Tomb Raider

Ironically in 'Tomb Raider' they got the hard part right and messed up the easy part. The hard part in my opinion was correctly casting 'Lara Croft'. To follow in the shoes of a peak-of-her-powers Angelina Jolie is no easy feat. They pulled that off though by finding Alicia Vikander who was excellent in this film. The part they messed up though, and why this is such a bland experience, was they just didn't give her anything interesting to do.

The film starts off fun. The character introductions are clever, interesting and get you amped for what is to come. Then when the actual adventure begins the entire film stalls and never manages to start up again. The location was mildly interesting, but for almost the entire film to be set on the one island just felt lazy and uncreative - especially with a runtime near 2 hours. Also the villain was about as dull as they come.

Vikander is what saves this from being a total misfire though. She has the look, the charisma and the sexiness to pull off the character with ease. There was a bit of controversy with the films poster and her abnormally long neck in it. I couldn't help but notice that she does have a very long neck in reality, but the poster was still taking things a bit far clearly. I certainly couldn't recommend this as a film to rush out and see because it is so uninspiring and middle of the road. It's not terrible, it just never dares to be great.

I don't get the 1-star reviews. This is definitely not the worst movie of the century. I can't say it has a great storyline, but at least it has some storyline, unlike most Hollywood action movies these days. The things I liked: 1. The special effects. They looked real and Lara didn't look like some plastic figure jumping and tumbling around and whatnot. She looked like Alicia Vikander, an actual person that has stuff happen to her. Apparently Alicia did some stunts herself so maybe they didn't have to use so much CGI. And she looks very athletic so that adds to the overal feel of Lara being a spunky little adventuress. 2. Alicia as Lara. There's been a lot of talk about her practically nonexistent breasts, and 'of course' the real Lara is quite busty, but I find this talk ridiculous. Alicia looks stunning and sporty, and she oozes Lara Croft from every pore. Her acting was great too, it was very intense and realistic - the emotions and the sounds she made during the fight made it seem like it was all happening for real. You don't usually see it in movies.

I wish there was more game-like stuff in the movie, like in the first Tomb Raider movies. I loved Angelina Jolie's Lara doing her training at the manor, for example, and there was more cool ancient stuff going on. In this movie you see more of the kind of stuff you get from the game it was based on. The earlier games were more about riddles, the new ones are about running and fighting, which I personally don't like. But the movie is entertaining, and I like how it was directed. It seems kinda raw, which the game is as well. This is Lara's initiation. This is what you want to see if you ever imagined yourself being Lara. I hope there will be a sequel. I loved the games and as a huge fan I think this movie is pretty well made.

Given the poor ratings I had low expectations for this movie but it was surprisingly very entertaining. I wouldn't compare it to the Original movies with Angelina Jolie as it was just a different movie experience. I am still a fan of Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft but the Alicia Vikander version works too.

For what it's worth, I enjoyed Vikander as Lara Croft. Not every movie needs to be innovative and thought provoking. Tomb Raider succeeds at being a a popcorn, intense adventure flick. It did feel more like Uncharted than Tomb Raider, IMHO.

Seriously this is like some kind of 1930's soviet world where all of a sudden people start getting cropped out of photos. Laura Croft without her signature pistols is absurd. I have no trouble with Vikander, she is a great actor. but having her, with an unsighted composite bow (!), make bow shots that are impossible at 1/10 the range, treats the audience like idiots. Seriously this film does not merely require that you suspend disbelief, it is a fight film which requires that: a) you know nothing whatsoever about fighting and b) that you have an IQ below 80. (hence all the "8" through "10" star reviews by people so dumb that they think we can't see their only account activity is to upshill this stinker!)