Movie Review: Tomb Raider (2018) *Spoiler Free*

Back in the 1990s I was a big fan of the Tomb Raider computer games. Aside from the obvious drawcard of the games female lead, Lara Croft, it was the only game back in the day that was a true 3D, third person shooter/adventure game.

I wasn't a fan of first person shooters (though I played Dark Forces a lot at the time), I've always preferred computer games where you control a character on screen. Sadly I haven't kept up with the rebooted Tomb Raider games with more realistic graphics and game engine.

While I did like Angelina Jolie's Tomb Raider movies, she did make the character lean a little too much like a female James Bond, with her own tech guru who gave her wonderful toys.

Recently I renewed my HBOMax subscription, and saw that the 2018 Tomb Raider movie, with Alicia Vikander in the title role, was soon to be leaving the platform, so I decided to watch it before it did.

Obviously intended to reboot the franchise, in this film Lara goes on her first quest to determine the fate of her father, who disappeared seven years earlier on some kind of expedition, and was never seen again.

It's a shame this movie wasn't more widely popular because I would absolutely watch a sequel. 

Alicia Vikander completely sells her Lara Croft as a very capable, street smart, action adventurer, who can throw a punch, or use a weapon effectively. She isn't just good at everything all the time. The movie takes the time (probably a little too much time) to establish her character, daily life, her failings, and why she isn't just a super rich girl, turned adventurer. 

The film backs this up with a world that looks exactly like the world of the games, that feels lived in and believable, even in some of the more extreme moments or locations. Everything feels real.

Unfortunately, where it fell short for me, is that it didn't hook me into the puzzle solving and mystery aspect, that is so important to the games. I couldn't follow the logic of the puzzles and, even if I couldn't solve them, there were no 'ah-ha' moments when Lara did - like 'why didn't I think of that?' revelations.

Consequently, when Lara finally does get to a tomb, quite late in the movie, it's hard to follow the logic of the puzzles being solved to get to the next stage. I found myself tuning out quite a bit (getting distracted by my phone looking up IMDB info on the movie).

Despite that, all the Lara Croft action sequences are excellent, and really feel like the game I remember in terms of her capabilities. It's virtually the perfect Tomb Raider movie, except for not having particularly compelling or engaging mystery or puzzles for you to engage with along the way.

Had they made a sequel with more tomb raiding, less establishing Lara Croft's backstory, and a more engaging mystery and puzzles to be solved, this may have taken off into a proper franchise. I've never heard anyone say a bad word about Alicia's Lara in reference to the film. It just needed a better story to really get the reboot off the ground.

I wanted to like this so much because it is extremely well done. It just left me behind when it came to putting the puzzle pieces together. Unfortunately that's a big part of Lara's appeal. You want to be there with her, solving the puzzles, rather than just watching her come up with the answers.

Still, a very good entry into the Lara Croft franchise. Particularly if you prefer action over puzzle and mystery. It just needed a second chance with a sequel.