In many ways, my heart goes out to everyone involved in the reboot of the “Tomb Raider” franchise — Alicia Vikander, director Roar Uthaug and even that one bicycle-riding stuntman who flips over his handlebars but miraculously avoids careering into the London populace. They’ve partaken in the reimagining of a film series whose chief reviewers are from two distinct houses of critique.
Video game fanatics who are perennially displeased with any adaptations that aren’t wholly CGI constitute the first. Pseudo-intellectual critics — who turn their rather too finely-tuned noses away from anything that isn’t an artsy allegory on the state of the human spirit in a 21st century whose reality seems worse than all their dystopian imaginings — constitute the second.
Admittedly, a critic does not make the easiest of livings. Their proffered judgment holds sway, but can also grossly misguide those it holds sway over. Unsurprisingly, Uncle Ben’s great power and great responsibility discourse has never felt more relevant. Sadly, however, this movie’s detractors — and there are more than the movie warrants — err in their judgment.
Vikander plays the mansion brat whose insouciance is decidedly more believable than the erstwhile Lara Croft’s. Living an existence far removed from her highborn sensibilities following her father’s disappearance, she is forced to claim her inheritance in order to save the family estate.
Burgrito’s serves Madison as delicious replacement on Monroe Street
In the process, Croft discovers a pre-recorded message from her father, who delves into his fascination for Himiko, the mythical Japanese Queen with powers over life and death. And so begins the reinvented origin tale of the fable of Lara Croft.
The movie revels in its clichés, which shouldn’t be frowned upon at all. It is, after all, why Indiana Jones is a cross-generational icon rather than a reference point for a beginner’s guide to stand-up comedy à la John Carter.
“Tomb Raider” thrills with stunt scenes that are artistically choreographed but feel gritty and downright animalistic at times. The movie benefits from actors who understand the importance of not attempting to make their individual mark, but rather contributing downplayed yet emotionally charged performances that add to the intensity of the ensemble.
Vikander in particular breathes new life into a character that, through no fault of her own, could have easily nosedived into the cesspit of hackneyed representations of video game royalty. She commandeers the screen with a performance understated in emotion and physicality but elegant all the same. Her Croft is athletic enough to outdo athletes and thoughtful enough to outdo thinkers.
Of course, the movie isn’t perfect. The scenes involving Croft and a particularly rusty plane perhaps stretch the limits of reality and some chance encounters of good fortune are perhaps too fortunate.
The beauty of the 118 minute-running time, though, lies in the plot which takes scraps of action lore and assembles it into an original and riveting tale of families torn apart by sometimes foolish but always-righteous bravery and the more Machiavellian tendencies of the human spirit, with action to boot.
The movie, however, is riddled by the same problem that vexed an otherwise glorious “Black Panther.” Critics too often expect movies sans white male leads to have sharp political or social commentary.
Madison levels up with cast of Netflix exclusive film ‘Game Over, Man!’
Anything less than a subtle imitation of Charlie Chaplin’s “The Great Dictator” speech reworked for our Trumpian times is considered a deficiency.
The new “Tomb Raider” could be a discussion on diversity and forced labor, an empowerment mechanism for the silenced woman who movements like #MeToo and Times Up have given voice to, or a tribute to the original Lara Croft movies. It isn’t.
It’s an action film made to excite the 6-year old who dreams of besting 50 foot waves and anyone who might still harbor those 6 year olds inside their intellectual adult exteriors. It doesn’t hold an artsy allegory within its scenes, but it holds something filmmakers find even more challenging to create — fun.
