WATCH NOW
The first time I watched the film, I was grappling with disappointment during the first few scenes because I didn’t understand why the film had diverged from the game storyline. It is incredibly engaging to imagine Lara body slamming hordes of Trinity guards, but, unfortunately, that isn’t very realistic for a two hour film. The changes to the plotline do, however, make sense when you think about the change from a game to a movie.
It didn’t come as a surprise to me that Alicia Vikander was the new Lara Croft in the movie, and I was not terribly excited. I had thought that she was an amazing actress after watching Ex Machina, so my expectations were high. Even so, she did not strike me as an appropriate choice to play Lara. Thankfully, I was wrong and was pleasantly surprised by her performance in the movie. Vikander exceeded my expectations in this physically challenging role and added a fresh taste to the screen. While I still have my doubts about her completely fitting the role, she has made me accept her as my new favorite Croft.
In this film, we witness Lara Croft’s origin story. The ship Endurance appears in both the game and film. It’s a fully manned vessel looking for the lost kingdom of Yamatai – an island located off the northeastern coast of Japan. The game came out in 2013 and this film is based on it. The film however starts off a little earlier than the game does and provides context on what Lara’s life was like before her undertaking. Eventually we see why Alicia Vikander is able to portray the iconic character in a convincing manner. She is living a vastly different life than the one we expect her to live as the heir to the Croft fortune. Her father Richard Croft had gone missing seven years back and everyone presumed him dead. Alongside having the wealth and estate, Lara is able to inherit everything, but in order to do so, she has to accept the fact which she is not ready to. This is why she refuses to sign the documents. So now, instead of living in grandiose, she earns money working as a courier and spends her free time training in boxing.
Alongside a multitude of flashbacks depicting her as a child, this film is the first to show us how Lara evolved into the renowned legend we all know her as.
The plot of Tomb Raider differs from the game, but some scenes are still similar. Himiko, the ancient Japanese Sun Queen who has Shamanistic powers, remains the focus of the expedition organisation called Trinity and Richard’s research. Richard’s old recordings provide quite a bit of backstory to us. It is convenient for the film to do this rather than explore this myth the way the game does because the film does not have the time. The only problem is that there are a few instances in the film where we hear this recording for the third time, which is a bit much. Legend has it that Himiko’s soul is trapped within her body and a ritual can kill the host to transfer her soul into another’s body. The tale that is provided in the film is different from the one presented in the game. In the film, she was chained up to be prevented from hurting people which is possible due to her being able to kill with just a touch.
This film completely removes the magical aspect of the events, replacing it with a much simpler explanation which transforms the narrative. I get why they would make this decision; it’s likely they wouldn’t have done it justice nor would it fit in the Tomb Raider universe, which is a more serious action movie. Unfortunately, this means they had little else to work with and as a result, the narrative feels rather lackluster compared to what goes on in the game.
Another major difference is Lo Ren (Daniel Wu) makes up for the loss of the other crew members of the ship ‘Endurance.’ okay duo, the ship’s captain and his only crew member, is a real nice guy who compensates for the loss. Having a smaller main cast along with instant familiarity of Mathias on Yamatai means Lara has to do the heavy lifting in catalysing the events that lead up to the climax. After seven years of searching for Himiko’s tomb, Mathias and Trinity make progress by stealing Richard’s notebook from Lara. Mathias makes it impossible not to want to defeat him. Not heeding her father’s cautionary words, Lara decides to let Mathias open the tomb for her. Watching it for the first time was eerily discomforting seeing Lara as the one who literally unseals the tomb. It is her job to stop it. After all, being a tomb raider does have perks.
It illustrates the impressiveness of both Lara and her father because they were the only ones who knew how to unlock it.
Even though it was disheartening to see the characters taking an unexpected turn from the game, it makes sense with the transition to movie. It would have been amazing to see Lara steamroll through a bunch of Trinity guards, but c’mon, there is no way that can fit into a two hour movie. Lara’s fighting abilities specifically her hand to hand combat skills is something that will probably be covered in the follow up movies. Aside from some other powerful fight sequences, there are two particular sequences that I would love to see. One of them is when Lara first gets to the beach after the Endurance goes down. She is confronted by a local who knocks her out, after which she wakes up strung upside down in a coffin-like room. In the movie, she gets knocked out by Mathias right before he mid her which is an encounter they needed to be set up for to help streamline the story. The second one is a brilliant scene when Lara is running away from her bad guys, she dives head first into a blood red pool that’s full of body parts and then we see her head slowly rise out of the water.
Yet like the high-octane fights, those are suited for the game world and not the movie world.
Tomb Raider had impressive, action-packed scenes that can be enjoyed from this origin film’s perspective. The audience witnesses Lara killing her first person in self-defense, and we see her silently grapple with that inside her head. She discovers a bow, one of her signature weapons, and uses it in conjunction with her childhood memories of archery. Lara even physically challenges herself by climbing, jumping, and running, which is heavily mimicked from the game. It sets up her learning how to fight in combat, use weapons, and apply the tactics she learned from her boxing lessons. Tomb Raider portrays the intense and intricate storyline from the game well, transforming it into a cinematic experience. Also, it’s great that the movie doesn’t require us to accept Lara as far too ruthless of a killer just yet that’s something she is going to evolve into slowly. All in all, Vikander’s Lara is extremely powerful, but she lacks the emotional complexity of her game counterpart.
I wish that this could be solved in the next sequels because the ending sets the stage for a completely new story regarding Lara Croft’s future exploration.
To watch more movies like Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) 123movies.
Also Watch for more movies like: 123movies
