A video game movie with heart, intrigue, and jaw-dropping action.
Alone since her father left on a mission she knew nothing about, Lara Croft (Alicia Vikander) struggles to find her way in modern day London. Her father’s former business partner, Ana Miller (Kristin Scott Thomas), tries to convince Lara to assume control of Richard Croft’s (Dominic West) global empire and luxury countryside estate. Lara refuses to sign the papers, but returns to her childhood home in an attempt to reconcile that her father’s long-time disappearance means he is most likely dead.
Lara accidentally finds her father’s secret office in his tomb and discovers what took him away in the first place: Himiko. Himiko is a mythical Queen in ancient Japan who was said to have power over life and death, who was exiled to the remote island of Yamatai when she vengefully brought a plague upon her people. Richard left a video detailing his research for his daughter and telling her to burn it all, but Lara ignores his orders, takes his notebook full of information, and sets off on her own quest.
Lara flies to Hong Kong, where she finds a ship captain, Lu Ren (Daniel Wu), to take her to the island of Yamatai. Before they reach the island, a raging storm capsizes the vessel and they are both thrown from the boat. When she wakes, Lara finds herself in Matthias Vogel’s (Walton Goggins) camp on Yamatai. He is leading an expedition to find Himiko’s tomb and commands an army of slaves to do so. Matthaias and the corporation that funded his search, Trinity, aim to weaponize whatever they find in Himiko’s tomb.
Lara is forced to join the slaves searching for the tomb. She quickly finds Lu, and escapes with his help. She stays under Matthias’ radar as much as she can, though she is nearly discovered at one point and is forced to kill one of the Trinity guards. When she sees a mysterious bearded man, she follows him to his cave dwelling. It’s her father, Richard.
Knowing the danger that the world would be in if Matthias discovered Himiko’s tomb, Lara leaves her father to recover her father’s research from the Trinity camp. She meets up with Lu along the way and enlists his help in creating a distraction so she can slip in and out without being seen. Lara almost makes it out when Richard is caught. Matthias promises not to kill him if Lara shows him the tomb. Unable to stand losing her father again, she agrees.
The group navigates an Indiana Jones-like maze of traps and they nearly die several times before locating the sarcophagus. They discover that Himiko’s power is not mythical after all, it is a lethal virus spread by touch. The moment two Trinity soldiers touch Himiko’s body, they are infected, making them act like zombies, then disintegrate within a minute.
The art around the tomb shows the truth of a myth: Himiko herself was a carrier of the virus, and she exiled herself to this remote island to save her people.
Matthias breaks off one of her fingers, seals it in a plastic bag, and runs out of the tomb. Lara and Richard fight through the remaining Trinity soldiers and try not to touch anything that had been infected. In the chaos, Richard becomes infected. Lara is forced to leave her father and go after Matthias. After a bittersweet goodbye and ensuring Lara is far enough away, Richard sets off a bomb that destroys Himiko, the tomb, and all of the virus apart from the finger Matthias stole.
Lara catches up with Matthias before he makes it out of the tomb and fights him. She deftly dodges the infected finger and Matthias’ punches, but it seems Matthias is too good. Just before he can escape, she shoves the infected finger down his throat and pushes his disintegrating body off a cliff. She escapes just as the tomb is crumbling, barely making it out alive.
Lara takes a Trinity helicopter back to London, only to find that Trinity is a secret subsidiary of Croft Holdings, headed by her father’s own business partner, Ana Miller. Lara takes back control of the company, and returns to her family’s countryside estate to prepare for her next adventure.
Tomb Raider is the epitome of a video game movie. Every scene felt like a fight or an element from a game, but in the best way possible. There is always another hurdle for our hero to jump over, which makes the movie very entertaining. Vikander’s Lara Croft makes for a more compelling protagonist; she feels real and her journey makes sense. This movie is perfect for video game fans, and lovers of action movies alike.
Release Date: March 16, 2018
Starring: Alicia Vikander, Daniel Wu, Dominic West, Walton Goggins, Kristin Scott Thomas
Director: Roar Uthaug
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Genre: Action & Adventure, Drama, Science Fiction & Fantasy
Audience: Teen and up; Science Fiction and Video Game fans
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 118 minutes
Official Website: www.TombRaiderMovie.com
Official Social Media Pages:
- Facebook: @TombRaiderMovie
- Instagram: @TombRaiderMovie
- Twitter: @TombRaiderMovie
IMDB: @Tomb Raider
Wiki: @Tomb_Raider
Jacqueline Van Bronkhorst | Writing Contributor
B.A | Screenwriting | Chapman University
Jacqueline was very young when she found her first love: stories. She’s been surrounded by them her whole life, and when she realized she wanted to tell stories for a living she found her place in the world. In fact, she loves storytelling so much that she decided to go to college where she could write and travel the world to find more unique stories. She is a proud writer, self-taught musician and artist, Disney fanatic, Ravenclaw, sci-fi and fantasy lover, self-proclaimed honorary Avenger, and complete geek. Having written everything from fan fiction to newspaper articles, book reviews to experimental prose that was published in her university’s Honors Journal. She has gone many places in pursuit of her degree, from interning at a documentary company in Venice Beach to assisting a Lonely Planet writer in Prague, and she hopes to continue using her writing skills to inform and inspire people. Instagram: @jvb_1996 | View My Blogs
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