Writers: Geneva Robertson-Dworet, Alastair Siddons
Director: Roar Uthaug
So here it is, the brilliantly-named Roar Uthaug's reboot of the Lara Croft tale in which our heroine isn't even raiding said tombs when the proceedings kick off. She's a stroppy bike courier who refuses to believe that her missing explorer dad (West) is dead and has no designs on inheriting the family fortune even though Kristin Scott-Thomas turns up to tell Lara that she really ought to cash in.
Of course, it's when Lara decides that maybe she should accept Lord Richard Croft is indeed a goner that she's drawn into a plot on the other side of the world which will see her hone her arrow shooting, wall climbing, puzzle solving, chasm jumping skills as she goes up against bad guy Matthias Vogel (Goggins) who is intent on discovering the remains of an ancient Japanese witch whose power may be strong enough to - you guessed - bring about the end the world as we know it.
If the above sounds a bit hokey, well, it is. The second half of the film, in particular, has echoes of a certain hat-wearing archaeologist/adventurer's first outing and unfortunately Tomb Raider does suffer somewhat from a series of increasingly sub-Raiders sequences. Rope down a long drop? Check. Traps? Check. Faces melting? Well, no. Actually, sort of.
It also doesn't help that the tomb is set up as a virtually impenetrable structure where sudden, icky, terrifying death is lurking around every corner and yet Lara and co manage to reach their goal with much less fuss than I expected. Of course, a couple of disposable henchmen get caught in traps but that's more through blundering carelessness than fiendish construction.
And yet, it is still kind of enjoyable. An early bike chase through London is a real highlight. Excitingly shot and edited, it's a shame that the rest of the action's a touch plodding and predictable compared to this opening gambit. And it's difficult to find fault with Alicia Vikander who throws herself into the role and gives us a character that isn't immediately likeable but is nonetheless strong, interesting and impressively athletic. As she charges around the exotic landscapes you may feel out of breath.
West chews the scenery with gusto and his aristo pathfinder is good value in his limited screen time. Unfortunately, it's the bad guy who gets short shrift here and poor old Walton Goggins is saddled with a criminally underwritten role. To be fair, Goggins gives it a decent shot because. let's face it, he's a fine actor but the script doesn't present Vogel as a genuine threat save for a climactic face-off against Lara as they duke it out in time-honoured 12A certificate fashion.
Even after the main plot is tied up, Tomb Raider manages to botch the not entirely unexpected set up for a potential sequel. It's very oddly executed, clumsily cramming in a rushed, cross-cut mishmash of information and flashbacks which were never especially alluded to during the rest of the movie. I'm fine with late rug pulls but the rug has to be there in the first place, you can't just chuck it in front of the audience after an hour and three quarters then immediately yank it away with a theatrical "ha ha!".
Roar Uthaug can definitely turn out an excellent, character-driven action flick - see his previous Norway-set disaster flick The Wave for evidence of this. Here, the pressure of a helming a big studio movie may possibly have blunted his approach but there's still fun to be had from Tomb Raider. If there are further movies, however, they'll need to up the action ante and take more risks than this does.
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