Tomb Raider review

Yeah, you've heard this before, movies based on video games are usually bad. Will the new Tomb Raider loosely based on the 2013 action-adventure game of the same name fare any better? Well, I've played the 2013 game. So, I have a unique view of this movie.

Tomb Raider starts out by showing us that Lara Croft (Academy Award winner Alicia Vikander) is living the life of a pauper and shunning her earlier life of wealth as daughter of Richard Croft. (Dominic West) He's gone missing and the Croft business wants him declared dead so she can inherit the estate. When she eventually decides to agree to declare him dead, she discovers that he went missing searching for the mystery of Himiko, an ancient emperess of Japan. She finds out that he left Hong Kong for the island of Yamatai. Lara goes to Hong Kong and hires Lu Ren (Daniel Wu) to take her to the island which is located in the south pacific in the Devil's Triangle.

This movie has a bunch of problems. The first is the script. There's no need for the story to waste time on the plot thread about Lara's life as a poor person. That takes about ten to fifteen minutes of them movie. It's a drag on the film from the beginning. Add to that the needless theft and chase scene in Hong Kong and the audience is going to struggle to stay with the movie when it gets better. That occurs when Lara finally gets to a tomb. And I don't appreciate the fact that she's uneducated. I would have preferred her as a young archaeologist. It would have made the movie more believable when she solves some of the tomb's puzzles. Then there are way too many dark scenes. Yeah, I get it. We're in a tomb but this is a movie. Light it better so the audience gets a better idea of what is going on.

I've stated above that I've played the 2013 game. The game is better. Why? Because playing Lara on the island of Yamatai allows you to explore. It's big, open and at times beautiful island filled with tombs, jungles, waterfalls, and mountains. I didn't get that from this movie which felt like a cheap action picture.

Tomb Raider follows the consistent trend that movies based on video games usually stink. It's not terrible but not good either. Wait for this movie to hit your cable service. No need to rent it. The grade is C Plus.