Review of Tomb Raider (2018) by Shane J — 23 Mar 2018

Death and taxes are not the only certainties in life, as Benjamin Franklin famously asserted. Another certainty is that video game movies are always bad, but that is not a lesson Hollywood has learned. If anything, they seem to be doubling down on video game movies by giving Tomb Raider yet another shot. The result is by no means the worst video game movie, but it's still a pretty bad one.

The inescapable core problem of Tomb Raider is the same as every other video game movie: going from the interactive experience of a game to the passive one of a movie is inherently a step down. Sure, Tomb Raider features the same mechanisms, visual style, and sound effects in its puzzles and death defying stunts as the game. One scene in particular was ripped right out of the game. Watching Lara Croft pulling them off, however, is nowhere near as satisfying as doing them yourself. As is, the action is pedestrian, but compared to the game's combat, it's downright boring. That the movie intrigues me more with the fast-paced lives of London couriers than the actual tomb raiding is an early bad sign.

If it's unfair to judge this film by video game standards, then allow me to inform you this movie isn't that much better from a pure film-making perspective, either. The lighting alone is atrocious, especially during night scenes. They are so poorly illuminated that they strained my eyes. Worst of all is the thunderstorm scene. The filmmakers' idea of simulating lightning is to rapidly flicker the lights on and off. This extremely uncomfortable technique drags on for so long, there should be a warning in case it triggers an epileptic seizure. At least the movie's unconventional camerawork manages to impress. Each shot rarely gets followed up by the logical next camera angle, while the 180 degree rule shrinks to more like the 120 degree rule. For a style that plays fast and loose with the rules of cinematography, it is quite a feat that the action remains visually coherent.

Granted, video games are about much more than game-play, and this movie, based off of the 2013 reboot, has a story to tell. If Tomb Raider was an earnest attempt at adapting that story for a wider audience, it would probably be a much better movie. Instead, it ends up another attempt to kick-start a sequel, so the most interesting elements of the 2013 Tomb Raider's story are replaced with franchise tropes. The entire supporting cast is swapped for a pair of less interesting characters. To the movie's credit, each character is well-acted enough to distract from how two-dimensional they are. Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina) definitely looks the part for Lara Croft, and she brings the tough, quick-witted attitude Croft is known for, but her Croft lacks the character arc that made the game's story so good. She begins the movie close to mastering her talents, getting all but the bare minimum character development out of the way. It's hysterical that one of her nameless friends what appears to be a Mass Effect jacket, because the writers reduced an interesting journey of a sheltered college student thrust into becoming a hardened survivalist into Daddy Issues: The Movie. The main plot begins with a pair of cliches that only get compounded. While this movie commendably portrays what kind of punishment the human body can take better than most of its peers, it only does so to a certain extent. A named character can take a gunshot to the back of the shoulder, but the exact same injury kills an extra instantly. The game's twisted villains are now part of a generic shadow organization. Tomb Raider is such a transparent reenactment of Indiana Jones, that the main villain is even named Vogel, just like the Nazi in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Moviegoers who never played the game might not notice a lot of this movie's flaws, but if you want to experience Tomb Raider in the best way possible, the game is still the superior version in every regard. It has more content than this 2-hour film. Its interactive nature makes the action more enjoyable. Visually, the game is far more stunning, especially the remastered version. The story, by Rhianna Pratchett, whose father was the late great author Terry Pratchett, is quite well-written, too. Plus, the game has been out so long, you could easily buy it for the same price or cheaper than a movie ticket, and get so much more bang for your buck.