Rating of
2/4
"Tomb Raider" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 12/18/19
A young aristocrat discovers a clue as to the fate of her missing father and so charters a boat to a remote Japanese island, only to be captured by a shadowy organisation intent on finding the secret behind an ancient curse.
Rebooting the rather feeble pair of films starring Angelina Jolie in the eponymous role, this latest incarnation features a reasonably watchable Alicia Vikander running, jumping and solving puzzles in order to prevent the body of a Japanese princess from falling into the hands of “the baddies”. Tomb Raider has very much the feel of a studio project designed as a “revenue stream” rather than a piece of cinema; Lara herself has been repurposed as a streetwise urchin who cycles around London to an “urban” soundtrack, no doubt in an attempt by its committee of script writers to make her more relatable to “the kids”. The script is little more than a series of action sequences strung together by weak sentimentality, unconvincing CGI and ideas stolen wholesale from the original Indiana Jones trilogy in general and The Last Crusade in particular. The few memorable moments revolve around Vikander and her father played by Dominic West, the other characters barely getting a mention beyond opportunities to run around with guns.
It’s not a dreadful film – especially compared to the previous instalment – but Tomb Raider is remarkable only in its sheer mediocrity. Yet another example of the rule that videogame franchises rarely – if ever – make for good cinema.
