This was a rather interesting experience for me viewing another Tomb Raider movie, but, I am guessing its was convenient to have experience with Tomb Raider itself. I played a bit of the PC game while being young as the game was both easy and difficult to navigate through the missions. In addition to the game, I watched the two Angelina Jolie movies. I thought the first movie was ok, but the second movie was terrible with plot holes and some character issues. Now, I did not have much high hopes with another movie of this kind but I'm guessing in this time right now of a surge of female leads, I guess a re-boot was necessary. So, the result is that even though there was some hope in its nearly first-half to break the video-game curse, but, the movie tries too hard in its second half to become a video-game movie that is lacking in adventure and excitement that it does not hold as a whole.
Lara Croft (Alicia Vikander) is a troublesome, but independent woman who has been waiting for her father, Lord Richard Croft (Dominic West), for seven years. After a cool London bike chase, Lara is arrested but is bailed out by her former guardian and her father's old business partner, Ana Miller (Kristin Scott Thomas). Because everybody thinking that he is dead, Ana is selling off her father's shares of his company until Lara claims them. In the morning, Lara goes to claim her inheritance when she is presented a puzzle box like the one she used to play as a child. It contains a key and a message to her family's tomb. Inside, there is research and a message from Richard, detailing his search for Himiko's tomb and its history. He tells her to destroy the research since a company called Trinity is after his work and may threaten the world.
Lara travels to Hong Kong to find a ship captain named Lu Ren (Daniel Wu). On the way to Yamatai, the pair encounters an aggressive storm and knowing that the ship will not survive, Lara and Lu escape and try to get on a lifeboat. She is knocked out by a mercenary when she is swept off an island. After waking up, she meets an explorer named Mathias Vogel (Walton Goggins), who is leading an expedition for Trinity. Vogel forces Lara and Lu to work for him and his mercenaries to search the tomb.
To go back to my first paragraph, the movie starts out promisingly as it explores the character of Lara as an independent woman but also vulnerable because she misses her father. It is why she is combatting her sadness while she is working out at the gym but also getting in trouble. I start to think, "Wow, this video-game adaptation is going to explore some more complex themes." And, it does for a while in its second half. But, when Lara and also Lu Ren get on the island, the movie becomes a bit generic and even though there are a few cool set pieces, the adventure becomes a bit boring with some noticeably bad green screen and CGI and it tries too hard to become Indiana Jones than its own brand. Because if it tries to become Indiana Jones with known character in the video game realm, then why make another Tomb Raider movie? The first movie with Jolie is more on its own than the second half of the movie with Vikander.
Now, I have been comparing this reboot with the Jolie movie, I think Alicia Vikander really creates her own character of Lara as a compelling character in not just in a video game but in an action/adventure setting and she holds her own against the cast. I was very impressed by her skills in this as she dedicated herself to become the character, as she worked out, trained and above all, acted in a somewhat lackluster adventure. There is humorous chemistry between Vikander and Daniel Wu that makes it a bit lighter. However, even though I label Walton Goggins as an underrated actor, I think his villain was not too memorable. His character is rehashed from other villains in other adventure movies, notably Raiders of the Lost Ark with Belloq. And, I did not think that the corporate subtext in this adventure was necessary.
Director Roar Uthaug made a well-crafted disaster movie, The Wave (which I believe it is still on Netflix), with characters that had intelligence but also balanced with spectacular visuals. In this movie, there is a bit of charm and some intelligence but I was surprised of how dismal the visuals are compared Uthaug's 2016 movie. But, the weakest component is the screenplay as the dialogue is hammy and the editing is a bit clunky especially in the climax and in the last fight sequence between Lara and the villain. There is winning spirit and ferocity in the movie, however, the story and the dialogue, especially, in the second half, feels so dated and generic that it felt like it was smothered by dust and abandoned in the tomb. It is a good step in the right direction in the video-game movie genre but does not reach at the point of recommendation. It is a rental at best.
**1/2
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