Tomb Raider fails to develop interesting characters or motives but at least offers viewers some fun action.
The Witcher-Related Announcement Coming Tomorrow
The Witcher Twitter account is teasing something to come…could it be Geralt’s cameo in another game?
Jessica Jones: Season 2 – Why Episode 6 Changes Everything
Russian spy: UK to expel 23 Russian diplomats
They have one week to leave Britain after Russia failed to explain the use of a nerve agent against an ex-spy.
Stephen Hawking: Tributes pour in for ‘inspirational’ physicist
Scientists, politicians and celebrities say the physicist’s death leaves an “intellectual vacuum”.
Sega Genesis Collection for PC, PS4 and Xbox One Announced
Continuing on a wave of nostalgia over the past year or two, Sega has announced that a collected edition of classics from its Genesis/Mega Drive era will be coming to PC, PS4 and Xbox One on May 29.
The Sega Genesis Classics (or Sega Mega Drive Collection in the UK) was initially announced via Twitter before the tweet was deleted; a trailer has since been revealed thanks to the beautifully-named “Sonic the Hedgeblog.” SEGA has since officially announced the collection, promising 50 games upgraded with modern features, including online multiplayer, achievements, mirror modes, rewind and save states.
Altered Beast, Alien Storm, Shining Force, and Sonic 3D Blast are some of the games mentioned in the SEGA Classics announcement. Those who preorder the physical edition will get a double-sided Golden Axe/Streets of Rage poster.
Tomb Raider Review
At its best, Tomb Raider is a passable action movie. It has some cool fight scenes and a neat tomb to raid. But this iteration of iconic adventurer Lara Croft misses the mark by reducing her identity to her relationship with her missing father and her physical prowess. This movie may directly lift many elements from the excellent 2013 video game reboot, but it disappointingly chooses not to adapt what made Lara an interesting and deep character.
Seven years after Richard Croft’s disappearance, the estranged Lara has abandoned her family fortune and instead chosen to work as a courier who struggles to make ends meet. The first few scenes go to great lengths to prove her athleticism, but fail to develop Lara’s character beyond mild angst as she drifts through life. The fact that she had no prior interest in archeology or desire for adventure makes her a bland heroine next to the video game character, despite Alicia Vikander’s best attempts to bring life to Lara. She only finds something to care about after she discovers her father’s secret archeology hideout. She then uses his research on the uncharted island of Yamatai and its supernatural queen, Himiko, to look for him.
Tomb Raider (Spoiler Free) Movie Review: A Decent Action Movie
The new Tomb Raider movie starring Alicia Vikander as Lara croft is a close adaptation of the 2013 reboot game. Does it do the original justice? Find out in Mike Rougeau’s review!Tomb Raider Review: A Great Video Game Adaptation
The new Tomb Raider is a pretty good action movie and a better than average video game adaptation, with a stunning performance from Oscar winner Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft. What really elevates it, though, are a couple of extremely specific story and design decisions that set it apart from all its contemporaries, from Indiana Jones and Uncharted to past Tomb Raider games and movies.
To say exactly where the story goes that makes Tomb Raider so unique would be a spoiler, but let’s just say it stays surprisingly grounded.
That’s a word you can apply to more or less the whole movie. Much of the action is heightened to unbelievable proportions, though no more so than in the 2013 Tomb Raider game, which was widely praised for its “gritty realism.” The movie is a direct adaptation of that game, and it more than does it justice, even surpassing it in many ways.
Like the 2013 game (which itself was a major series reboot), the 2018 Tomb Raider movie follows a younger, less experienced Lara Croft in an origin story that sees her transforming by necessity into the skilled adventurer who gamers know and love. The film does a great job providing plausible explanations for Lara’s many talents; as a young bicycle courier and amateur MMA fighter in London, Lara has the reflexes and athleticism she’ll later use to scale rock walls and parkour her way through ancient tombs. And Vikander totally sells every punch, leap, and plunge, her amazingly chiseled muscles flexing and straining impressively throughout the movie.
Lara’s father, Lord Richard Croft (Dominic West), has been missing for several years when we catch up with her in the movie. But she hasn’t yet signed the papers that would give her control of his vast business empire and wealthy estate, out of a combination of determined independence and a stubborn refusal to admit he really isn’t coming back. When she discovers new clues to where he disappeared to, she pawns what little she has (to a very funny Nick Frost) and hurls herself headlong in search of him.
That means heading to coastal Asia, where she tracks down (a little too easily, but whatever) the same boat that her dad chartered seven years earlier. She convinces the captain, Lu Ren (the underused but great Daniel Wu), to take her to the dangerous Devil’s Sea, where her father’s been stranded alongside the ruthless mercenary Mathias Vogel (the perfectly despicable Walton Goggins).
Tomb Raider suffers slightly from trying to cram too much in. It’s stuffed full of action sequences, at least one of which probably should have been cut (the early chase scene where some kids rob her, maybe?). There’s a cold open featuring her dad’s voiceover explaining the mythology of the deadly Japanese goddess Himiko as maps and etchings scroll by on the screen, a tedious info dump that, incredibly, is then repeated later in the film when she uncovers all his research. And while the movie spends plenty of time establishing Lara as a character, it spends considerably less on the villain, Vogel, who remains fairly two-dimensional despite some quick lines about wanting to get off the island and see his family again.
Any empathy you might have felt for Vogel is derailed when he compares Lara to his daughters while being extremely creepy toward her. Thankfully, Lara is never explicitly threatened with sexual violence in this movie, which you might consider an improvement from some of the game’s more ambiguous scenes. On the other hand, when a lone young woman is being hunted and restrained by multiple beefy, exclusively male bad guys, the implication–the possibility it might happen, despite it being unstated–remains. Some viewers might find it disappointing that Tomb Raider doesn’t totally overcome that subtext, while others will simply consider it realistic.
But even when this movie threatens to sink in some areas, Vikander buoys the whole thing up admirably. The Ex Machina and The Danish Girl actress clearly put an incredible amount of physical work into making this character believable. It paid off in action scenes that feel just possible enough, even when they verge on unbelievable. Many of these, including a harrowing trip down river rapids toward a towering waterfall, are ripped straight from the game, to which the movie owes a great deal. Seeing them play out onscreen is fun for game fans, but they’re not done simply for the sake of lip service, and non-gaming moviegoers should be just as engrossed.
Vikander also brings her considerable emotional range to the role, lending Lara the right amounts of vulnerability and raw feeling when required. Her ability to switch from a young woman who misses her father to a stealthy bow-wielding killing machine–and back again, multiple times–is impressive.
Her general skepticism, too, plays a huge part in grounding this movie in reality. She finds it just as implausible as you or I would that an ancient Queen of Death is going to spring out of her tomb and murder everyone on the planet; Lara isn’t there to stop the curse, but to find and/or rescue her father, who she believes is at least partially insane for believing Himiko poses a real threat to the world. That aspect of her character pays off effectively by the movie’s end, and it’s one of the things that most sets this incarnation of Tomb Raider apart.
Maybe the weirdest thing about this movie–good or bad–is how closely it follows the plot of one predecessor in the “archaeological adventure” genre, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. In each movie, a reluctant, skeptical adventurer uses their missing father’s research to track him down, inadvertently delivering that research directly into the hands of ruthless foes. They then must temporarily team up with said enemies to ensure their father’s safety, using the research to pass a series of booby-trapped trials and reach a mythical something-or-other deep in the bowels of a long lost temple.
Tomb Raider holds up well on its own–and next to the 2013 game on which it’s based–but understandably, it can’t really compare with the classic movie it copies most heavily. This juxtaposition winds up especially unfavorable for Tomb Raider when you realize that unlike Indiana Jones, Lara Croft has no iconic (or even recognizable) theme music. This movie has plenty of fist pump moments, but you’ll eventually realize they’re not as impactful without that memorable “dun-dun-dun-duhhh!”
Nevertheless, Tomb Raider is a great video game adaptation and a decent action movie on its own, elevated by smart story choices and a winning performance from Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft. Here’s hoping she’s down for a sequel.
| The Good | The Bad |
|---|---|
| Alicia Vikander is fantastic as Lara Croft | Lack of iconic music |
| Movie stays surprisingly grounded | Some characters could be better fleshed out |
| Action and fight scenes are well done | Too many info dump scenes |
| The right amount of game references and homage |
6 Best Secret Identity Board Games
Board games provide a fantastic opportunity to escape to another world and work together with your friends to overcome a tricky shared challenge. But they’re also good opportunities to scheme and plot for hours, waiting for the perfect moment to betray your friends and family, stabbing them in the back and snatching up victory along the way. Whether you’re just looking for a little more confrontation in your life or just need some fun party games to keep a larger group of players engaged, secret identity games are always a hit.
Below are our picks for 6 of the best secret identity board games available. So join us in the shadows for a night of backstabbing your friends.