Academy Award® winner and previous “Sidewalks Entertainment” guest Alicia Vikander takes on the role of Lara Croft in a rebooted “Tomb Raider.” Our J.P. gives his thoughts on the film that also stars Dominic West, Walton Goggins, Daniel Wu, and Kristin Scott Thomas.
TOMB RAIDER
Warner Bros. Pictures
- Opens wide: Friday, March 16, 2018
- MPAA Rating: PG-13 for “sequences of violence and action, and for some language”
- Run Time: 118 minutes
- Directed by Roar Uthaug
- Produced by Graham King
- Screenplay by Geneva Robertson-Dworet, Alastair Siddons
- Story by Evan Daugherty, Geneva Robertson-Dworet
- Based on Tomb Raider by Crystal Dynamics
- Starring: Alicia Vikander, Dominic West, Walton Goggins, Daniel Wu, Kristin Scott Thomas
Studio Synopsis:
Lara Croft is the fiercely independent daughter of an eccentric adventurer who vanished when she was scarcely a teen. Now a young woman of 21 without any real focus or purpose, Lara navigates the chaotic streets of trendy East London as a bike courier, barely making the rent, and takes college courses, rarely making it to class. Determined to forge her own path, she refuses to take the reins of her father’s global empire just as staunchly as she rejects the idea that he’s truly gone. Advised to face the facts and move forward after seven years without him, even Lara can’t understand what drives her to finally solve the puzzle of his mysterious death.
Going explicitly against his final wishes, she leaves everything she knows behind in search of her dad’s last-known destination: a fabled tomb on a mythical island that might be somewhere off the coast of Japan. But her mission will not be an easy one; just reaching the island will be extremely treacherous. Suddenly, the stakes couldn’t be higher for Lara, who—against the odds and armed with only her sharp mind, blind faith and inherently stubborn spirit—must learn to push herself beyond her limits as she journeys into the unknown. If she survives this perilous adventure, it could be the making of her, earning her the name tomb raider.
From Warner Bros. Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, Tomb Raider is the story that will set a young and resolute Lara Croft on a path toward becoming a global hero. The film stars Oscar winner Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina, The Danish Girl) in the lead role, under the direction of Roar Uthaug (The Wave), with Oscar-winner Graham King (The Departed) producing under his GK Films banner. The executive producers are Patrick McCormick, Denis O’Sullivan and Noah Hughes.
Tomb Raider also stars Dominic West (Money Monster, 300), Walton Goggins (The Hateful Eight, Django Unchained), Daniel Wu (AMC’s Into the Badlands) and Oscar nominee Kristin Scott Thomas (The English Patient).
Uthaug directed from a script by Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Alastair Siddons. The director’s behind-the-scenes creative team includes director of photography George Richmond (Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation); production designer Gary Freeman (Maleficent); Oscar-nominated editor Stuart Baird (Skyfall, Gorillas in the Mist); Oscar-winning costume designer Colleen Atwood (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them) and costume designer Timothy A. Wonsik (assistant costume designer, Free State of Jones, Iron Man 3).
Warner Bros. Pictures and Metro-Goldwiyn-Mayer Pictures present, a Square Enix Limited production, a GK Films production, Tomb Raider. Set for release on March 16, 2018, the film will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, and in select territories by MGM.
J.P.’s Take:
As with many games turned movies, you can expect a good bit of spectacle and exposition representative of the games they are derived from. 2001 saw the first “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider” movie make its debut staring a vivacious Angelina Jolie playing the main character. The action felt very much like a continuation of the video game and prided itself on giving fans what they want. 2003 sparked the sequel “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life,” which again didn’t quite make the grade, but still having a built in fan base aided its box-office gain. Despite garnering box-office kudos though, both films paled in comparison to other adventure flicks of their time. This is mainly due to kitschy production quality paired with oddly conceived plot pieces.
For 2018, the new film — simply titled “Tomb Raider” — breaths fresh life into Lara Croft, with an emotional back-story, while retaining that adventurous spirit of its game’s sake. This time around actress Alicia Vikander embodies the tenacious Lara Croft, albeit as a young woman just discovering her roots. This is a sleeker, tightly spun tale that follows Croft as she searches for her missing father Lord Richard Croft (Dominic West) and discovers an ancient curse he’s unearthed. This is certainly a much more cinematic experience than the “Jolie” excursions, resulting in opening sequences that builds up the character of Croft with flashbacks to her childhood and to her burning desire to trace a mystery that has haunted her throughout her years.
Much of “Tomb Raider’s” personality is attributed to the fact that it barrows bits and pieces from films that come long before it. “Indiana Jones” is a perfect example as many of its plot pieces lends themselves to Croft being a crack riddle solver — not to mention her Olympic prowess to perform amazing acrobatic feats like a gold medal gymnast comes into play. “The Mummy” (1999) also comes to mind as the story deals with an ancient curse brought on by the mummified remains of a Japanese Queen carrying a virus. If released, it is said to wreak havoc on humankind. In the latest instalment of the franchise, you’re also met with heartfelt moments of a daughter’s love for her father, who will stop at nothing to find him and solve this mystery. You can pretty much build in other films such as “Jewel of the Nile” to “Sahara” to “Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold” … but you get my point.
The only difference here is that you have a strong female role that young girls can look up to, as well as you’re giving older fans of the games a fresh take on an old title. Still this film, for me, didn’t leave any truly lasting impression, yet I will give it credit for taking on a different spin to the canon altogether.