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I recently saw the newest Tomb Raider movie. I’ll be honest, I was skeptical about it at first. I didn’t expect it to be good due to the mediocre rating and because I thought it was going to be just another heavily politicized Hollywood movie. But I decided to put my socio-political views aside and give this film the benefit of the doubt. To my surprise the film was much better than I thought it would be.
1.)Not the Lara you are use to: Before you watch this film, do not expect to see Lara Croft blasting a bunch of baddies with her duel HK USPs because you will be disappointed. This is a movie about a 21 year old rookie Lara that is naive, innocent and is just learning the ropes. Yes there are action scenes but don’t expect them to be like Angelina Jolie’s Lara Croft.
2.)Reboot: Yes, it’s a reboot. I know how much people hate reboots but in this case a reboot had to be done. It’s been 15 years since the last Tomb Raider movie was released, so much has changed for the Tomb Raider franchise since then in terms of the Tomb Raider video games. Plus it’s only fair for Angelina Jolie to pass on the torch to a newer actress.
3.) Alicia Vikander: As far as I’m aware of, this was Alicia’s first action movie. She definitely looked the part and performed very well. Her dedication to the role of Tomb Raider was phenomenal. I hope to see her reprise her role in future installments of the series.
4.)Great story: The story resembles the story of the 2013 Tomb Raider video game. It focuses on a part of Japanese folklore and history, a mysterious ancient queen named Himiko and a mysterious place called Yamatai. Since there is scarce information on both topics, fictional interpretations have been added such as depicting Yamatai as a hidden island located somewhere near Japan. The story focuses on Lara’s goal to find her missing father and thwart the plans of a secret organization named “trinity”.
5.)A breathe of fresh air: Hollywood has a notorious tendency to give Asian actors canon fodder roles. Not in this film though. They actually gave an Asian actor a great dominant role. Daniel Wu portrays a man named Lu Ren, who is an important ally to Lara in the film. Without the assistance from Lu Ren, Lara probably wouldn’t have gotten very far. In my opinion Daniel Wu portrayed this character very well and it fit him perfectly. The character of Lu Ren isn’t the cliché “nerdy” or comical Asian character. He is a strong willed, wise character who can take care of himself. Since Daniel Wu is a Asian-American actor, he has a American accent. spoiler alert, Lu actually lives. This character of Lu Ren is the main reason why I liked this film, I’m glad Hollywood finally got the memo and gave a Asian actor a decent role. On a side note, Daniel Wu also has a lead role in the tv series “Into the badlands”.
6.) Good fight scenes: Another thing I liked about this film were the realistic fight scenes. Since all of Lara’s enemies in the film are male, she had to rely on martial arts and endurance to overcome her larger foes, specifically by using submissions and being more fluid in her movements. It’s not like atomic blonde where a woman easily overpowers multiple attackers at once.
7.)Father-daughter story: I liked the father and daughter theme in the story. It showed how close Lara is to her father in the film. Stories that show a good relationship between a Father and daughter don’t get much publicity in Hollywood. It’s good to see a positive father-daughter story for a change.
8.)comparison to previous installments: They say the original is usually the best but in this case, I think the reboot actually did better than the original Tomb raider films. According to IMDB, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider(2001) currently has a 5.8/10 rating while it’s 2003 Sequel currently has a 5.5/10 rating. The new Tomb Raider with Alicia Vikander currently has a 6.5/10 rating which may go up a little bit.
8.) apolitical: A small thing I liked about this film is that it seemed apolitical. My main concern prior to watching the film was that it would be another heavily politicized film but surprisingly it didn’t seem to have any political biases. It is a great action, adventure film that can cater to everyone regardless of politics. So props to the makers of this film.
9.)devoid of supernatural, sci fi and fantasy elements: The small setback of this movie is that unlike it’s video game counterparts, there is no supernatural, sci fi or fantasy elements in this movie. Many hardcore Tomb Raider fans may not be fond of that but hopefully future installments will include supernatural elements.
10.)Overall: I personally rate this film a 9/10. It was much better than I thought it would be. The story, the cinematography, the acting, the filming locations and the action scenes were spectacular.
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