Talkie Tuesday: Tomb Raider

"Us Crofts, we have responsibilities; jobs to do."

Hello everyone!

So hot on the heels of learning Shadowhunters have been cancelled after three seasons (NOOO!) I'm here tonight with another movie review and it's actually, FINALLY a more recent one. 

Although yes, I do still have movies back-logged that I have to either put on here or simply watch, this was one that suited me the evening when I watched it, and then of course what happened was that it led to a bit of a movie night with me watching ... everything else afterwards haha.

It's one of those action flicks that you either love or love to hate, there never seems to be a middle ground anywhere which is kind of sad, all things considered.

But then, audiences are NEVER satisfied these days.

So what movie am I talking about, you ask?

Why, the 2018 action retelling Tomb Raider, of course.

Now, hear me out.

Way back when, I watched the original Lara Croft duology on television after it'd come out and stations managed to buy airing rights. And while I can honestly say I thoroughly enjoyed Angelina Jolie's take on the iconic character, Alicia Vikander wasn't half bad, either.

And in fact, I felt like, even if this retelling isn't green-lit for a second movie, it could easily tie in with the other two.

Why?

Keep reading.

We begin our story with someone (Lord Croft, as it turns out, played my Dominic West) narrating over images of death and destruction, telling the story about a Japanese Queen, Himiko, who was erased from history and apparently seems to be some sort of weapon of mass destruction ... or she was magic.

One of those.

In any event, in present-day, Lord Croft is nowhere to be seen and his daughter Lara is getting her ass handed to her in the boxing ring. Why is she there? Unclear, but she's also a bike courier for some reason instead of being an heiress.

We learn why after she volunteers to be the fox during a staged fox hunt (on bikes, natch) and she ends up at the police station. One of her father's business partners, Ana Miller, posts Lara's bail and explains to her that it's been seven years since Lord Croft went missing, therefore he will be pronounced dead, and unless Lara comes in to sign off on her inheritance, everything will be auctioned and sold off.

So, naturally, Lara eventually shows up at the big Croft business building in town to sign.

She doesn't actually put the name to the dotted line, however, as she gets distracted by a Karakuri puzzle box her father left her, which leads her to the old Croft estate and an entrance to a hidden workshop/lair/man cave of her father's (what else am I supposed to call it?). There, she finds a recording Lord Croft had made before leaving, telling her to burn everything he has on Himiko, as the research could be dangerous if it fell into the wrong hands.

Determined, however, Lara goes and pawns her mother's pendant to gain funds so she can travel to Hong Kong and hire Lu Ren, a man who had supposedly written emails with her father.

Lu Ren did - just not the drunken sailor she encounters (portrayed by Daniel Wu). It was his father, who went missing seven years ago.

Hiring THIS Lu Ren to take her to the island of Yamatai where she suspects both their fathers went missing, Lara thus embarks on her mission ...

... only for the pair of them to sail straight into a storm which leads to them being separated.

Lara wakes up in a strange tent occupied by a man named Vogel, who explains that he's been searching for Himiko's tomb for years and killed her father because Lord Croft refused to divulge the location. But now, unknowingly, Lara has brought him the piece he needs - the diary from which he can ascertain the actual location.

Reunited with Lu Ren, Lara and he are both added to the slave force who dig for Vogel, and Lu Ren explains that his father had apparently died here as well.

Staging a distraction, he gives Lara a chance to run, which she does, and ends up giving us viewers some realistic reactions with her "Really?!" exclamation as everything seems to go wrong during her run. However, she survives, even if she is injured, and kills the tracker Vogel sent after her. As this is not the Angelina Jolie-hardened Lara, Alicia Vikander delivers the shock about having taken a life quite well.

But she also finds someone else - her father! Who managed to survive but who initially thinks she's an apparition until she convinces him otherwise. 

And then the Crofts have a job to do, which is to prevent Vogel from getting into Himiko's tomb AND rescuing Lu Ren & company.

Of course nothing really goes according to plan; while Lu Ren decides to stay behind and wait for Lara (because I swear he fell a little bit in love with her), she goes with her father and Vogel into the tomb, under penalty of death of course, and the group deal with all the ancient booby traps that the old Japanese masters put into the tomb. Once at Himiko's actual body, however, they realize that she hadn't been locked away as the stories said - but she'd exiled herself because she was the carrier of a disease so potent, just a touch from her would kill a person.

In the ensuing chaos after everything goes to hell in a hand basket, Croft gets infected and sacrifices himself for his daughter, who goes after Vogel and kills him with the finger he'd taken from Himiko's body. She then makes it out just in time for Lu Ren to dig her from beneath the rocks, and the pair of them (along with the rescued slaves) return to civilisation.

Back in London, Lara finally signs those papers, but later learns that the secretive organisation Trinity seems to be a subsidiary of Croft Holdings, and that Ana might even be its head - hoping that, by having Lara sign the papers and not knowing what to do, she'd be able to control her better than her father. Realising this, Lara returns for the pendant she'd sold, and also buys her signature HK USPs to prepare for her next adventure.

The end!

I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie - but seeing those guns at the end made me dive straight into the old Lara Croft cinematic versions, needing to see some badass Jolie on screen!

That being said, however, I loved how Alicia portrayed Lara - whether or not it was intentional, some of her moves, the way she'd stop and turn her head, really reminded me of Angelina Jolie at times, which I think may have been the point.

Whether or not this gets a sequel, it's an enjoyable movie to watch and I highly recommend it as one of the summer's blockbusters!

xx

*images and video not mine