Share

Tomb Raider

accreditation
Alicia Vikander in Tomb Raider. (Warner Bros)
Alicia Vikander in Tomb Raider. (Warner Bros)

What it’s about:

Lara Croft is back – but she’s not the tried-and-tested adventurer we know and love. This Lara is a struggling twenty-something working as a bike courier in London. She’s tough, angry and has no idea what she wants to do with her life. She’s an heiress struggling to make ends meet, thanks to her stubborn refusal to accept her long-missing father, Lord Richard Croft, is actually dead and take on his fortune.

But then she discovers a clue that might explain what happened to her beloved dad – and prove her instincts right. Without a second thought, she sets off for a mythical island off the coast of Japan, Yamatai, rumoured to be the tomb of an ancient Japanese sorceress queen, Himiko. There, Lara discovers her father wasn’t quite what he seemed – and that she may have some rather special talents up her sleeve. 

What we thought:

We came expecting cutting-edge special effects, epic landscapes and crazy stunts – and the Tomb Raider prequel delivered in abundance. 

There are plenty of nail-biting scenes that will have you on the edge of your seat for a good chunk of the film, thanks to out-of-this world stunts and special effects. A scene on the decks of the Endurance, the rickety ship Lara uses to travel to the island during a raging storm will have you yelping into your popcorn (but from the director who brought us 2015 apocalyptic drama The Wave, what else could we expect?).

But big-budget action-adventure staples aside, there was an unexpected depth to the movie, thanks to the reboot’s Oscar-winning star, Alicia Vikander. 

Alicia’s Lara is brave, impulsive and stubborn as hell – but she’s also young, vulnerable and pretty freaked out by the terrifying series of events her presence on Yamatai has triggered. 

Of course, the 118-minute blockbuster is packed with action scenes, so Alicia doesn’t have much time to explore the depth of the role in between chasm-leaping, weapon-wielding and saving the world and stuff. 

Still, she manages to give fans a far more grounded, realistic Lara than we’ve ever seen – with some crazy six-pack abs and epic fight choreography thrown in for good measure.

Her nemesis, Mathias Vogel, the reprehensible treasure-hunter who has been stranded on the island for seven years with his band of thugs, is played Walton Goggins, who also delivers an enthralling, Jack Nicolson-esque performance.

It’s a thoroughly entertaining ride with incredible stunts and a cast that will have you thoroughly engrossed in what’s perhaps, at best, a mildly interesting story-line.

The plot is pretty cliché and the sequence of events pretty obvious – but you’re not watching Tomb Raider for meaningful drama and emotional twists and turns, are you?


We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred
Who we choose to trust can have a profound impact on our lives. Join thousands of devoted South Africans who look to News24 to bring them news they can trust every day. As we celebrate 25 years, become a News24 subscriber as we strive to keep you informed, inspired and empowered.
Join News24 today
heading
description
username
Show Comments ()
Editorial feedback and complaints

Contact the public editor with feedback for our journalists, complaints, queries or suggestions about articles on News24.

LEARN MORE