Tomb Raider (2018) [Blu-ray]
Action | Adventure | Fantasy

Lara Croft (Alicia Vikander) is the independent daughter of an eccentric adventurer who mysteriously vanished when she was a teen. Determined to forge her own path, she refuses to take the reins of her father’s global empire just as she rejects the idea that he’s truly gone. Against her father’s final wishes, Lara leaves everything she knows behind in search of her dad’s last-known destination: a fabled tomb on a mythical island. Her mission will not be easy; just reaching the island will be extremely treacherous. Against all odds and armed with only her sharp mind, blind faith and inherently stubborn spirit, she must learn to push herself beyond her limits as she journeys into the unknown. If she survives this perilous adventure, she could earn the name Tomb Raider.

Storyline: Lara Croft is the fiercely independent daughter of an eccentric adventurer who vanished when she was scarcely a teen. Now a young woman of 21 without any real focus or purpose, Lara navigates the chaotic streets of trendy East London as a bike courier, barely making the rent, and takes college courses, rarely making it to class. Determined to forge her own path, she refuses to take the reins of her father's global empire just as staunchly as she rejects the idea that he's truly gone. Advised to face the facts and move forward after seven years without him, even Lara can't understand what drives her to finally solve the puzzle of his mysterious death. Going explicitly against his final wishes, she leaves everything she knows behind in search of her dad's last-known destination: a fabled tomb on a mythical island that might be somewhere off the coast of Japan. But her mission will not be an easy one; just reaching the island will be extremely treacherous. Suddenly, the stakes couldn't be higher for Lara, who-against the odds and armed with only her sharp mind, blind faith and inherently stubborn spirit-must learn to push herself beyond her limits as she journeys into the unknown. If she survives this perilous adventure, it could be the making of her, earning her the name tomb raider. Written by Warner Bros. Pictures

Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Michael Reuben, June 13, 2018 Tomb Raider is a franchise in search of a movie. With the 2013 reboot of the videogame series, a film version was probably inevitable, despite the mixed results of the earlier attempts starring Angelina Jolie. (The first film was a success; the sequel was not.) As before, the film's lead is a rising young star who had just won an Oscar, the stunts are elaborate and the effects are first-class. The director, Roar Uthaug, had proven his ability to wrangle a technically complicated production with his Norwegian disaster film, The Wave. All the right elements seemed to have been assembled for an exciting adventure film—but someone forgot to include interesting characters or a minimally credible story.

Returning to a familiar icon's origins worked to restart the James Bond franchise, so why not Lara Croft? The new Tomb Raider finds Lara (Alicia Vikander) before she becomes the athletic heroine of legend, working as a bicycle messenger in London and perpetually broke, even though she's heir to a Bruce Wayne-size industrial fortune and a palatial country estate. But Lara refuses to have anything to do with her family's wealth, because doing so would require her to acknowledge that her explorer dad, Lord Richard Croft (Dominic West), is never returning from the expedition on which he departed seven years ago. The psychology of this behavior—"I won't take family money because Daddy left me behind"—doesn't bear close scrutiny, which is probably why the film hurries over issues of character and motivation and immediately plunges Lara into extraneous action sequences, starting with a hazardous bike race through busy London streets.

Eventually Lara is persuaded to sit down with her guardian, Ana (Kristin Scott Thomas), and the Croft family lawyer (Derek Jacobi), from whom she receives a puzzle box that reveals her father's secret passion: the investigation of the paranormal, with specific focus on Himiko, a legendary Japanese queen of enormous power who was entombed on an uncharted Pacific island, Yamatai. Richard Croft believed he had located Yamatai, and Lara immediately departs for Hong Kong to retrace her father's footsteps. After yet another extraneous action sequence involving a chase through Hong Kong harbor, Lara finds Lu Ren, the son of the sea captain who disappeared with her father, and persuades him to embark on the same journey. (Why would Lu Ren undertake a voyage that he assures Lara will end in shipwreck and death? Don't ask; the film doesn't tell.)

Of course, Lara is not the only one looking for Himiko's tomb. When she and Lu Ren miraculously reach the island, they encounter Mathias Vogel (Walton Goggins), who represents a nefarious organization known only as Trinity and who has spent seven years doggedly dynamiting sites on Yamatai looking for Himiko's tomb. Lara's arrival is Vogel's salvation, because she's carrying with her the very thing that finally leads him to the right spot on the island: her father's diary, which Lord Croft left strict instructions for Lara to destroy, lest it fall into the wrong hands. Quicker than you can say Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, the entire group is descending into extended underground caverns loaded with intricate booby traps leading to Himiko's last resting place. By that point, we're supposed to have learned a great deal about this ancient witch from Lord Croft, who has been spitting out reams of exposition in voiceover, video tapes and dictaphone recordings, but it barely sinks in, because Dominic West races through his monologues like there's someone standing off camera holding a stopwatch. Eventually we do get a scene reminiscent of the opening of the Ark of the Covenant in the original Raiders, and the bad guys suffer an analogous fate, though by less spiritual means. (Indeed, once the true nature of Queen Himiko's evil power is revealed, much of what follows doesn't make any sense, but I can't elaborate without major spoilers.)

There's nothing in Tomb Raider that hasn't been lifted from Indiana Jones or subsequent imitators like The Mummy series. But where those films had a sense of humor to complement their zest for adventure, Lara Croft's latest outing is a joyless affair, with a perpetually sullen heroine, a one-note villain and a remote father figure whose alleged love for his daughter feels less credible with each passing moment. It's a sad comment on a big-budget popcorn entertainment that the most entertaining sequences aren't the action set pieces but two brief scenes featuring married pawnbrokers played by Nick Frost (uncredited) and Jaime Winstone. They look like they're having fun.

The final scenes of Tomb Raider confidently sets up its sequel, as Lara identifies her true enemy and first picks up her trademark pair of pistols. It's a great moment, because Vikander finally flashes some of the cheerful grit that makes Lara Croft an appealing heroine—but then the end credits roll and we're left hanging, waiting for a continuation of the story that, given the film's weak box office, is unlikely to arrive. If you're going to make an origin story, it needs to offer something more than a loudly busy but instantly forgettable two-hour prologue. Not recommended.

[CSW] -2.8- You have to remember that this is a prequel to the Angelia Jolie's version of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. Here the Lara Croft is still young, inexperienced, and is still dealing with the disappearance of her father and trying to become her own woman. She's strong, independent, level headed, willful, and brave. She does make foolish decisions at times, like all youthful and determined people do in life. This movie is really more of an adventure movie first, and an action movie secondarily. There's a lot here to enjoy, and the few cliche'd moments are really well delivered. I especially enjoyed the raw scenes with injuries, mud, struggle, and desperation for survival. I am not sure I actually ever wanted this much backstory on Lara Croft. This movie takes a very, very long time to get around to any actual tomb raiding. If you were hoping for an exciting feminine action-adventure (as I was), you will be a bit disappointed. The down side is that this movie though good is completely forgettable.
[V5.0-A5.0] MPEG-4 AVC - D-Box really helped this movie out.


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