Tomb Raider 1 & 2 (Roar Uthaug/Ben Wheatley, 2018/21)

[colinr0380]

The upcoming Tomb Raider reboot starring Alicia Vikander looks as if it is going to be based on the plot of the 2013 game with lots of wilderness survival aspects and the opening shipwreck being in there. Albeit this looks to be a version of the story where none of the horrible, non-cannon death scenes happen to Lara due to player failure! (i.e. the story when not played by Conan O'Brien!) It is also nice to see Kristin Scott Thomas in there in what should, if they go on to Rise of the Tomb Raider, become a fun wicked stepmother part!

[mfunk9786]

Much like in the video game franchise reboot, I'm glad they've gone away from the absurd bombshell image that Lara Croft began with, as a scrappy and athletic one always made way more sense than the polygon-busting character that she began as. The sense of humor in that trailer is pretty brutal though, and the old tradition of finding a relatively unknown foreign director with a bizarre name for these studio action tentpoles continues, I can't say that knowing this is "A Roar Uthaug Film" is very encouraging.

EDIT: Wow, how did I bury the lede though? Walton Goggins is third-billed! Surely the dialogue he has to chew on is going to be awful, but I'd watch him in anything.

[DarkImbecile]

I’ve been one of those people who sometimes bemoans the relative dearth of original, mid-budget studio efforts aimed at adults in an industry dominated by low-budget indies and mega-budget franchise entries, so occasionally it’s good to get a reminder that those movies can be just as pointless, undercooked, and uninteresting as the latest $200 million video-game/toy/amusement park ride adaptation aimed at twelve-year-olds.

Speaking of video game adaptations, there's not much to say about Roar Uthaug's Tomb Raider - which, to be fair, only cost $100 million and is aimed more at 14-year-olds - other than that any level of respectable mediocrity it achieves above what you'd expect from the reboot of a Indiana Jones ripoff franchise is due solely to Alicia Vikander, who rose above the material in a way that convinced me more than anything else she's done (as much as I like her in the far superior Ex Machina) that she can and should be a huge star. Even the great Walton Goggins is only intermittently engaging here - itself a remarkable achievement - but Vikander owns her role and somehow manages to make the physics- and physiology-defying CGI stunts and hand-to-hand combat with men twice her size seem credible and even occasionally compelling. I only hope she's able to parlay what appears to be substantial international success for this film (which joins the trend of blockbusters unashamedly pandering to the increasingly dominant Asian markets with its choice of settings and supporting characters) into worthwhile roles and isn't inescapably caught in the quagmire of these kind of tentpoles.

As a side note, while there are a few decent instances of location shooting - the Hong Kong dock sequence is pleasant to look at - the movie repeatedly falls prey to the virulent misconception that the best way to excite audiences with exotic locales and thrilling adventure is with... heavily CGI'd stunts executed on soundstages. At the very least, can we come together as a nation and a human race to ban the slow-motion shot of a character barely sliding underneath (and looking up in amazement at) some piece of computer wizardry flying inches over their head? Why do bad directors want us to have extra time to appreciate the boring unreality of their film by making these things slow-motion when they could at least do us the favor of getting their movie over with a few dozen frames faster?

[domino harvey]

Here's where at least five tickets went

I saw the originals for the first time a few months ago and I couldn't believe how awful they were. I have no idea which critic at the time led me to believe I might like them, therefore planting the idea of watching them so many years ago, but now that I finally got around to them I want a refund all the same

[DarkImbecile]

Yeah, I should have mentioned that while not good, the new Tomb Raider is at least two orders of magnitude better than the Jolie entries; if you’re a fan of the games and exceeding those dreary early 2000s films is your threshold for seeing it, then proceed without hesitation.

[colinr0380]

I'll defend the original films by saying that I actually quite like Angelina Jolie in the Tomb Raider films, or at least the first, and she was certainly the only person at the time who could have even conceivably embodied the buxom, laconic, upper crust Lara Croft of the original series (In that sense Jolie was the Lara Croft for the 'girl power' age. Which I suppose would make Vikander the Lara Croft for the Kate Middleton age?). Its her iconic cinematic role, for better or worse. Plus the support casting of that version was excellent with Noah Taylor (aka the guy from Shine) as the tech guy and Chris Barrie (best known as Rimmer from Red Dwarf) as the unflappable butler. Plus there is a great early scene with Leslie Phillips! (Derek Jacobi is apparently doing the 'twinkly old British thesp' cameo in the new film!)

I do think that I like Lara Croft: Tomb Raider mostly down to Simon West's direction which (like Martin Campbell with the best Bond films, and The Mask of Zorro) is the definition of competent. They might not be the best or most surprising films in the world, but they also will not be a total disaster. Its also why Lara Croft: Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life(: Too Many Colons) falls down because its yet another film that got ruined by Jan de Bont's lacklustre, over flashy direction. Speed was absolutely amazing and deserves its classic action film status, but Twister made tornado chasing seem boring; Speed 2 was idiotic; and, the most egregious crime of all, The Haunting turned the original masterpiece of implication into something that would make the Disney's Haunted Mansion seem restrained! Compared to all that The Cradle of Life was not horrifically bad, but it fell into the trap that the original game series did: it moved away from tombs and relics and too much into modern world action scenes and Bond-style globe trotting. Eventually it felt less as if it was trying to be Indiana Jones than a female Mission: Impossible. And for a sprawling plot about the hunt for a McGuffin like that to work you need a director able to handle all of those disparate elements and make it feel part of a whole cohesive story, not just a number of locations and set pieces strung together.

One of the weird things that I was reminded of by the interviews surrounding the film is that often the film interviewers have little to no knowledge of the game series (not that it should really be necessary), but that seems to swerve them into trying to emphasise the physically strenuous nature of the role for the lead actress. The Lara Croft: Tomb Raider DVD extras seemed mostly about Jolie's gym regime, and a couple of recent interviews with Alicia Vikander have just talked up the preparations needed for an action role. I suppose it is the easiest route to go down, but I find it interesting that certain styles of film inspire certain lines of questioning from interviewers, but it seems much too easy to just do that and inspire the standard and expected responses from the interviewee. On a wider scale, how much does an expectation of the content of certain behind the scenes footage or interview subjects lead to extra features being unable to go off into different areas?

___

Of course the big question that will be coming up is the one that has been ongoing in the videogame world for a while - is Tomb Raider or Uncharted the better Indiana Jones inspired property? We might find out when the Uncharted film eventually gets made.

[mfunk9786]

I’m probably going to wind up being the forum’s champion for this admittedly ridiculous film. It’s not only better than it has any right to be, but Vikander gives one of the better action heroine performances this side of Kill Bill with regard to sheer believability - she’s obviously a big (if already a bit forgotten by the A-tier of prestige filmmakers) Oscar-winning actress, but she totally brought it for this film and met every daunting athletic demand (and less daunting acting demand) necessary. Surprisingly, with Dominic West transforming into fucking BOB from Twin Peaks, the only real acting disappointment was that Walton Goggins wasn’t really unleashed, his signature swagger missing from 95% of his line deliveries. He showed up, but full ham mode would have been appreciated, and appropriate for the material.

My only real gripe with the film’s plot (beyond the obvious: yes, I know the supernatural plot contrivances are ridiculous, and I don’t care) is the final 5 minutes or so, with a Saw-like twist only there as clunky table setting for a sequel, and a poorly tacked on gag meant to serve the same purpose. Both of these should have come after the credits if the studio was truly married to doing them, this obviously wasn’t the filmmaker’s idea. Who would want to end their film that way, even one like Tomb Raider?

P.S.: Another aspect of the film I appreciated - it’s romance-free. A love story would have felt wrong for the character and only there as a tacked-on studio contrivance - it is not missed, the film is better for it.

P.P.S.: One last thing... I know there’s definitely an element of pandering to Asian markets here, and judging from box office returns, it worked in spades - but if we’re not just rolling our eyes at every instance of this (which feels needlessly dismissive and borderline racially exclusionary/insensitive), then at least this is a better than usual example of that sort of thing. Daniel Wu gives a nice performance in a limited role, and no one jumped on the phone to call China to come save the day (like some other, much more celebrated studio films have tacked onto their bloated hulls). I’m not sure that trying to diagetically increase racial diversity and broader appeal in big budget movies is a bad thing, necessarily, if it’s done correctly and not with an excess of lazy cynicism. It’s not as if American television and movies are overrun with Asian actors and crew members at the moment.

[DarkImbecile]

I only hope she's able to parlay what appears to be substantial international success for this film (which joins the trend of blockbusters unashamedly pandering to the increasingly dominant Asian markets with its choice of settings and supporting characters) into worthwhile roles and isn't inescapably caught in the quagmire of these kind of tentpoles.

P.P.S.: One last thing... I know there’s definitely an element of pandering to Asian markets here, and judging from box office returns, it worked in spades - but if we’re not just rolling our eyes at every instance of this (which feels needlessly dismissive and borderline racially exclusionary/insensitive), then at least this is a better than usual example of that sort of thing.

I’d somewhat agree with that - these elements in this film aren’t anywhere near the most awkwardly shoehorned-in cast members or plot developments in recent big budget movies - but in case it wasn’t clear, I wasn’t rolling my eyes at this particular trend any more or less than I do at the other examples of overly transparent pandering movies do these days: to 80s/90s geeks (Ready Player One), NRA members (Death Proof), or members of this forum (Phantom Thread).

[mfunk9786]

Do you mean Death Wish?

And I wasn’t implying anything about you, I’ve heard literally nothing positive about the concept of making films that appeal to global markets - in film criticism circles, from filmmakers, on this forum, on other forums... and for (largely) good reason! I just didn’t know if we’re going to get to the point where an Asian setting or characters, implemented skillfully and sensibly, is going to always be met with skepticism. Because it sucks that there’d be that level of collateral damage from a practice that is a particularly loathsome movie conglomerate cash grab.

[DarkImbecile]

I do mean Death Wish... not sure what the NRA would say about the Tarantino.

“Custom muscle cars don’t kill people...”

[mfunk9786]

We should give every stunt man a gun.

[Big Ben]

Are you familiar with the first game in the recent Tomb Raider reboot mfunk? The Asian setting comes from there and based on what I'm reading from the brief Wikipedia summary the plot seems to simply be a reworking of said plot.

[mfunk9786]

Yes, I am - but I’m also familiar with studios taking every opportunity they can to exploit the ability to pander to Asian countries (particularly the Chinese market) in exchange for further box office success. So it just happened to work out beautifully for this film, but it may not have gotten a $100 million budget if the setting were different.

[Luke M]

I liked this one. There is something nostalgic about it. Maybe I don’t see enough movies but the PG-13 adventure movie with cheesy dialogue and predictable supporting characters seems like a lost genre. Or perhaps I’m just not seeing enough Dwayne Johnson movies?

I thought it was fairly faithful to the games in more ways than I expected. The 2013 reboot of Tomb Raider was one of my favorite games of the 360/PS3 generation and I felt this captured a lot of that spirit. Vikander is fun and making the best out of her role. I wish they’d just let Goggins play his Vice Principals character. There are hints of it but he plays it too straight.

The last scene is a bit of a betrayal of the character. Winking at the audience at the expense of everything that came before was a bad choice.

I’m up for another Vikander-led Lara Croft adventure.

[wattsup32]

Or perhaps I’m just not seeing enough Dwayne Johnson movies?

If you have to wonder whether you're seeing enough Dwayne Johnson movies, you're not seeing enough Dwayne Johnson movies.

[Ribs]

There’s something really intriguing in the handful of movies recently that are structured like video games; I don’t really know how to describe it, exactly, but this, 10 Cloverfield Lane, and Kubo and the Two Strings all feel like they’ve got that same sort of weird narrative thrust like a game does.

I think the idea of Asia pandering is overstated and misunderstood by most. The Great Wall was a movie from the future: it’s a mass-market Chinese film that was otherwise impenetrable that was able to generate $40+ Million in the US entirely by adding Matt Damon as the lead. It’s a Chinese film that pandered to America, and it really worked. Here, though, it doesn’t feel like pandering so much as them taking advantage of a fortuitas element in the original work and exaggerating it for widest possible appeal. A notion I’ve seen raised is that it’s legitimately possible the Mandarin dub of films like this or the Mummy are actually way better films, and that all of the problems are therein on the script level (I think there’s a modest chance that is the case, but it’s an intriguing possibility nonetheless)

[domino harvey]

Sequel greenlit, Vikander will return

[Cremildo]

Ben Wheatley, of all people, will be helming Tomb Raider 2.