SPOILERS DOWN THE PATH; THE DISCUSSION BELOW WILL NOT BE COMPREHENSIVE WITHOUT IT.
TREAD CAREFULLY. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.
Fear is a common companion walking with us into movies based on video games. We just do not know how will it turn out, judging from multiple past experiences. Seems like Tomb Raider is… safe!
There were surprising amount of character building for Lara Croft. She's a smart, law-breaking daredevil who loves stunts. Alicia Vikander, who fitted the bill perfectly, gave life and style for the persona!
Time and time again we're reminded of how badass yet vulnerable she is through action sequences that either move the plot or shed character information. Although the initial boxing ring brawl was horrendously edited with overabundance of cuts, the ones that followed were fantastically shot. Fox bicycle race, Hong Kong water market chase, violent sea underwater dive post shipwreck, river drop and hanging onto a brittle plane cadaver were all thrilling; some even paid beautiful homages to Square Enix's games about the titular character. Many renditions were obvious with CGI though.
What's a Tomb Raider action flick without tombs-raiding and puzzles-solving, right? Be it the clock hands, 'last letter from final destination' or colored keys riddle, the makers had our attentions. Rollerblade traps in slow-motion and climactic battle were well done, as we witnessed Lara Croft become the Tomb Raider we know, climbing out the collapsing cave behind her with the iconic melee axe!
Certain plot points such as a video recorder tape placed on table for discovery felt easy and childish. The film darted off with an elaborated exposition about Himiko, the mythical Queen of Yamatai. Moments later, it was unnecessarily repeated as Lara uncovered the secret basement office.
Proceedings in Act II felt sluggish and generic at many instances. While the disease carrier idea was interesting, Richard Croft's (Dominic West) plot goal seemed muddy. His aim was to prevent Trinity from finding Himiko. He clearly do realize they couldn't do so without his research notes. Also, he was already aware that the ancient legend's a danger. Therefore, why did he end up going to the island in the first place? And the whole plan to carry out a corpse was so silly, plus it didn't make much sense. If overused plans like 'genocide' or 'bio-weapon' are slot in without concrete motivations, how are we supposed to buy and believe?
The father-daughter relationship was semi-touching. It made us wonder at first on why Lara opted to sell the one and only memorabilia she has of her dad, but we breathed sighs of relief when she returned for it at the end. Even though Richard's infection and death was moving, Lara's choice to open the tomb wasn't at all the hardest nor the only option she had. Walton Goggins as Mathias Vogel was good. Whenever the sound effects were synced during scene transitions, it was satisfying. Last but not least, the movie's title has slick typography!