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Tomb Raider


Tomb Raider (2018)
(68%)


Tomb Raider is a reboot of a franchise from the early 2000s that was based on a series of video games. This reboot also comes out not long after the video game series was rebooted, and it clearly is meant to emulate the newer games. It's directed by Roar Uthaug and stars Alicia Vikander, Dominic West, and Walton Goggins.

Story: The story is loosely based on the story of the newer video games, but it's a lot less interesting as they had to water it down quite a bit to fit it into a two-hour movie. The gist of it is that Lara has not been able to accept that her father is dead, and therefore refuses to sign the papers certifying that he's dead. Eventually, though, she is convinced to sign them by her dad's friend and the lawyer who is walking her through the process gives her a puzzle, that she then solves and finds her dad's secret lair. Based on what she finds in his lair, a bunch of research about an island that was supposedly cursed, she decides to set out to the island and find out what happened to her father. Lots of action and craziness ensues.

I don't think it'll surprise any of you when I say that the story of this movie is nothing spectacular. They definitely could have cut down on the early movie set up (there's a bike sequence that goes on entirely too long) and given us more of what we actually want: watching her have an adventure on the island. Also, beckoning back to my earlier statement that it was watered down, I'm serious when I said that. The story of this movie is similar to that of the newer video games, but it is very, very loosely connected. Even the way that it ends isn't the same as the video games. In the end, it felt like that I watched a summarized version of the story I wanted to see. I still enjoyed myself for most of the movie, but it definitely had a lot more potential.

Script: Yeah, this is by far the weakest part of the movie. The dialogue is extremely weak, and because of that there are some cringe-worthy moments. Luckily, this movie doesn't rely on dialogue too much.

Acting: All of the actors involved with this movie give solid performances, but when the script they have to work with isn't super awesome, they don't shine as bright as they could.

Cinematography: For the most part, the cinematography was pretty unmemorable. There are no shots that are particularly impressive or outside of the norm for this kind of movie. I will say that there are a couple of action sequences where there is entirely too much cutting, though.

Overall: Tomb Raider is an alright popcorn flick to watch and enjoy yourself. Just don't expect strong dialogue and don't expect too much out of the story.