Review of Tomb Raider (2018) by Ben K — 17 Mar 2018

For a long time now Hollywood has been struggling to answer the age old question, "Is it possible to make an honest to God, good movie based on a video game?" Tomb Raider answers this question with a resounding - sort of.

The good news is: this is easily the best "Movie based on a Video Game" ever made. The bad news is: all that really means is, it's better than Prince of Persia.

I'll be honest, I had serious doubts about Alicia Vikander as an action hero. However I am happy to report that I couldn't have been more wrong. Whereas Jolie's Lara Croft was essentially an impression of Roger Moore at his campiest, Vikander's Lara Croft is a straight up badass in the tradition of Sarah Connor. Her performance is the engine that drives this film and keeps you invested when things inevitably get pretty silly. Norwegian director Roar Uthaug (who directed the fantastic Cold Prey) does a solid job with the action and set-pieces, and keeps things moving just fast enough to keep you from thinking to hard about the actual plot, which owes more than a little to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

This is clearly meant as a Casino Royale/Batman Begins of sorts for the franchise, but lets be clear: at the end of the day all Tomb Raider is aiming to be is a fun, action adventure, B-movie in the vein of Indiana Jones. If any of that sounds bad to you, well you should probably avoid this movie. But if not, there's some fun to be had here.