Tonight I'm reviewing Tomb Raider, based on the popular franchise game and stars Alicia Vikander, Walton Goggins, Dominic West , and Daniel Wu. After the disappearance of her father, Lara Croft (Alicia Vikander) sets out on an adventure to his last known whereabouts on a mythical island somewhere off the coast of Japan where a fable tomb is hidden. First, a little backstory. I remember playing the video games when they first came out on the early PlayStation console. While a fun game , I wouldn't consider myself a diehard fan. Other than the very first couple of games in the late 90s, I haven't went back to the series in almost 19 years. I did see the two pervious film adaptations starring Angelina Jolie. The only issue is I haven't really seen those movies since they first came out, so it's going to be kind of hard for me to make comparisons. So with that being said, I'm just going to leave the comparisons out of this review. This film was something I waited on seeing when I had free time because there was something about the trailer of the new film just wasn't grabbing me to see it right away. After seeing it, I thought it was a decent film but average at best. Starting with my pros, I thought the actress playing Lara Croft was actually a pretty good choice. I thought she nailed the part to perfection and felt like the video games, which goes to my next pro. They were able to make it feel like a Tomb Raider game. We've seen many times where video game adaptations steer away from the game's origin story that's loved by many. I did like how they went into the story of her and her father's relationship and how much he means to her. It's able to bring a starting point of what could be a franchise in the future, which is still questionable since this film did bomb badly in the theaters. I especially like the last 30 minutes of the movie where it actually feels like a Lara Croft Tomb Raider video game and I enjoyed all the traps she had to go through in finding this mythical tomb. I did like the actor who played the villain, but he's your typical standard villain, which is more of a writing problem than the actor. The actress that plays Lara Croft shows a lot of vulnerability, which was a plus for me. For the most part, all of the performances were great. Now on to my cons. My first issue lies with the pacing. I liked a little bit of the beginning, but then I felt like it just drags on too damn long. It doesn't get to anything that you love about Lara Croft until the 1 hour 15 minute mark . I get what they were trying to do in the middle of the film, but I just felt like most of it was very uninteresting. The film also has some problems with the CGI effects , especially the waterfall scene that felt very cringe-worthy and you can see the green screen from a mile away. I'm not going to go in any more details of the film. Like I said, it's decent but I felt like it's average at best. I probably won't even watch it again, but I'd still be onboard with a sequel to see what else they can do with the story. It does have a pretty cool twist ending.
Final Grade:
What were your thoughts on this film ? Leave me a comment below and I'll see you in the next review. Also, feel free to check out Justin's review of the film on YouTube at your convenience: https://youtu.be/J4w2eX3ImY8.