Tomb Raider packed full of action

Alicia Vikander shows off her talents in video game adaptation

Amanda Hinshaw
Staff Writer

Academy Award-winning actress Alicia Vikander blew audiences away, as she portrayed Lara Croft in “Tomb Raider.”

The film was directed by Roar Uthaug and it made its debut on March 16.

Many video gamers will know that “Tomb Raider” is actually based on the 2013 release of the video game.  The constant theme that is seen throughout the movie is that we watch her go from an inexperienced young woman into a hardened survivor.

This is an aspect that most audiences may appreciate because every character has had weaknesses before they finally become who they are meant to be.  Lara Croft is no exception to this rule, as video gamers will know that Lara starts out as an inexperienced young woman, and eventually becomes the gun-wielding maiden that we all know and love.

WARNING:  This review may contain some spoilers, so they will be kept to a minimum, as a courtesy to those who haven’t seen the film.

Lara, 21, is shown to be a carefree individual, but it becomes evident that she lacks any real purpose in life.  In fact, it becomes a little more clear that she is broke when she hasn’t been paying her club dues.

Lara works a variety of odd jobs, just barely paying any of her bills.  She may appear to be poor, but in reality, she’s sitting on a massive fortune left to her by her late father, Richard Croft.  Lara refuses to accept the money and most people assume she is being irrational, but there is a reason for why she won’t accept it.

In order to accept it, she would not only have to sign legal papers, but she would also have to come to the harsh realization that her father is gone.  Lara eventually finds her purpose after finding her father’s secret vault and sees a video of her father, asking her to put a stop to “Trinity.”

The film picks up steam when she finds Lu Ren, a boat captain, and he agrees to take her to the island where her father may still be alive.  The trip turns sour quickly, as their ship is capsized during a violent storm and they are forced to abandon it.  Lara makes it to the island, only to be knocked unconscious by an unknown person.

Lara eventually learns that she is on an island where there are Trinity soldiers, and a man named Mathias is in charge of an operation that is trying to locate the tomb of a Japanese queen.

The film has just the right amount of action, witty humor, and I really appreciate the fact that they still kept quite a bit of the elements from the video game, but they also put their own twist on it.  It was also nice to see that the sequence of subplot after subplot was nowhere to be found.

“Tomb Raider” did surprisingly well in the box office, considering that it hasn’t been a month since the film was released.  It has garnered $248,550,027 worldwide on a $94 million budget.  If you are looking to go see an action film anytime soon, I hope that you will consider giving “Tomb Raider” a try.

I enjoyed the film and I think Lara embodies an independent spirit that young women could look up to.

Photo: (Courtesy of The Associated Press)