It's Disappointing that 'Tomb Raider' Has to Be an Origin Story

Tomb Raider is the film adaptation of the famous video game of the same name as well as the reboot of the Lara Croft: Tomb Raider movies.  It stars Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft, the heiress of a wealthy businessman/adventure who vanished years ago.  After being forced to claim her inheritance, she gets her hands on a clue that sets her on a journey to a mythical island off the coast of Japan, which may finally help her solve the mystery of her father’s disappearance.

I haven’t really played the video games, but I did love Angelina Jolie’s awesome Lara Croft.  Her movies weren’t exactly great, but I enjoyed them a lot.  So, of course, in my biased eyes, Alicia Vikander’s take would pale in comparison.  That said, I approve of her casting.

I didn’t enjoy the movie as much as I wanted to mainly because it’s an origin story.  Vikander’s Lara Croft isn’t the badass gun-toting broad that I’ve become familiar with.  Early in the movie, she is shown to get beaten in a sparring match.  Later, when she gets her first kill, she gets rattled.  Heck, it’s already at the very end that she gets hold of her iconic handguns (just hold, not even use).  The plot of the movie is technically her first “tomb raiding.”

However, aside from the disappointment of being an origin movie, it’s a fun enough action-adventure movie, I guess.  It has some exciting parts, but it’s generally run-of-the-mill.  Nothing about it really stood out.  Moreover, though Vikander is good, it’s only with the next installment where she’ll really get the chance of portraying who Lara “Tomb Raider” Croft is in essence.  Until then, the crown is still Angelina Jolie’s.