Tomb Raider - Review - Mind on Movies

TOMB RAIDER is in theaters March 16th, 2018

Alicia Vikander has officially solidified her status as a bad-ass! Having seen the original Angelina Jolie Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, I assumed that this Tomb Raider was just going to be a remake of that. I did not do much research before going, figuring it would be another similar action movie. Boy, was I wrong. This Tomb Raider took a much different direction – more of a deep dive into the beginnings of Lara Croft and how she comes to be. We see Lara Croft in the early years, trying to live and make her own name while clinging to the idea that her father is still alive and just missing. On an adventure to find him, she also begins to find herself and her destiny.

Alicia Vikander SHINES as Lara Croft. She put 7 months of training and 12-lbs of muscle into preparing for this role and it shows. She has the nitty-gritty, strength that Lara Croft entails and shows it in many death-defying stunts throughout the movie. I do not think this takes away from Angelina Jolie’s series, more so takes this storyline into a different direction. Angelina Jolie starts off as a fully-trained, expert tomb raider used to dealing with the supernatural and fighting off dozens of bad guys. Those movies worked on their own. This new version dives more into the background of how Lara could get that kind of training and why.

While the movie was a bit slow to start, I really enjoyed seeing a female protagonist pushing through physically strenuous tasks and making a name for herself. I truly hope that this rebooted series continues – with a future gun-wielding, hair-braided fully-immersed Lara Croft, tomb raider!

Rating: 4 out of 5

Lauren (Contributor) is born and raised in South Jersey. When she isn’t yelling at Philly sports teams on the TV, she enjoys seeing the latest action films and true crime documentaries.
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Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina) stars as Lara Croft in the reboot of the Tomb Raider series. Dominic West plays Lord Richard Croft, an adventurer who mysteriously disappears. Lara goes on a search with help of Lu Ren (Daniel Wu) to find her missing father.

This movie is action packed and Alicia got super buff for the role! All I could think was damn...I gotta hit the gym! I thought she was perfect for the part. She picked up a lot of mannerisms from the video game character and I especially liked the running scenes, she’s a good runner - sounds weird but you’ll get it once you watch it. There are a lot of scenes that were very “stealthy” and at times felt like you were in the game. It was really well done!

I think this is a good movie to take your family to, there’s violence but it’s not way over the top. Has a solid story, and I think there’s something for everyone.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Ashley K. (Contributor) is a frequent traveler currently living in San Diego. She's a super nerd who enjoys all kinds of movies and doesn't always think the book was better.
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