THE CRYPT Like most reboots these days, Tomb Raider shows the origin story on how Lara Croft gets into the career of raiding tombs.
Croft, played by Academy Award-winner Alicia Vikander, is the very independent daughter of a missing wealthy father that was secretly an Indiana Jones-esque adventurous archaeologist.
After discovering some of her fathers records of his explorations, Croft embarks to find out what happened to her father, who is played by Dominic West. Lara Croft ends up shipwrecked on an island where she is captured by a villain, played by Walton Goggins, who is looking for the same thing her father was seeking years ago.
I wont spoil the rest, but I will say a whole lot of movie goes by before you see some tomb raiding.
For the record, I am not a gamer. I have never played the Tomb Raider video game and I never watched 2001's Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, starring Angelina Jolie.
This reboot was pretty much my first introduction to the Lara Croft story. I have no idea how true this movie sticks to the video game version of Lara Croft, but I do know that this reboot has potential but falls short.
The Good
Even with some horrible dialogue to work with, Vikander and Goggins put in solid performances. Vikander shows that she was the right choice to play Lara Croft, and it would have been awesome to see what she could have done with a decent script.
Tomb Raider tries hard. It tries hard to be a fun popcorn flick. It tries to keep a high-intensity pace throughout the whole film. There were not necessarily any parts that dragged, but maybe the filmmakers were a little too ambitious with so many action scenes.
The Bad
As mentioned above, the dialogue drove me crazy. Even a cameo from comedian Nick Frost failed to get laughs. In fact, none of the jokes landed and they all seemed forced. The dialogue just made the movie too cheesy.
Some of the CGI was pretty awful as well. The movie itself was pretty ambitious so it might have been due to a tight budget, but with how well other action movies have been doing CGI lately, this was a bit of a letdown.
The story was generic. After leaving the theater, some of us were saying it was like they took Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and mixed it with Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
It just did not capture my interest, and I don't care to see where they take this Lara Croft character in the future.
Overall
"Tomb Raider" just seemed to fall short in every aspect. It was like watching that underdog team in March Madness, from some conference you have never heard of, taking on a big-name school. You want them to succeed and pull off the upset. They play their hardest and might even make it a game for the first little bit but as the game goes on, they start to fade and realize they just are not as good as the team they are facing.
I applaud the effort, but overall Tomb Raider was not a great movie and is not worth the time to go see in theaters.
Watch KSL.com Friday for a 'Tomb Raider' parents guide that will tell you what you need to be aware of if you're considering taking your kids to see this movie.
"Tomb Raider" is rated PG-13 for sequences of violence and action, and for some language.
Croft, played by Academy Award-winner Alicia Vikander, is the very independent daughter of a missing wealthy father that was secretly an Indiana Jones-esque adventurous archaeologist.
After discovering some of her fathers records of his explorations, Croft embarks to find out what happened to her father, who is played by Dominic West. Lara Croft ends up shipwrecked on an island where she is captured by a villain, played by Walton Goggins, who is looking for the same thing her father was seeking years ago.
I wont spoil the rest, but I will say a whole lot of movie goes by before you see some tomb raiding.
For the record, I am not a gamer. I have never played the Tomb Raider video game and I never watched 2001's Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, starring Angelina Jolie.
This reboot was pretty much my first introduction to the Lara Croft story. I have no idea how true this movie sticks to the video game version of Lara Croft, but I do know that this reboot has potential but falls short.
The Good
Even with some horrible dialogue to work with, Vikander and Goggins put in solid performances. Vikander shows that she was the right choice to play Lara Croft, and it would have been awesome to see what she could have done with a decent script.
Tomb Raider tries hard. It tries hard to be a fun popcorn flick. It tries to keep a high-intensity pace throughout the whole film. There were not necessarily any parts that dragged, but maybe the filmmakers were a little too ambitious with so many action scenes.
The Bad
As mentioned above, the dialogue drove me crazy. Even a cameo from comedian Nick Frost failed to get laughs. In fact, none of the jokes landed and they all seemed forced. The dialogue just made the movie too cheesy.
Some of the CGI was pretty awful as well. The movie itself was pretty ambitious so it might have been due to a tight budget, but with how well other action movies have been doing CGI lately, this was a bit of a letdown.
The story was generic. After leaving the theater, some of us were saying it was like they took Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and mixed it with Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
It just did not capture my interest, and I don't care to see where they take this Lara Croft character in the future.
Overall
"Tomb Raider" just seemed to fall short in every aspect. It was like watching that underdog team in March Madness, from some conference you have never heard of, taking on a big-name school. You want them to succeed and pull off the upset. They play their hardest and might even make it a game for the first little bit but as the game goes on, they start to fade and realize they just are not as good as the team they are facing.
I applaud the effort, but overall Tomb Raider was not a great movie and is not worth the time to go see in theaters.
Watch KSL.com Friday for a 'Tomb Raider' parents guide that will tell you what you need to be aware of if you're considering taking your kids to see this movie.
"Tomb Raider" is rated PG-13 for sequences of violence and action, and for some language.
