VGFlicks: Tomb Raider (2018) (Part 1)

Continuing a theme across my movie reviews this year of games/franchises I’ve never played, that have been around for over 20 years, with movies released at some point in the last seven years. However, I do own two games from today’s franchise on Steam, so I might discover it someday.

“This one walked so the next one could run.” I’ve heard that sentence used in the context of film series a few times. It refers to when a first movie is made to be simple and to-the-point, so that a sequel has a solid foundation to build from. The downside is that this comes with the intention of making more than one movie, meaning that the first film cannot miss its mark. (Actually having a the sequel greenlit helps, too.) The tendency for movies in certain genres to end on cliffhangers has been long derided, and video game movies have been guilty of the practice. Remember that time Daisy busted down the Mario family’s door, gun in hand, ready to destroy more interdimensional Koopa ass?

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, I envy you.

But to this day, it still happens, and it may be even worse nowadays with the rampant franchising of everything. I’m playing my cards early for this one, I admit.

Tomb Raider has been around since 1996. One of the few female-driven long-lasting series, featuring the acclaimed Lara Croft, who has deserved her space on the pantheon of great heroines of gaming alongside Samus Aran and Claire Redfield. Tomb Raider is also a film series... sort of; two films starring Angelina Jolie were released in 2001 and 2003. In the 2010s, the games reinvented themselves (and their starring lady), and a feature reflecting the reboot was more than welcome. A film adaptation of Tomb Raider (2013) was released in American theaters on March 14, 2018. Directed by Roar Uthaug, the feature puts actress Alicia Vikander, already a fan of the franchise, in the shoes of the adventurous archaeologist. The film is intended to be an origin story for the character… a foundation to possibly build on in the future.

At the very least, we should look at this film for its own merits, so let’s sit down and give it a watch, shall we?

Not the Croft we know

We open on narration by Lara’s father Richard Croft (portrayed by Dominic West) retelling the story of Queen Himiko of Japan, who was said to have the touch of death and who amassed an impressive body count through her magic. It got to the point where her generals revolted and trapped her within a tomb hidden on the uncharted island of Yamatai.

The narration ends on Richard Croft fearing that with this adventure, he,ll leave his daughter behind...

Christ, MMA fights are rough.

Oh, there she is! We cut to Lara Croft, and… well, the movie lays it on thick that this isn’t the heroine we're used to. Or at least, it isn’t her yet. Out with the riches, out with the means, Hell, out with the combat skills! We literally start on her losing an MMA battle! Her opponent has her beat with a chokehold. Things aren’t rosy in her personal life either, with Lara even struggling to pay rent. Oh, the money of her ultra-rich archaeologist father who owns more businesses than anyone ever should? She cannot inherit these assets until she finally signs the paper stating that the man is dead, a possibility she refuses to accept despite his disappearance seven years prior. That, and she wants to make her own place in the world without relying on the easy mode of the inheritance.

She lives her steady life with an apartment and a meager job as a bike courier, and tries to find cash wherever she can. She might even do stupid things for it, like participate to a cycling “fox hunt” game for 600 quid. Despite research, I couldn’t find whether this was a real thing – which, considering it would be HELLA illegal, reckless, and dangerous for bystanders, doesn’t surprise me. The film explains it: One fast racer has a fox tail attached to their bike alongside a can of paint that’s pierced. The “fox” gets a head start, and “hounds” (the rest of the racers) give chase, following the trail of paint. The winner is the fox if they still aren’t caught when the paint stops dripping, or whichever hound grabbed and took the tail. Oh, and it’s done across the busy, crowded streets of London in the film.

Yeah, don’t do this.

Clever girl.

The scene serves as an excellent establishing character moment for this take on Lara Croft; she’s physically fit (as shown by her outspeeding the others for a while), resourceful (finding detours and shortcuts), brave (doing some pretty dangerous things during the race) and quick-witted (she cleverly jumps her bike into a trailer when out of sight of the pack, so as to make them wonder where she went where the pain trail ends). She's everything except a rich, battle-hardened hero.

I know the Croft estate is big, but I swear, the
only times Lara hears from Ana is so she can
sign the damn papers.

Those 600 quid would have been in the bag, had it not been for the hounds spotting her while she thought she had escaped them. The pursuit ends when Lara thinks she sees her father on the street, only for the person to be a stranger, and in her distraction she hits a police cruiser. Ana Miller (played by Kristin Scott Thomas), an associate at Croft Holdings, the company owned by Lara’s father, has to bail her out of jail. Oops. Ana, being a businesswoman, is very insistent on Lara signing the papers, so that the Croft estate won’t go down the drain, with Lara even at risk of losing Croft Manor.

Road to Yamatai

The Crofts basically make a living solving puzzles.
Of course Lara would be good at it too.

That evening, Lara thinks about the time her father gave her an emerald pendant when she was very young, like a parting gift that she could use to feel like he's around. This convinces her to meet with the high officials at Croft Holdings to sign. Mr. Yaffe, the associate overseeing the procedure, shows Lara a karakuri, a Japanese puzzle kept by Richard’s estate and to be given to his daughter upon his death (read: after she's signed). Skilled at riddles and puzzles, she grabs the toy and solves it, revealing a compartment with a photo, a key and a riddle: “The first letter from my final destination”.

Lara leaves before signing, to Ana’s dismay, and heads over to Croft Manor, which she could still access. She inspects the the Croft family mausoleum and finds a keyhole hidden in the round of the capital R of the space reserved for Richard Croft’s body. The key fits in perfectly, and turning it opens a secret passageway. Suddenly, spy movie!

I can think of a couple museums who'd like to
have some of those items.

"Burn my research. Burn it. Make sure there isn't a single
bit of paper that's not turned to ash. Then, scatter the
ashes across the property. Then burn what you used to
carry the ashes. I repeat: Burn my goddamn research, Lara!"

The secret room is filled with ancient artefacts. Lara also finds, among other things, a pile of fake passports as well as a recorded message left for her. In it, daddy explains that after Lara’s mother passed away, he got interested in the supernatural, as though trying to contact his wife. He asks Lara to burn the research pertaining to the legend of Himiko, as it falling into the wrong hands would be catastrophic. Intrigued, the young woman reads through the research, finding a book with clues and a receipt for a trip on a boat called the Endurance from Hong Kong to the island of Yamatai, where the tomb is located. With added focus on Himiko – that she had the touch of death and that she could control minds – a voice recording also left by Richard states that he “has to get there first”. Someone else is seeking this tomb.

Nick Frost does great in everything he's in. I'm almost
sad this is only a bit part. Maybe in the sequel... oh, right.

Our protagonist gets it in her head to go to the Island of Yamatai to find her father, but she needs money for that. She sells her emerald pendant at a local pawn shop helmed by Alan (friggin’ Nick Frost) and his wife Pamela (Jaime Winstone). Almost one-scene wonders, these two. Alan’s offer starts at 10,000, then goes lower when Lara says her father is dead because “everyone tries that trick”. Fair, I imagine pawn shops hear that stuff all the time. Lara finally settles for 8,000 before any more cash gets taken away. …I’m almost disappointed that Frost doesn’t get to reference any other film he starred in, like Hot Fuzz, one of my favorite films of all time.

The captain's got a gun! And don't let his drunken swaying
fool you, he's a damn good shot with it.

Lara gets to the Hong Kong piers in search for the Endurance and almost has her stuff stolen by pickpockets. She puts up a fight until they reveal knives, and she hides on the boat she had been looking for. The thieves flee when the owner shows up, drunk and packing heat. This is Lu Ren (Daniel Wu), whose father of the same name took Richard Croft to Yamatai seven years prior. It takes a lot of convincing before she can get through to the man. Forced through a cold shower to sober up, Lu Ren explains that his father disappeared in the same expedition. Together, they figure out the location of the island through a riddle in Richard’s exploration book. Yamatai is located in the middle of the Devil’s Sea, a dangerous area; Lu Ren is reticent, but money convinces him.

Lara and Lu Ren have a great dynamic as a team, something
that's even more true once the crap hits the fan.

They sail; Lara works hard as part of this two-man team, impressing Lu Ren, and reads through her father’s books in her free time. One word stands out: Trinity, the name of an organization that seeks supernatural treasures of the past in an attempt to control the world-

-Hold on, this is starting to sound less like Tomb Raider and more like Assassin’s Creed with the Templars and shit. In the game this film is based on, Trinity is mentioned roughly once in the text of in-game collectibles. This adaptation names them outright and sets them as the villains, possibly because the games that follow in the trilogy, Rise and Shadow of the Tomb Raider, gives them greater focus. Still nothing to shake off that feel of Assassins VS Templars with the serial numbers of Christianity filed off. Their omnipresence indicates that there were plans to expand beyond this film.

That night, the Endurance meets a nasty storm in the Devil’s Sea. Lara and Lu Ren struggle on the boat, and the adventurer barely manages to retrieve her dad’s research (despite the captain’s advice not to) in the ship. Before they can do anything, the boat hits a reef and capsizes. Lara jumps into the water and reaches the shore… only to be captured.

Where’s the death cult?

Oh, they’ve reached the island of Yamatai alright – only thing is, a group of mercenaries sent there by Trinity is there as well, seeking the tomb. They headed to the island at the same time as Richard, and in seven years, this group has gone from bosses and employees to a masters-and-slaves dynamic, adding to the slaves any unlucky fishermen and travelers who ended up on Yamatai as well. That’s another change for the adaptation; in the game, those trapped went mad and became a murder cult, the Solarii brotherhood. …Then again, while the film remains ambiguous, Tomb Raider 2013 is clear on there being a supernatural cause to their predicament, with Yamatai being cursed and surrounded by a storm that won’t let anyone escape.

One character, two very different takes.

The Trinity team is led by Mathias Vogel (Walton Goggins), also radically different from the source material. Originally he was a mercenary gone insane, hence the death cult on the island. He helmed it as Father Mathias, rallying people behind the goal of escaping Yamatai; but he only had his own survival in mind and was willing to kill anyone to do it. This Mathias Vogel, while calmer and saner, still bears the toll of these years; he’s desperate to leave, but boats aren’t an option and Trinity won’t send a rescue mission until he finds the tomb. His ruthlessness is fueled by a desire to see his family again.

Game!Vogel was a bastard by choice. Film!Vogel becomes a
bastard out of desperation in a no-win situation.

Vogel is the first person Lara sees when she comes to. He seems reasonable at first, gives her food, explains his situation. The veil of niceness falls quick when he shows that he’s gotten his hands on Richard’s book from her bag. He admits he killed Richard, thanks her for bringing what he’s wanted all along, then shoves her out to join the slaves demolishing a mountain in search of the tomb. Guards armed with machine guns, watching over people carrying rocks without ever being given a break. I asked where the death cult was, this is even worse! Having survived the storm, Lu Ren has also been put to work. His dad was murdered by Vogel’s men, who don’t hesitate to kill whoever falls sick or stops working.

And she has makeshift handcuffs on the entire time!

Journal in hand, Matthias moves the camp to the actual location of the tomb. While the camp is being set up, Lara and Lu Ren take advantage of a moment of distraction to knock a guard out and steal their weapon. In the ensuing escape attempt, Lu Ren gets shot, but Lara manages to flee and jumps into a nearby river, with Vogel sending someone to hunt her down. Sounds like she’ll be fine? That’s too easy. Here, have a waterfall.

…I never get tired of using that gif.

To be fair, I saw gameplay of that moment in
Tonb Raider 2013... the film really ups the ante.

However, just besides the waterfall are the nature-eaten, rusted remains of an old airplane, which Lara manages to hang on to with the rope handcuffs the slavers had put on her. Using all of her strength, she climbs onto the plane’s wing and runs across the tilting metal towards the cockpit. In there, she cuts the rope joining her wrists, but has to hurry; the plane could go down the waterfall at any moment. In the nick of time, she grabs the old parachute that’s still there and the glass of the cockpit breaks underneath her. Luckily for her, the parachute lasts long enough to break her fall through the forest. She’s alive but wounded…

(For the record, that sequence is lifted directly from a segment in the original game. Wished the adaptation had more of those, to be honest. Would have been a great selling point.)

Oh, how I love when I can actually cut on a good cliff hanger. Let’s meet again for Part 2 very soon, alright?