Jeri Jacquin
In theatres this Friday from director Roar Uthaug and Warner
Bros. Pictures is the beginning adventure of Lara Croft becoming the Tomb
Raider.
Lara Croft (Alicia Vikander) is a young woman trying to find
her place by making it on her own. She really doesn't need to since her father
Lord Richard Croft (Dominic West), who has been missing for seven years, left
his daughter an inheritance. When family friend Ana Miller (Kristin Scott
Thomas) bails Lara out of a problem, she is told it is time to sign the papers
legally declaring her father dead.
Agreeing to finally do so, family lawyer Mr. Yaffe (Derek
Jacobi) is presented with a puzzle and in it is something that sets Lara off on
a quest for answers. Finding clues to the last place her father went, she
discovers a diary and maps along with a cryptex with a story about a Japanese
Queen and a power that has the capability of world destruction.
Lara makes her way to the Far East
in search of a man named Lu Ren, instead she finds the son, also Lu Ren (Daniel
Wu) who is shocked to learn that they have something in common. Explaining that
they both need answers about their fathers, Lu and Lara head off to a dangerous
island that shows them no mercy.
So much so that the ship is grounded and Lara is washed
ashore only to be taken by Mathias Vogel (Walton Coggins). He is thrilled at
the new island arrival because she holds the answers he has spent seven years
looking for. Lara has no plan on letting Vogel get away with what he is doing
and manages to escape. In an adventure within an adventure, she is surprised to
find someone else on the island she hasn't expected to see.
Vogel finds the tomb and along with his well weaponized
mercenaries forces Lara to go in first and lead them to the final resting place
of the Queen of Death. The horror that awaits them is nothing they are prepared
for but that isn't going to stop Lara from doing the right thing and save the
world!
Vikander as Lara shows the beginnings of Lara Croft and how
hard headed and yet still an adrenaline junkie she is. Wanting to avoid signing
the papers declaring her father dead, she is told by Ana that if it doesn’t
happen, Lara will lose everything that her father built. Vikander literally
jumps into action and I can clearly see why she was chosen to be a younger Lara
Croft.
Coggins as Vogel has made being a bad guy so deliciously
easy. All balled up with anger at being forced to live in a dangerous place for
seven years, he isn’t very forgiving. Looking for the one thing that can bring
him home means nothing or no one, not even Lara Croft, is going to get in his
way. Coggins is an actor who can play a good guy (or gal), a mediocre guy and a
bad guy – all with such skill. Can you tell I’m a fan?
Wu as the younger Lu Ren is a boat owner who doesn't want to
get involved with Lara's mystery. Talking him into it isn't hard and after
being thrown on the island with Lara, he jumps into the action when seeing how
wrong everything around him is. Of course I am a serious fan of Wu and if
you've seen the AMC series Into the Badlands where he plays Sunny, you'd be
hooked on him too.
West as Lord Richard Croft raises his young daughter but
leads a very secretive life. As Lara gets older she accepts her father's
'business' trips with ease knowing that her father loves her. West takes the
role of Richard and gives the audience a little more back story and experience
the father-daughter relationship.
Thomas as Ana has been keeping Croft Holdings up and running
for Lara but knows its time for decisions to be made so she doesn't lose what
her father has left behind. I have to say I love seeing Thomas taken on a shady
character.
Other cast includes: Alexandre Willaume, Tamer Burjaq,
Adrian Collins, Keenan Arrison, Andrian Mazive, Milton Schorr and a cameo by
Nick Frost.
Okay, time to get real and announce this is where there may
be a few spoilers because there is no way to talk about the film without
letting things slip here and there. So if you don't want to know - check out
right here - still here? Then prepare for a rant.
I want to be taken away and go on an adventure when I'm
watching a movie that is suppose to be, well, an adventure. Then a scene takes
me completely out of it and I'm spending the rest of the time seeing nothing
but what's wrong. Let’s begin being hit by a car, I realize she is Lara Croft
but, um, yea, a car usually puts people out of commission for a day at least. Then
again I guess that’s what one does when dealing with daddy issues.
Then there is a camera left behind seven years after Richard
Croft's disappearance. Lara finds it and - low and behold - it works. Really?
REALLY? My cell phone can't hold a charge for more than a day and this frikken
camera is still working after seven years?
Also, knowing a thing or two about keeping a house - is it
me or shouldn’t there be more dust and cobwebs in an office that has been left
untouched for seven years. I mean not a single cobweb?
Onward trying not to shake my head, the next jaw dropper - I
could be wrong but when a tree stabs you in the side and you get sewn up, do
you (less than 8 hours later) run top speed through the jungle like Katniss
Everdeen hunting President Snow? It could be she is a descendant of Legolas
from Lord of the Rings with the ability to run and shoot rapid arrows at close
range. Maybe it’s Indian Jones figuring out the traps so that she can get her
hands on the Grail? That can’t be possible since Dan Brown has taken care of
that faux cup right? Professor Jones must feel sheepish.
I mean seriously we have had the Grail, Priory, Illuminati
which, by the way, the original Lara Croft’s father was a part of. Since that’s
been covered, it’s on to the new secret sect of crazies called the Trinity. My
head is spinning.
Yes, I am completely over it which once again proves to my
stubborn self that there is no reason to redo films that are perfectly okay as
they are. The thought process should have been this; how about saving millions
of dollars and have a Lara Croft: Tomb Raider marathon of the original films and
pocket money without out really spending millions. Oh I know, I'm going to get
garbage about how old the other film is or how a "new generation"
needs a revamp of the story. I'm calling b.s. on that Hollywood
And as far as the theme song does it really have to be
'Survivor'? This song has been played into the dirt and this is the best you
could come up with? What's with calling the film TOMB RAIDER as if Lara Croft
is an after thought. Did you think that leaving it off would mean people
wouldn't IMDB it to see that this is a remake, rethink, reimaging or anything
else re?
So here is the deal - is the film heinous? No, it's just
annoying and I hate being annoyed. Is it a good cast? Yes, and in lies another
dilemma for me. I don't have issue with the cast at all, I am a Vikander, West
and Wu fan and am completely in love with anything Walton Coggins does. I mean
really, any guy who can pull off the ever so lovely Venus Van Damn with a heart
of gold to sway Tig from Sons of Anarchy
fame works for me completely. That’s where my thumbs up ends.
Come on studios! Are you going to rely on Steven Spielberg,
Christopher Nolan, Alfonso Cuaron and Spike Jonze to do all the original film
heavy lifting forever?
In the end – her legend begins.
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