Movie Review: Tomb Raider

Earlier this century, Angelina Jolie launched the action star portion of her career with her role as beloved video game heroine Lara Croft. While Jolie's well-received portrayal of Croft helped dictate what projects she took on for a bulk of the 2000's, both Tomb Raider flicks she starred in weren't exactly spectacular pieces of entertainment. Nearly 15 years after The Cradle of Life was released, Warner Brothers has brought Tomb Raider back from Hollywood's film adaptation graveyard and improved on the previous installments in just about every way imaginable. 

Where the Jolie editions got too bogged down by the incomprehensible mythology that often surround Croft's quests, this revamped Tomb Raider is a proud old-school adventure film in the mold of Indiana Jones and the Brendan Fraser-led version of The Mummy. Every action sequence has a fast-moving rhythm that resembles a chase scene, the tone is silly and self-aware without venturing into complete cartoon land and Alicia Vikander's take on Lara Croft is much more vulnerable than the indestructible version Jolie played. Aside from the underutilization of a couple of its supporting characters (Daniel Wu as an alcoholic boat captain that serves as Croft's sidekick, Walton Goggins as the villainous head of a secret society), this is a well-crafted origin story that does a good job of delivering vintage thrills and establishing Croft as an immensely likable hero. 

Tomb Raider is the ideal mid-March film. It's a breezy, undemanding piece of popcorn escapism that serves as a nice preview of the particular brand of delights that summertime will (ideally) offer up. I had a solid amount of fun with it and would be down to see any Vikander-led sequel that the studio greenlit. 

Grade: B