Tomb Raider (2018)

Tomb Raider (2018) - Alicia Vikander
Tomb Raider (2018) – Alicia Vikander

Taglines: Her legend begins.

Lara Croft is the fiercely independent daughter of an eccentric adventurer who vanished when she was scarcely a teen. Now a young woman of 21 without any real focus or purpose, Lara navigates the chaotic streets of trendy East London as a bike courier, barely making the rent, and takes college courses, rarely making it to class. Determined to forge her own path, she refuses to take the reins of her father’s global empire just as staunchly as she rejects the idea that he’s truly gone. Advised to face the facts and move forward after seven years without him, even Lara can’t understand what drives her to finally solve the puzzle of his mysterious death.

Going explicitly against his final wishes, she leaves everything she knows behind in search of her dad’s last-known destination: a fabled tomb on a mythical island that might be somewhere off the coast of Japan. But her mission will not be an easy one; just reaching the island will be extremely treacherous. Suddenly, the stakes couldn’t be higher for Lara, who-against the odds and armed with only her sharp mind, blind faith and inherently stubborn spirit-must learn to push herself beyond her limits as she journeys into the unknown. If she survives this perilous adventure, it could be the making of her, earning her the name tomb raider.

Tomb Raider (2018)

Tomb Raider is a 2018 action-adventure film directed by Roar Uthaug, with a screenplay by Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Alastair Siddons, from a story by Evan Daugherty and Robertson-Dworet. An American and British co-production, it is based on the 2013 video game of the same name, with some elements of its sequel by Crystal Dynamics, and is a reboot of the Tomb Raider film series. The film stars Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft, who embarks on a perilous journey to her father’s last-known destination, hoping to solve the mystery of his disappearance. Dominic West, Walton Goggins, Daniel Wu, and Kristin Scott Thomas appear in supporting roles.

Principal photography took place from January to June 2017 at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden in Hertfordshire, England, and in Cape Town, South Africa. The first Tomb Raider film not to be distributed by Paramount Pictures, it was released in the United Kingdom on March 14, 2018, and in the United States on March 16, 2018, by Warner Bros. Pictures, in RealD 3D, IMAX 3D, IMAX and 4DX.[8] The film grossed over $274 million worldwide, outperforming both the 2001 film of the same name and its 2003 sequel.

The film received mixed reviews from critics, with some describing the plot as paint “by-the-numbers”, and others praising the action sequences, tone, grittiness and realistic take on the franchise. Vikander’s performance and the characterization of Croft drew a polarized response; some described her as a “capable, powerful, and unobjectified heroine”, while others called her bland, and a “punching bag and onlooker.” A sequel is scheduled to be released in March 2021.

Tomb Raider (2018) - Alicia Vikander
Tomb Raider (2018) – Alicia Vikander

About the Story

Cast and Characters

— Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft
— Emily Carey as young Lara (14-year old) and Maisy De Freitas as younger Lara
— Dominic West as Lord Richard Croft, Lara’s deceased archaeologist father.
— Walton Goggins as Mathias Vogel, a rival archaeologist of Richard Croft and a member of Trinity, a shadowy organisation.
— Daniel Wu as Lu Ren, the ship captain who helps Lara in searching for her father.
— Kristin Scott Thomas as Ana Miller, an associate at Richard Croft’s company, Croft Holdings.
— Nick Frost as Max: A gun shop clerk.
— Hannah John-Kamen as Sophie, Croft’s flatmate and best friend.
— Antonio Aakeel as Nitin, a friend to Lara.

Following the disappearance of her father, Lord Richard Croft, Lara Croft makes a living as a bike courier. When she is arrested after a bike accident involving a police car, Richard’s business partner Ana Miller posts her bail. Lara has never claimed her inheritance for many years as she believes her father to still be alive, but Miller warns Lara that if she does not claim it, her father’s country estate, Croft Manor, will be sold off. Lara reluctantly accepts and gains access to a secret chamber in her father’s tomb. There she finds a pre-recorded video message from Richard detailing his research into Himiko, the mythical Queen of Yamatai who was said to command the power over life and death. Richard warns Lara to destroy all of his research, but she ignores his warnings so that she can investigate further.

Tomb Raider (2018) - Alicia Vikander
Tomb Raider (2018) – Alicia Vikander

Lara travels to Hong Kong where she hires Lu Ren, captain of the ship Endurance, to sail into the Devil’s Sea and the island of Yamatai. The ship capsizes in a violent storm and Lara is washed ashore where she is knocked unconscious. She awakens only to encounter Mathias Vogel, the leader of an expedition to locate Himiko’s tomb. The expedition has been funded by a shadowy organization called Trinity, which seeks to harness and weaponize Himiko’s power. Vogel takes Lara prisoner, claiming that he killed her father and revealing that he intends to use Richard’s research to continue his expedition. He adds Lara and Lu Ren to his slave force; eventually, the two of them try to escape, and Lara is the only one successful.

After surviving rapids and narrowly avoiding getting thrown over a waterfall, Lara is forced to kill a Trinity guard after nightfall. She follows a mysterious figure through the jungle, and discovers that the figure is her father, who stayed on the island to prevent Trinity from finding Himiko’s tomb. After Lara convinces him that she is real and not a figment of his imagination, Richard treats her injuries. Despite his protests, Lara sets off the next morning to steal Vogel’s satellite phone.

Lara makes contact with Lu Ren, and he, along with the other slaves, stage a distraction that allows Lara to infiltrate the Trinity camp and take the phone. In the ensuing chaos, Lu Ren commandeers an assault rifle, provides cover for the escapees and guns down several Trinity soldiers, while Richard makes his way to Himiko’s tomb and is captured by Vogel, who persuades Lara to open the tomb.

Tomb Raider (2018) - Alicia Vikander
Tomb Raider (2018) – Alicia Vikander

The party navigates a series of booby traps and locates Himiko’s sarcophagus. When a Trinity soldier attempts to remove her corpse, he is infected by a highly infectious pathogen that reduces those infected to an aggressive zombie-like state. Lara realizes that Himiko was an asymptomatic carrier of the virus, who chose to entomb herself so that she could not infect others. Vogel concludes that he cannot remove Himiko’s body and instead settles for detaching a finger, which he seals in a pouch.

In the confusion, Lara and Richard overpower the remaining soldiers, although Vogel escapes and Richard becomes infected. Knowing there is no cure, Richard proposes destroying Himiko’s tomb to prevent the disease from spreading across the world. Lara pursues Vogel as Richard sets off a bomb, killing himself and sealing the tomb. Lara confronts and kills Vogel by infecting him with the finger. She escapes the tomb as it collapses, regrouping with Lu Ren and the slaves; they commandeer a Trinity helicopter to escape Yamatai.

Tomb Raider Movie Poster (2018)

Tomb Raider (2018)

Directed by: Roar Uthaug
Starring: Alicia Vikander, Hannah John-Kamen, Walton Goggins, Kristin Scott Thomas, Dominic West,Nick Frost, Daniel Wu, Emily Carey, Alexandre Willaume, Gintare Beinoraviciute, Helena Holmes, Beatrice Stein
Screenplay by: Geneva Robertson-Dworet, Alastair Siddons
Production Design by: Gary Freeman
Cinematography by: George Richmond
Film Editing by: Stuart Baird, Tom Harrison-Read
Costume Design by: Colleen Atwood, Timothy A. Wonsik
Set Decoration by: Raffaella Giovannetti, Maria Labuschagne
Art Direction by: om Brow, Anthony Caron-Delion, Claire Fleming, Simon Lamont, Tamara Marini, Tom Still, Alessandro Troso
Music by: Junkie XL
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sequences of violence and action, and for some language.
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date: March 16, 2018

Visits: 29