jimmylace
Whilst Jolie is undoubtedly a strong actress, her Croft was over-the-top, emotionless and cynically self-aware. The movies she starred in were muddled, and drew from one too many genres. The reboot is far better all round, and firmly grounded in the adventure genre. Lara no longer looks like a fetish model, no longer pouts at the camera, and has some vulnerability. She's an actual human being this time around, thanks to Vikander's wonderful portrayal, which goes beyond the page. The first act is the most successful in my view. The script establishes Croft's emotional wound, the flawed persona that's arised from that, and takes the time to create some moments of empathy. It's classic in it's plot structure, right down to Croft's initial refusal of the call to adventure. This movie speaks in the language of cinema, unlike the older ones. It's solid all round, with some likeable side-characters and some unique action. It's weaknesses however lie with the tomb-raiding, and later set-pieces which strain the suspension of disbelief. There's an overuse of CGI, a bland villain, a not-so-interesting MacGuffin, a tomb with overly high tech booby-traps. But all in all, you could do worse thanks to a well structured plot, and a great turn in from Alicia Vikander. I know a sequel is up in the air, but I do hope WB have the sense to keep Vikander onboard. It's not the greatest start possible to the franchise, but it's by no means a misfire
leonblackwood
Review:
No matter how hard they try, they just can't get this franchise right! The director chose to go in the direction of an Indiana Jones movie, which really didn't work because none of the characters had any charisma, and the various twists throughout the film, were really predictable. I also wasn't that impressed with Alicia Vikander (Lara Croft) because she looked too young to be battling against grown men, and she didn't play the intelligent Indiana role convincingly. Anyway, after the mysterious disappearance of her father, Lord Richard Croft (Dominic West), Lara makes a living as a bike courier, and she is told by her father's partner that if she does not claim her vast inheritance, her father's country estate, Croft Manor will be sold off. Lara reluctantly accepts the deal, and she gains access to a secret chamber in her father's tomb, where she finds a message detailing his research into Himiko, the mythical Queen of Yamatai, who was said to command the power over life and death. Her father tells her to burn all of his works because it can cause harm to the world if it gets in the wrong hands but she decides to follow his journal to try and work out what exactly happened to him. As she has no money, she decides to sell a precious necklace that her father gave her, so she can go to Hong Kong and begin her search. She hires Lu Ren, who's a captain of a ship, and also lost his father while he was travelling with Richard, and they head off to the Death Sea and the island of Yamatai, which is marked on Richard's maps. After barely managing to abandon ship whilst going through a violent storm, Lara is picked up by Mathias Vogel (Walton Goggins), who is also trying to find Himiko but he wants to use her powers to do bad. Lara soon realises that he has already gone through her bag, and he has found her father's journal, which maps the route to Himiko. He then uses her as a slave, along with some other seamen, including Lu Ren. Now that Mathias knows the correct location of Himiko, they start to make there way there but Lara escapes from Mathias henchmen, and miraculously meets her father in a cave, believe it or not. He tells her that he has stayed on the island to prevent Mathias from finding Himiko, so Lara leaves the cave to try and retrieve the journal that Mathias stole from her. Richard then makes his way to Himiko's tomb but he is captured by Mathias, who threatens to kill him if he doesn't open the tomb. Lara agrees to open the tomb, to save her father, and when they finally get inside, they navigate through a series of booby traps and locate Himiko's coffin. 2 of Mathias's soldiers force open the tomb, and they become infected while they are trying to move her corpse. Images around the tomb reveal that Himiko, who was apparently immune to the virus herself and was a carrier, came to the island voluntarily rather than being forced as the legends imply, sacrificing herself to contain the virus. As Mathias can't take the body, he takes one of her fingers instead. During the confusion, Lara and Richard overpower the remaining soldiers but Mathias escapes, and Richard becomes infected. As Richard knows that there is no way of saving himself, he says that he will blow up the tomb, while Lara tries to stop Mathias. It really does sound more interesting than it really is! None of the characters really stood out, and the plot wasn't that great. The little twist at the end leaves the movie open for a sequel but I won't be rushing to see it. There wasn't much action through the whole film but there's loads of swinging and jumping, just like the game. I'm sure that there are loads of people that will disagree with this review, judging by the profit it made at the box office but I personally lost interest after a while. On the plus side, it did look impressive, and the booby traps made the film intense for a moment but apart from that, I wasn't that impressed. Disappointing! Round-Up:
This movie was directed by Roar Uthaug, whose previous movies have mainly been made for a Norwegian market. For his first major release, I personally think that this task was a bit too much for him because it seemed more like a Mummy/Indiana movie than the beginning of a Tomb Raider saga. He did quite well in the CGI department but I would get another director for the sequel. Budget: $94million
Worldwide Gross: $274millionGenre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Cast: Alicia Vikander, Dominic West, Walton Goggins, Daniel Wu, Kristin Scott Thomas, Derek Jacobi, Alexandre Willaume, Adrian Collins and Jaime Winstone. 4/10
