The just released movie, Tomb Raider, is a high flying action driven adventure. It is helmed by Roar Uthaug, specialist in the Norwegian genre, on the director’s seat. The film has been written by newcomers, Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Alastair Siddons, from a story by Evan Daugherty and Robertson-Dworet. In addition Tomb Raider also stars Dominic West, Walton Goggins, Mathias Vogel, Hannah John-Kamen, Kristein Scott Thomas, Nick Frost and Daniel Wu.

The movie is based on Lara Croft, a video game character. In the early 2000s, Croft was played by Angelina Jolie. In the Tomb Raider, Alicia Vikander plays Lara Croft. Despite the fact that Vikander had big boots to fill in for Jolie, she does a terrific job of it. Lara Croft is an independent daughter of an adventurer who has vanished many years ago. Croft seeks to find the truth of her father’s disappearance, embarking on a journey, to her father’s last known destination, to a fabled tomb.

The first trailer of the Tomb Raider had raked up 4 million+ views on YouTube. Tomb raider has managed to get a 7.5 rating on IMDb.

CRITIC REVIEW:

Do you think the curse from video game movie adaptations will finally be lifted with the Tomb Raider? Well not really, the movie has not received a lot of appreciation as a whole but Alicia Vikander has won over the critics with her fabulous performance.

Scott Mendelson (Forbes) feels Vikander deserves a better movie. The oscar winning actress has a occasionally devilish and mostly entertaining take on the video game heroine. Otherwise the movie offers generic action heroics and perils. The movie is solidly decent which in comparison to other video game movies, is a miracle. A franchise that should have straight away skipped to the sequel.

Owen Gleiberman (Variety) in his review says that while Vikander does not come off as an action star like Angelina Jolie did, she does seem to be a convincing imploring, impulsive woman who will beat all the odds. Vikander’s portrayal of Lara Croft maybe the most believable and grounded cinematic representation of a video game protagonist. Vikander humanizes Croft. Tomb Raider is nothing more than an engrossingly fanciful adventure lark, but that in itself is such a rare thing, a blockbuster with a heart.

Leah Greenblatt (Entertainment Weekly) is of the opinion that Tomb Raider is an old fashioned treasure island story made in 2018, lead on the forefront by an oscar winning actress who is far more gifted than the story deserves. This version of the video game series is a vast improvement over the 2001 version starring Angelina Jolie.

STORY:

After the disappearance of her apparent Business tycoon father Lord Richard Craft, Lara Croft is living a reckless and carefree life. One time she is arrested for some rash behavior on the road, Lord Croft’s business partner Ana Miller, gets her bail and asks Lara to claim her father’s inheritance lest it be sold off. Lara reluctantly accepts the inheritance and explores the estate. She comes across a recorded message from Richard about his research work on the mythical Queen of Yamatai. In the end of the message Richard warns Lara to burn off all his research. Lara instead decides to do some research and investigation of her own into this case.

Lara travels to Hong Kong where she bribes Lu Ren, captain of the ship Endurance, to sail to an island believed to have once been Yamatai. The movie follows struggles and her near encounters with death in occasions in her journey to discover the truth about her father’s disappearance.

STAR PERFORMANCE:

Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft keeps the audience hooked to her character’s transformation from a naive girl to a strong and confident woman. Vikander, with an oscar for the best supporting actress (The Danish Girl) under her belt, plays the character promisingly.

Dominic West is an English actor, director, and musician, best known for playing Jimmy McNulty in The Wire and Noah Solloway in The Affair, the latter of which earned him a Golden Globe nomination. West playing Lord Richard Croft brings in emotional resonance as Lara’s father, doing full justice to his role and the relationship with his daughter.

Walton Goggins Jr. is an American actor who starred in the 2001 short film The Accountant, which won an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. Goggins plays Mathias Vogel, a grounded and convincingly evil villain in the film.

Actor Hannah John-Kamen plays the role of  Sophie. She is also known for her role as a Dothraki widow in the sixth season of the HBO series Game of Thrones.

The role of Anna Miller is played by Kristin Scott Thomas who has won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) and the Olivier Award for Best Actress in 2008 for the Royal Court revival of The Seagull.

Nick Frost as Max, is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer, and author, best known for his work in The Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy.

Daniel Wu as Lu Ren is an American-Hong Kong actor, director and producer and has featured in over 60 films.

DIRECTION AND MUSIC REVIEW:

Roar Uthaug, helms the first part of this Lara Croft series. The film he made in college, The Martin Administration was nominated by AMPAS (the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Science ) for the student Academy award, only the second film in the Norwegian student film history to do so. Uthaug’s portfolio includes numerous commercials for Norwegian TV, and music videos for Furia, Gåte, Vidar Busk and Unni Wilhelmsen.

K.Flay, the only woman nominated in the rock category in the 2018 Grammys, has provided the theme song for the Tomb Raider. She did not disappoint the audience, supporting the character with a splendid high energy theme song, Run for your life. The edgy track is sure to grab your attention with the banging drums and synth, that create a very cinematic sound.

The background score though goes with the theme of the movie but does not stand out as exceptional.

BOX OFFICE COLLECTION:

Opening to a great response, the movie has already collected, more than 17 million dollars worldwide, since its release on the 16th of March, 2018.

TRIVIA AND RATINGS:

Vikander wanted to look convincing in her portrayal of Lara Croft and therefore gained muscle and strength. So much so that Walton Goggins was embarrassed to take his shirt off even though he goes to the gym 5 times a week.

Emily Carey, age 14, who plays the younger Lara Croft is the same actress who played the younger Diana in Wonder Woman 2017.

Alicia Vikander wanted to make Lara Croft realistic and so did her stunts on her own.

Before Alicia Vikander was cast in this role, Daisy Ridley, Saoirse Ronan, Cara Delevingne and Emilia Clarke were being considered for the role.

Tomb Raider’s first poster had received flak for the terrible editing of Vikander’s neck, making it look unreal almost comedic. The producers then went on to release a second poster which reminds us of another female hero franchise.

The movie Tomb Raider on Bookmyshow has received a rating of 2.5 by critics and 4 by users. The movie has received 7.5 on the IMDb rating scale. The first trailer raked up 4 million+ views on YouTube.

CONCLUSION:

Coming in the time of the various cries for equality and campaigns like #metoo and #timesup, Tomb Raider brings to the audience a woman character to look up to, the female who is not a sex symbol but a hero. A hero who has no super powers but instead is as human as any one of us, an emotionally vulnerable, honest and believable hero. With a running time of 1 hour and 58 minutes, Tomb Raider is just the movie for you to watch and relax yourself with after a stressful day at work or class. Book your tickets, grab an offer of your choice from among the various PVR movie offers and head to the movie hall now.