TOMB RAIDER

“All myths are foundations of reality.”

Movies based on video games have the unfortunate reputation of being anyway from completely average (See: Assassin’s Creed) to outright awful. (See: Well, pretty much the rest of them) When it was announced that Lara Croft would be getting another chance on the big screen, most were nervous. However, having played the game this movie is mostly based on, I was optimistic. It’s a bloody good game and could’ve made a pretty good film. Lo and behold, it did.

The film sees Lara Croft, the heiress to the Croft fortune and daughter of the long-lost Richard Croft, find her father’s work and go looking for whatever it was the grabbed his attention during her youth. Her adventure, or nightmare as things really don’t go her way, leads her to the island of Yamatai, home of the buried Queen of Japan, Himiko. And so she goes, well, tomb raiding.

For the most part, the film follows the general direction of the game pretty well and in that is thrives. When the source material is this good, it would’ve been a mistake to stray too far. That being said, obviously there are places where the film does it’s own thing and while these moments aren’t quite as good, they still make for an entertaining film, and obviously you’ve got to cut a great deal out from a game that lasts about eight hours.

From the film, there was one sequence that stood out to me as the highlight, and it takes place not a huge amount of time after Lara arrives/in stranded upon the island. She’s on the run from her captors when she is swept down river and finds a wrecked plane hanging precariously over a water fall.

The scene is perfectly tense and really sums up what the game meant in terms of themes: Survive. Every time Lara moves the plane breaks more and more and it’s a great homage to the game itself, where a very similar thing takes place. It’s beautifully done and the film could’ve done with more scenes like it, had it avoided the first half hour showing Lara before her adventure.

However, there was another scene that stood out too, and it’s one of the more powerful. It’s very difficult to make a Tomb Raider film without Lara having to kill people. That’s just not how it works. And yes, she does kill people in the film, but the one that stands out most is the first. It’s an immensely powerful moment as Lara makes the choice between life and death as she commits the act, and it does wonders for her character. You don’t judge her badly for the act, and that’s what makes her character great. What is was let down by is how willingly she kills people again afterwards. It’s by no means hordes of faceless henchmen, but it’s done without remorse, and the film would’ve been better if she only killed when absolutely necessary.

Speaking of Lara, Alicia Vikander does a brilliant job of bringing the heroin to the big screen.

I’ve only seen Vikander in two films before (Ex Machina and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) and if nothing else, Tomb Raider shows that they were not flukes. She brings both emotion and power to Lara and makes her journey and struggle believable and sympathetic, something I was worried the film adaptation would struggle with, given the game had far longer to build her character as things progressed. But all in all, Vikander did an amazing job in bringing Lara to the big screen and if they ever do make a sequel, I hope she returns to the role.

All in all, Tomb Raider is not only the best video game movie by default, but it earns that title on its own. Its got a solid story with some great action set-pieces and the focus on Lara’s beginning as the Tomb Raider was well adapted for the big screen. There are small things here and there I would change and plot threads I’d keep for the sequel, should it ever happen, but I for one thoroughly enjoyed it. The pacing does dip at times but it’s soon brought back up and the only thing I would change is the opening half hour, and instead just drop the viewer in at the deep end, much like the game did. This way you'd get much more time on the island with Lara going through hell, which the film could've done with showing more of. It’s faithful to the game enough that you know what you’re watching, but with some new plot threads here and there, the film keeps itself interesting at the same time. If you're on the fence about watching it, give it a watch, I doubt you'll be disappointed.