Tomb Raider

I wanted to like the movie, but I didn't expect it to be that easy. After the mediocre trailers and reactions from abroad, I was expecting something that would be average at best. Instead, I had a proper blast at the cinema. Alicia Vikander is almost perfect in the lead role. She is likeable in the dialogue scenes, as the heroine and as the scared girl. You believe her with every punch she takes, every hit or fall, but also that she doesn't give in and won't back down when she has to fight someone body to body. Fans of the game get several scenes that are based on the first "new" Tomb Raider, but the bottom line is more that these scenes work within the context of an adventure movie. In fact, we haven't seen anything better in this genre since at least The Mummy with Brendan Fraser, but maybe more so since the third Indy. It's gritty, suspenseful, riveting, believable, painful and pumped with adrenaline from the very first action scene. And aside from a few small things like the occasional inferior visual effects (nothing terrible) I don't really know what to fault it for. I enjoyed the straightforwardness and the adventure with no frills around it. Very much so. Go for it, make it earn it, because I want a sequel! (27.07.2018)

I still sometimes reminisce about the original Tomb Raider starring Angelina Jolie. I remember the times when I played Tomb Raider on my good old Pentium graphics card and the times when I started to go to the movies on my own. That is because the first movie my parents have entrusted me to see was Tomb Raider. Alicia Vikander, unlike Angie, is no Lara Croft. She came close to the restarted series, but even though she’s smoking hot, it’s just not the same. The story and the action scenes were good, but the entire time, I thought that something was missing. Something that stops me from saying that this is a great adventure movie. The movies with Angie were simply better, more fun, even though at the same time, they were sillier and quirkier. (05.04.2018)

Lara Croft in Uncharted Territory or the last crusade to go after the mummy Björk. It succeeded. The mix of gaming aesthetics and realism is still quite unbalanced, but Uthaug is able to very pleasantly balance a digital ballast and the physical conception of the action. What’s more, Vikander is great, cheeky, rebellious and doesn’t meet the expectations of those who like to masturbate to cleavage. I had a great time and I hope this party will continue! Definitely one of the best video game adaptations. (25.06.2018)

Next to Wonder Woman, Lara comes across as a poor relation (perhaps producers perceive gamers as a weaker audience than comic-book readers). Tomb Raider offers a total of four environments (London, Hong Kong, an island, a tomb), no spectacular action scenes with the exception of the waterfall, and basically just one (rising) Hollywood star. In the context of the efforts to create a full-fledged action heroine, however, it represents a small degree of progress. Lara Croft is absolutely believable as portrayed by Alicia Vikander, who has natural acting ability. The pair of screenwriters (Geneva Robertson-Dworet also wrote Captain Marvel) did not engage in experimentation, instead offering a traditional origin story that clearly introduces non-gamers to the world of Tomb Raider and gives gamers a satisfying portion of backstory and a number of direct quotes from the game. Lara is introduced to us by the pair of opening action scenes as a woman who does not excel through tremendous physical strength, but through her ability to come up with clever solutions to problems. In both cases, she fails anyway. It is only after she actively resolves here “daddy issues” that she becomes a strong and self-confident (though not fearless), yet relatively credibly vulnerable action heroine. One gets the impression she has always had all of her presented abilities, some of which she owes to her father (problem-solving, archery), but that she only lacked inner balance, as she had no father figure in her life. In this respect, this outwardly progressive film is terribly traditionalist (actually in a similar manner as The Last Jedi – substitute Dominic West for Mark Hamill and you get the middle part of the film). However, the family storyline, primarily presented through flashbacks at first, is incorporated well into the main narrative, driving the plot and explaining the heroine’s motivations, while helping to bridge longer periods of time when the characters are moved to a different location. When it comes to any given scene’s contribution to the narrative, Tomb Raider is above reproach. There are almost no dead spots when we would lose interest in what happens next (Nick Frost’s cameo could have been shorter, or deleted). Everything is nicely connected and all of the parts fit together, though perhaps too smoothly and straightforwardly. The action scenes are sufficiently diverse and boldly reminiscent of the video game (and demonstrate how Lara improves herself in individual areas – hand-to-hand fighting, escaping from pursuers, jumping long distances) and the pace does not slacken. Just as in The Wave, Uthaug displays flawless mastery of his craft and knowledge of the principles of classic Hollywood storytelling. Within the action genre, that is not a bad thing at all, but I hope that the sequel, for which the conclusion of this film somewhat long-windedly and too obviously lays the groundwork, will not be as exceedingly cautious. 65% (15.03.2018)

The fragile character actress Alicia Vikander, whom I originally found unsuitable for the role (I wanted to see some of those well-endowed, fast-and-furious girls), makes Tomb Raider infinitely more likable and relatable. Thanks to her, the film breathes. And the first two-thirds are even intelligent, skillfully working with the interactions of the characters and their setting in an attractive environment. Before entering the final cave, however, all of the intellect somehow evaporates and the movie resorts to cheap twists, which made me drop the rating down to three stars. I also see untapped potential in the fact that the screenplay did not bring anything new into the genre, let alone its conventions. On the contrary, it stole one of the movie’s main attractive elements from The Lost World. (06.04.2018)