Movie Reviews

When this reboot of Tomb Raider kicks off, Lara Croft (Alicia Vikander) is working as a badass bike messenger in London. But when she finds a clue about her presumed dead father’s (Dominic West) whereabouts, she sets out on her first adventure and becomes… well, the Lara Croft we all know since she first popped up in the 1996 PlayStation game.

No, this movie does not feature Angelina Jolie running around in short shorts. Instead, we get to watch Vikander do an equal amount of running around in pants while trying to give the character some more gravitas. And failing I might add. Even though that is not her fault.

As Croft solves clue after clue while hopping around the globe, she gets closer and closer to finding out what happened to her dad. Of course there are bad guys chasing her (led by Walton Goggins), there is some supernatural mumbo jumbo that has to do with a curse, there are booby traps to narrowly escape from …. All the adventure movie boxes are being checked and are carefully laid out throughout the movie. Unfortunately that leaves it feeling like the video game it was based on instead of an engaging movie.

For an action flick, Tomb Raider feels surprisingly lifeless and bland. You're better off watching 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' again for the umpteenth time.