Anthony's Film Review - Tomb Raider (2018)

The Tomb Raider film series reboot has solid action and also, amazingly, a good story...

The 2018 action movie Tomb Raider is based on a video game, yet it doesn't really feel like a movie based on a video game. Many video game-based movies of the distant past tend to be lame in story and action, leaving game fans and non-game fans similarly disappointed. Not this one, thankfully. In fact, it doesn't matter at all if you have played any of the Tomb Raider games, have only heard of the video game franchise, or have never heard of it at all. This movie will appeal to any action movie lover, because in the end, it's an entertaining action movie like any other.

This isn't really the first-ever Tomb Raider movie, because Angelina Jolie played the adventurer Lara Croft in two movies in the early 2000s. However, this one is a reboot of the film series, just like how the video game series itself underwent a reboot in 2013 (and it turns out that the plot of this 2018 movie is based mostly on that 2013 game). And like reboot movies, such as Batman Begins, which practically started the reboot movie trend, this one begins with the main character's origin. You might as well call it Tomb Raider: Lara Croft Begins.

In the first several minutes of the movie, Lara Croft, played by Swedish actress Alicia Vikander, is not yet the tough adventurer in tank tops we are familiar with. Rather, she is a young woman who lives an ordinary life with a group of twentysomething friends to hang out with. It's not that she was never born into wealth. She was, but decided that the wealth really belonged to her father Richard Croft, not her. One day, however, she is given the opportunity to inherit all of the companies that her father's holding company, Croft Holdings, has ownership over. Just as she is ready to sign the necessary documents, she receives a mysterious item from her father, one that requires ingenuity to decipher.

One thing quickly leads to another. Lara discovers that her father was not just a businessman, but also an avid explorer and adventurer. Specifically, Richard Croft had been exploring legends from around the world regarding the supernatural. The last thing he was looking into was the tomb of an evil Japanese spirit queen named Himiko, located in the bowels of an uninhabited mountain island off the coast of Japan. It is said that her powers can destroy the world if they are unleashed, and there is a military organization called Trinity that wants to find that tomb for its own malicious purposes. Richard's trip to that island was the last one he took, one that he never came back from.

Hence, Lara hires a Hong Kong sailor named Lu Ren (played by Daniel Wu) to take her to the island. The journey goes smoothly until they reach the island itself, where they have to endure a powerful storm and be held captive by the Trinity, led by Mathias Vogel (played by Walton Goggins). Even if Lara survives whatever complications are thrown her way, she still has to use her strength and wits to survive the traps and obstacles leading to the tomb of Himiko. Whatever she eventually discovers is rather surprising and unexpected.

The one thing I liked a lot about this movie is how the script gives more priority to the story than the action. It's not one of those movies where you are taking a break from the story just to watch action scenes. Rather, the action only occurs when necessary as part of the story. As for character development, I wouldn't say this is a character-based film, but there still moments where I liked the dialogue between certain characters, particularly between Richard and Lara Croft.

Don't get me wrong. The action is plenty of fun. Here, Lara has to deal with threats from both man and nature. The shipwreck scene was done quite well, not just because the process of destroying the boat is detailed, but also because Lara is incredibly strong and brave as she endures a series of near-death moments. As for combat scenes between her and members of Trinity, she is one tough fighter. Not that she is invulnerable, because she definitely takes some hard hits here and there. But the important thing is that she does not give up. That's why she survives.

I can't help but wonder if movies based on video games are finally getting noticeably better than before and are consequently getting the respect they deserve. This goes back to what I said earlier about how you don't need to be a Tomb Raider fan to enjoy this movie. It's certainly the kind that would give fans a new way to enjoy a Lara Croft adventure and also get non-fans curious and interested about the game series. Best of all, another Tomb Raider movie is coming, based on how this one ends. I look forward to it.

Anthony's Rating:

For more information about Tomb Raider, visit the Internet Movie Database.