TOMB RAIDER (2018) MOVIE NEWS & REVIEW

tomb raider (2018) movie

Genre              |   Fantasy Adventure

Classification   |   M

Running time   |   118 minutes

Released         |   15 March 2018

cast

Alicia Vikander ... Lara Croft
​Hannah John-Kamen ... Sophie
Walton Goggins ... Mathias Vogel
Kristin Scott Thomas ... Ana Miller
Dominic West ... Lord Richard Croft

director

Roar Uthaug

writer

​Geneva Robertson-Dworet ... (screenplay by) and
Alastair Siddons ... (screenplay by)

cinematographer

​George Richmond

music

​​Junkie XL

film editor

​Stuart Baird

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box office result

Worldwide               $? million

Australia                 $? million

North America        $? million

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the best dialogue

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TOMB RAIDER (2018) MOVIE IMAGES

Images

Posters

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Posters

TOMB RAIDER (2018) STORY SYNOPSIS

​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.

TOMB RAIDER (2018) MOVIE REVIEW

Reviewed by Mark Geraghty   |   Review date 15 March 2018
Pop ​Movee Rating ⭐⭐⭐½

Better than average. That sums up TOMB RAIDER, the reboot of the feature film franchise based upon the popular computer game from oh so long ago… 

Unlike the Angelina Jolie version of the Lara Croft adventures, this new edition, headlined by the always lovely  to look at Alicia Vikander, takes a slightly grittier approach than the two previous Tomb Raider franchise films. Directed by the experienced Norwegian filmmaker Roar Uthaug, TOMB RAIDER takes the opportunity to flesh out Vikander’s Croft before throwing her head long into her first full-tilt adventure.

This new version of Lara seems hell-bent on being a punching bag, copping it from Kickboxing partners, being rundown by fellow bike couriers in an urban version of “Fox Hunt” and, to top it all off, refusing the patronage of her father’s vast business empire, which has been left to Kristin Scott Thomas and Derek Jacobi to manage in his absence.

And, this is where the story gets to the crux of this new version of Lara. She has some pretty BIG “Daddy” issues…

Lara’s father, Sir Richard, played by Dominic West, disappeared seven years earlier, determined to prevent a secret organization called TRINITY, from possessing the all powerful secrets of the long dead Japanese Queen Himiko. Those familiar with the Tomb Raider computer game will remember that Himiko featured in the Ancient Scrolls and returned for an extended storyline in the second run of the Dark Horse Tomb Raider comics. The new TOMB RAIDER uses Himiko more as a McGuffin than a genuine antagonist. That role is left to Walter Goggins, as Mathias, another character imported from the game.

Vikander gets to explore the character’s “Daddy” issues in a prolonged origin First Act that bogs the film down for a little while, but is a necessary evil for the story.

There’s a lot of elements to like about TOMB RAIDER…

Alicia Vikander.

Is there anymore that needs to be said? Well, actually, yes, there is...

Angelina Jolie always felt like she was auditioning for Wonder Woman in her two cinematic adventures. For a character who wasn’t endowed with any obvious genetic enhancements, Jolie portrayed Lara Croft like she was some kind of super human. The new TOMB RAIDER goes to more effort to show that Alicia Vikander is actually capable of most of the physical feats the character pulls off throughout the film. This starts right from the opening scene where Vikander is subjected to a pounding by a fellow Kickboxer. The story makes the point that Lara does, A) take a beating but, B) doesn’t go down without a fight. The physical demands of the role are arduous and Vikander looks to be in top shape to deal with them, but she doesn’t get off easy. That’s why this TOMB RAIDER is so much more interesting to watch. Lara doesn’t always win, but she picks herself up, dusts herself off and carries on. Only during the film’s climax does this commitment to the character falter, as the writers indulge in a high-speed chicken run where Lara displays Flash-like speed to escape imminent danger.

So, what else is there to like?

Daniel Wu.

Sadly, Wu’s Lu Ren gets sold short on screen time, but he and Vikander have an easy chemistry and their scenes together should bode well for Wu if TOMB RAIDER does well enough to warrant a sequel. Up to the point where Lara and Lu Ren get to their destination, they make a great pairing; strangely reminiscent of Bogart and Hepburn in THE AFRICAN QUEEN. That’s not to suggest that TOMB RAIDER should be in any way shape or form be compared to John Huston’s classic, but there’s a passing resemblance to the washed-up boat Captain and the woman in need of his help in Lu Ren and Lara’s coming together. 

The pair’s arrival at the island they’re in search of is a key sequence for the film and marks the transition from the “Origin” story segment to the adventure at hand.

This is the film’s weakest element.

The “Tomb raid” embedded in the film’s title is condensed and this truncation leaves the viewer with the feeling that Geneva Robertson-Dworet & Alastair Siddons, the film’s writers, couldn’t entirely reconcile the need for Croft’s origin and her first adventure in 118 minute movie.

One scene that does work incredibly well is Lara’s Waterfall adventure aboard a crashed World War II American Bomber plane. Sure, there’s a couple of elements that have been “borrowed”, especially from Steven Spielberg’s T-Rex attack of the caravan in THE LOST WORLD, but it’s a nifty sequence that, again, illustrates Lara’s desperation and determination.

The one part of TOMB RAIDER that doesn’t work that well is Walter Goggins as Mathias.

The biggest issue is that he’s nowhere near menacing enough. Nor is he really invested in what he’s doing. Like the game, the character is a mercenary, but, he’s too eager to get the job done, pack up and wait for the helicopter to pick him up. Only once does he display any intent, but it doesn’t feel genuine. Goggins appears as if he is “playing” a part. For someone who’s meant to be a HEART OF DARKNESS Kurtzian type, he seems to spend a hell of a lot of time on the satellite phone telling his employers he’s ready to leave…

On the scale of Good Vs Bad, there’s a whole lot more good than there is bad in the new TOMB RAIDER.

Could it have been better?

Yes, there are things that could have been done better. The aforementioned Mathias characterization for one. TOMB RAIDER, like a lot of recent films, also suffers from some very poor visual effects. Some sequences look like background filler that have been provided for the lowest price possible. Whether it affects viewer enjoyment is really down to the individual. There are some viewers who don’t even notice that kind of problem because they’re wrapped up in the story and, for the most part, that is the case for TOMB RAIDER.

It’s enjoyable, even if it’s a little formulaic. Vikander is solid and she gets enough support that should see TOMB RAIDER generate enough worldwide box office for another Lara Croft adventure in a couple of years time.

TOMB RAIDER (2018) USEFUL LINKS

​Tomb Raider (2018) - IMDb
​Tomb Raider (2018 film) - Wikipedia
​Tomb Raider (2018) - Rotten Tomatoes

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