Captivating Croft

Tomb Raider

Starring: Alicia Vikander, Dominic West, Walton Goggins

Director: Roar Uthaug

Genre: Action, Adventure

Rating: PG-13

RUNTIME: 118 Mins

Move aside, Angelina Jolie. Alicia Vikander has broken through the thicket of jungle with bow and arrow in hand, ready to make the iconic character of Lara Croft her own.

The ‘breaking through’ may at times be more of a disoriented stagger, but since this reboot depicts the early years of Lara Croft before she became the ‘tomb raider,’ it’s understandable that there’s a bit of a learning curve.

Lara Croft, the fiercely independent daughter of a missing adventurer, must push herself beyond her limits when she finds herself on the island where her father disappeared in search of the ancient remains of a Japanese monarch, Himiko.

Alicia Vikander has really made this version of Lara her own. A wildly intelligent individual with a penchant for close calls, she thrives more at the logical thinking and puzzle-solving part of her occupation, since she still has a ways to go when it comes to climbing walls and physical combat.

What Vikander does particularly well is the growth from a naive, hesitant girl desperately searching for her father, to a courageous survivalist with a tough streak at her very core.

She’s also incredibly likable and real as a character, endearing you to her with every wise-crack and unabashed tearful scream. For this Lara, strength is something still being learned, and she takes no shame in that.

Dominic West, who plays her father Richard, is warm, enchanted with love for his daughter, and impassioned by his lifelong search for Himiko. There are a few questionable plot points relating to his decisions which make moments feel disconnected or unnecessary, but overall his bond with Lara is moving and inspirational.

Our antagonist strolls in with a cool trigger finger, in the shape of Walton Goggins as Mathias Vogel, a man obsessed with finding Himiko, but for the wrong reasons. His eyes do most of the acting, comparable to the stare of a Great White Shark.

The film takes heavy inspiration from the 2013 PlayStation 4 video game Tomb Raider, which was more of an origins story than the first Tomb Raider film starring Angelina Jolie.

As such, a lot of the action sequences in particular will feel familiar to gaming fans. The various chase scenes are stylised to feature breakneck speed, near misses, and a need for quick thinking and instinct on behalf of our heroine.

It’s incredibly fun to go along for the ride, even if on occasion the set pieces are a little drawn out to a point of near redundancy. Regardless, the film is engrossing enough to keep your eyes locked in their world for pretty much the entire runtime.

Taking inspiration from the video game reboot comes with the risk of predictability in terms of script, and whilst Tomb Raider mostly escapes cliches, the plot definitely takes fewer risks than its heroine.

Not that it’s a deal-breaker. With engaging and realistic historical inspiration, a fleshed out father-daughter dynamic, and an impressively, well-rounded reimagining of its title character, this movie is a very decent starting point for the future of the series.

In a time where we need more strong female role models onscreen, it’s so great to see Lara Croft back on the radar. And, it will be really exciting to see where Alicia Vikander could take it from here.

 Now showing in: Cineco, Seef II, Dana Cinemas, Wadi Al Sail, Mukta A2, Al Jazeera

Anna’s verdict: 4/5