Tomb Raider (2018)

Among the famous female video game protagonists, arguably the best of them is treasure explorer Lara Croft from the Tomb Raider series. Starting with her debut to gaming world in 1996, her escapades in exploring a variety of places whether she's fighting hordes of armed goons, aggressive animals, ancient mutant creatures, or raiding tombs while avoiding death traps showcased a fun classic action style to feel like a badass. This incarnation prompted two film adaptations starring Angelina Jolie in the titular role that embraced that tongue in cheek campiness of it (being more of a product of its time, maybe not in the best way). In 2013, a tonally different reboot had been created in the form of gritty harsh rated M survival type that crafted an origin for our protagonist that expanded on new lore and continuity in its sequel entry, which brings us to this movie adapting that timeline. The marketing campaign wasn't as aggressive as it could have been but it piqued some interest with some familiar looking visuals as well as a lead actress who looked like she can hold her own and it received a mixed critical reception. I went into the auditorium to judge it on its own merits and ended up not only enjoying what it accomplished but hoping it gets the sequel it deserves, with some needed improvements.

Note: I have played the aforementioned 2013 incarnation that is being adapted and will be judging the film as its own while also noting those details during this critique.

Plot: The story follows our main heroine as she finds herself following a trail to a myth her father was pursuing at an island before disappearing. For those of you who played the specific source material, it's using the essential survival plot, gritty tone, and some action set pieces the budget can afford while using the first act to build up our main lead in her own activities before setting out on the perilous ordeal. With this being rather similar to other action adventure films, the predictable steps it takes can be seen a mile away for those who actively keep up with the genre. That being said, it's not necessarily how similar those storylines are that matter but more on how they are executed, in this case, the execution lands most of the time (primarily with the action and lead heroine). It's not afraid to build up actual stakes for the heroine to overcome, the physics can be crazy here, the bizarre nature of the myth is present, and there's a tomb that will be encountered in the third act.

However, the issues lie in not only the plot but also the dialog. The runtime is pretty long and the first act (aka exposition land) drags quite a bit, which is where it could have been trimmed down enough to get to everything else faster. For as talented as these actors are, the dialog provided to them isn't that good and can get rather noticeably spotty at times. One weakness it also shares is a twist involving the secret of the myth, which makes sense since the source material gets insane with the deadly legends. To this stories credit, it's a good thing it didn't directly go with the exact bizarre twist surrounding the myth since it would have made the plot worse and instead chose to go with the overly common but safer option instead.

The character section will be split in half since I would be talking a lot about our main protagonist in comparison to the others due to her importance in judging the film. Plus a lot of you would be curious in how she's handled here anyway.

Lara Croft: Lara (Alicia Vikander) is a carefree and reckless heroine whose knack for trouble gets the best of her when she decides to follow the deadly breadcrumbs her father was investigating. The best aspect of this version is how they don't turn her into Rey from Star Wars (Rey is the short version of saying Mary Sue) as she's displayed more realistically learning to adapt to her surroundings. This isn't Angelina Jolie's sexualized version, but something more close to feeling like a human being rather than a sex object that's skilled with everything. This is someone who doesn't necessarily have a focus or lively ecstatic spark in her life since her closest parental figure (her father) has been out of her life for a long time and would typically ignore the "look before you leap" approach. Alicia Vikander's great performance is exactly why this movie works as she manages to display the realistic emotions anyone in her situation would go through (not just emotional but physically traumatizing as well).

Let's also address something some of you are wondering: her weapons usage is only limited to two things and she doesn't use any guns, which is a great decision. As seen in the posters, she sticks with a bow and arrow, which is established she has practiced with in one of the flashback scenes. Lara not using a gun was a solid choice since there has never been any establishment of any training with them throughout the film. There are also opportunities for her to demonstrate her intellect to understand the mythology at hand as well as taking on an dangerous puzzle in the third act.

Other Characters: The other people to focus on are Lord Richard Croft (Dominic West) and Mathias Vogel (Walton Boggins). Richard is Lara's father whose tracks she follows to an island inhabited by opposing forces. Dominic gives a good portrayal in conveying that caring father-daughter relationship in many of his scenes throughout the film, which are simple and sweet in that solid chemistry (the fact they also look alike sells it even better). Mathias is the leader of an expedition and rival archaeologist with nefarious plans for what's inside the tomb in question. Walton manages a good villain performance as someone who carries out his threats, has a creepy intimidation factor (complete with evil facial hair), and is actually physically imposing, which is all that's needed for the role at hand (don't expect much complexity but instead simple but effective). An honorable mention goes to Lu Ren (Daniel Wu) for being capable enough of an actor in serving in a supporting role, though the latter half of his scenes could have been cut out (particularly in the third act).

Action: For adapting a source material that gets rather unforgiving intense and mature with fights, this manages to do be competent enough in handling action. There are two sequences drawn directly from it that are a highlight, notably involving a boat and an airplane wreckage where the quality is impressive in delivering the stakes. Those scenes are where she puts her skills in adapting to her surroundings the best. Physics are present and ready to say "Hey where do you think you're going? I'm not done with you yet!" in how it goes out of its way to punishing Lara as much as possible (by PG-13 standards) to the point where she should be dead by the halfway point. Keep in mind that since this is adapting a video game, there are going to be unrealistic moments where the force of impact should have killed her. Her brawls with goons also take actual physicality into account and implies she's good but not that strong right now, which is rather welcome for such as gritty setting and creates great tension during the third act climax.

Overall Consensus: Tomb Raider succeeds in delivering a developed heroine, good action, and solid casting performances despite suffering from predictable story cliches from the genre and bland script dialog. ⭑⭑⭑1/2🍿🎟 Runtime: 1 hour 58 minutes PG-13

Reasons to watch it: You like any of the aforementioned actors. You have played the 2013 Tomb Raider and want to see how it's adapted. You are a fan of cliched action adventure flicks. You don't mind long run times that are almost 2 hours. You enjoy watching female leads who make mistakes and grow into their own during a perilous journey. You don't mind freaky bizarre twists involving fictionalized legends. You like watching a main protagonist solve a dangerous life threatening puzzle inside a trapped room. You enjoy crazy action set pieces that are either on a boat or on a rusted collapsing plane.

Reasons to avoid it: You dislike any of the aforementioned actors. You dislike video game movies. You hate cliched action adventure flicks. You are annoyed with long run times that are almost 2 hours. You dislike watching female leads who make mistakes and grow into their own during a perilous journey. You are annoyed with freaky bizarre twists involving fictionalized legends.

Coming up next: Thankfully March Madness has bounced back from the terrible incompetence of A Wrinkle in Time with the surprising entertainment of Tomb Raider! It managed to provide enough good qualities to where I was glad to have viewed it on the big screen. We are at the halfway point of the month with upcoming entries of varying quality. Unless something unexpected arrives, the next entry to be covered here will be Isle of Dogs. Tune in next time as Screening Spectacles will be checking out Wes Anderson's latest stop-motion movie, Isle of Dogs (along with another possible before or after it)!!!