughter of a famous and rather rich archaeologist, Richard Croft.  She’s dealing with the disappearance of her father.  She’s likable, she’s smart, she’s resourceful, and she’s determined to discover what has happened to her father which is how she gets to the island.  And for those who loved the 2013 Tomb Raider game, Lara gets beaten up pretty bad.  We get to see that Lara, learning to become the confident woman we want to see.

Richard Croft is Lara’s father and a famous archaeologist who disappears.  We find out that he isn’t dead but is stuck on the island of Yamati trying to keep the tomb out of Trinity’s hands.  He has understandable motivations as he’s trying to save the world although he comes off as a crazy man.

Mathias Vogel is the main antagonist of the, a rival archaeologist, and a member of Trinity.  My problem with Mathias is that he doesn’t seem to know what he wants to be.  The entire time he professes to be stuck on the island until he finds the tomb and misses his little girls.  Unfortunately we don’t see enough about the character to actually care about him.  There’s a scene where Lara is looking through Mathias’ office and it would’ve been nice to have seen a journal or a photo of his daughters.  Also, there is his cold blooded actions in certain sequences that make him more of a douchebag.

Lu Ren is a ship captain who helps Lara and on the surface he’s a likable character.  He’s kind of like Lara as his father has disappeared under the same circumstances.  The biggest problem with him is that he isn’t given much to do.  He helps the natives and none of his sailing skills are utilized to help Lara in any kind of way.

Ana Miller is an associate of Richard Croft and of course, in good old fashion poor script fashion, she does come off as shady.  For fans of the game, we know that Ana is apart of Trinity and of course, it’s pretty obvious.  Would’ve liked her to have played a bigger role aside from setting up the sequel.  (3 out of 5)

Cast: First, Alicia Vikander’s performance is good but I can understand the polarized response.  She does a good job of being Lara Croft when she gets to the island but she doesn’t feel like Lara Croft any other time.  Vikander is a talented actress, when things get going she’s great, even having the physical look of the character.  I actually liked Dominic West’s performance.  I think he adds a bit of tragedy to the film as a man sacrificing everything to protect his daughter and the world.  I’ve always liked Walton Goggins as he always plays a good douchebag and he doesn’t disappoint.  Daniel Wu is good but isn’t really given much to do.  The supporting cast give good performances as well including: Kristin Scott Thomas, Derek Jacobi, Nick Frost, Jaime Winstone, Hannah John-Kamen, Antonio Aakeel, and Duncan Airlie James. (4 out of 5)

Visuals: There is a lot to like about this movie from a visual aspect.  The grand scope is presented well enough to make for an enjoyable setting, both in the city and on the island (though there should’ve been a helluva lot more exploration of the island).  Vikander’s design as Lara looks great, worthy of her video game counterpart.  The action sequences are the best of the franchise, definitely capturing the intensity of the survival elements.  The waterfall and plane scene are possibly the best sequences in terms of action and tension.  The one moment where Lara is sneaking through the camp definitely captures the tension from the game. And the one take is done rather well which takes skill to make effective. (4 out of 5)

Score: Perhaps the best of the franchise, Junkie XL picks up the reins as composer and the guy is awesome.  He does a great job of capturing what a video game movie should feel like in terms of scope.  The film practically feels like one big adventure. (3 out of 5)

Writing: The writing and direction do feel closer to the source material but there are some things that could’ve been written better. I liked Roar Uthaug who directed the 2012 Escape film and you can see some of those elements in this film.  I like how the film doesn’t force the whole woman empowerment thing because Lara Croft gets her but kicked a lot.

First, the first part of the movie isn’t necessary and feels like filler.  Yes, it’s good to see Lara outside of exploring ruins but to have her being a bike courier feels like a step back from her characterization.

Second, not enough Tomb Raider and survival elements.  We get one really cool extensive scene of Lara against the elements but that’s about it.  There’s this one sequence where Lara is in the rain at night and for fans of the game, you think she’s going to fight wolves but she ends up being attacked by one of the bad guys.  How he found her I have no idea.

Third, the bad guy gets no exposition outside of him working for Trinity and that he has two daughters. Wow.  If the writing would’ve supported his claims than we could’ve seen him more as a sympathetic villain.  It would’ve even worked out better had he been a rival and not worked for Trinity but was forced by them.

Fourth, the whole twist at the end was lazy.  If there ever were points of comparison between the Uncharted series and the Tomb Raider series, this movie definitely rips it from its competitor’s concept.  In the game, Himiko is a supernatural presence that affects the island.  In the movie, Himiko possesses a disease so potent that mere physical contact triggers immediate bodily disintegration.  This would’ve been a good concept had the film not ripped off the game. (2 out of 5)

The Writing:  In the end, Tomb Raider is one of those films that does manage to change the formula a bit but still fall under the same problems.  Most of the film’s issues fall under the direction, pacing, and script.  However, I can admit that the film does have appeal.  Great performances by the cast, an interesting story, good score, great action, and a lot of tension. Tomb Raider gets 3 out of 5.