Tomb Raider Movie

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VideoGameCritic
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Tomb Raider Movie

Postby VideoGameCritic » November 18th, 2018, 10:55 am

I watched the new Tomb Raider movie last night and here are a few thoughts.

First, I think Alicia Vikander was miscast. I know they were going for a young, athletic Lara Croft, but the actress simply does not look like Lara Croft! I've been playing her games for 20 years so I would know! In addition she lacks the sex appeal that Angelina Jolie had brought to the role.

The movie begins slowly, but picks up during the CGI-heavy shipwreck and rusted-airplane-on-the-edge-of-a-waterfall scenes. The airplane looks fake but these scenes are fun to watch. They look like something from the games.

The second half is pretty bland, and while some critics have praised the lack of effects, I think they might have helped. It's almost hard to maintain interest. The movie sets up for a sequel but I'm not sure this movie earned it.

Thoughts?

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Re: Tomb Raider Movie

Postby Sonicx9 » November 18th, 2018, 11:05 am

VideoGameCritic wrote:I watched the new Tomb Raider movie last night and here are a few thoughts.

First, I think Alicia Vikander was miscast. I know they were going for a young, athletic Lara Croft, but the actress simply does not look like Lara Croft! I've been playing her games for 20 years so I would know! In addition she lacks the sex appeal that Angelina Jolie had brought to the role.

The movie begins slowly, but picks up during the CGI-heavy shipwreck and rusted-airplane-on-the-edge-of-a-waterfall scenes. The airplane looks fake but these scenes are fun to watch. They look like something from the games.

The second half is pretty bland, and while some critics have praised the lack of effects, I think they might have helped. It's almost hard to maintain interest. The movie sets up for a sequel but I'm not sure this movie earned it.

Thoughts?


The thing to consider is this movie is based more on the current 2013 series, not the older series. Second thing to consider is the actress is modeled after the 2013 game with mix results.

Also worth mentioning is the movie was rated PG-13 toned down unlike the rather hard M rated current trilogy going on with gory violence and F bombs, which may have hurt the films quality. So you may want to go back and play both Tomb Raider 2013 on Xbox 360 and Rise of the Tomb Raider on Xbox One to refresh yourself for the recent film critic?
Last edited by Sonicx9 on November 18th, 2018, 2:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Tomb Raider Movie

Postby VideoGameCritic » November 18th, 2018, 1:47 pm

I just also mention it seemed far fetched that that little girl could kill several men with her bare hands, which she does in the film.

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Re: Tomb Raider Movie

Postby VicViper » November 18th, 2018, 4:01 pm

If it's supposed to look like the 2013 series of Tomb Raider games, it's understandable that Lara is different from her two previous incarnations (the 6 classics, and the Legend trilogy). Lara in Tomb Raider (2013), Rise of the Tomb Raider, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider isn't like the old ones, she's a different character, it'd be unrealistic to ask her to be like Angelina Jolie's portrayal.

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Re: Tomb Raider Movie

Postby Sonicx9 » November 18th, 2018, 5:07 pm

VicViper wrote:If it's supposed to look like the 2013 series of Tomb Raider games, it's understandable that Lara is different from her two previous incarnations (the 6 classics, and the Legend trilogy). Lara in Tomb Raider (2013), Rise of the Tomb Raider, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider isn't like the old ones, she's a different character, it'd be unrealistic to ask her to be like Angelina Jolie's portrayal.


That is what they are going for, it ironic the critic does not know this as he did play 2013 on Xbox 360 and Rise on Xbox One, yet he is not aware the recent movie is an adaptation of the recent incarnation and not the older series?

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Re: Tomb Raider Movie

Postby Stalvern » November 18th, 2018, 5:21 pm

She doesn't look a thing like the new games' Lara either, except for being an athletic brunette.

Image Image

I think it's a dumb thing to get hung up on, myself. Acting is what matters, not the exact shape of the person's nose or jaw.

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Re: Tomb Raider Movie

Postby Rev » November 18th, 2018, 9:13 pm

Went through all the Tomb Raider movies a few weeks ago. The two with Angelina Jolie are fun, dumb movies. Few things are as funny as watching Angelina Jolie dueling it out against a mechanical robot with her pistols. Those movies are a lot of fun. As for the newest Tomb Raider, I actually quite enjoyed it. It sort of followed the newer games and I felt like it was a better movie overall. While not as fun, I did enjoy it quite a bit.

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Re: Tomb Raider Movie

Postby VideoGameCritic » November 18th, 2018, 9:18 pm

Stalvern - So gracious of you to compose that message complete with side-by-side photo comparison in response to address my dumb "hang up". Thanks for the invalidation.

But you're right - people watch Tomb Raider movies for the acting. I expect this to win several Oscars.

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Re: Tomb Raider Movie

Postby Stalvern » November 19th, 2018, 1:16 am

VideoGameCritic wrote:Stalvern - So gracious of you to compose that message complete with side-by-side photo comparison in response to address my dumb "hang up". Thanks for the invalidation.

If you think that I was being sarcastic, I wasn't; I was honestly agreeing with you that she doesn't look like the game character. Sure, she's wearing the same outfit and the same layer of dirt, but Vikander looks scarcely closer to the new Lara Croft than Jolie would have. I posted the pictures to prove your point, not to invalidate it.

When I called her visual resemblance "a dumb thing to get hung up on", I wasn't talking about the complaint in your original post but the following back-and-forth over it in the thread. I didn't mean that you had an unreasonable hang-up about the movie; I meant that the discussion had gotten hung up on a trivial matter (compared to the rest of the points you raised at the beginning). Sorry for the misunderstanding.

VideoGameCritic wrote:But you're right - people watch Tomb Raider movies for the acting. I expect this to win several Oscars.

I do think that acting is important, even in a video game movie. People have been clamoring for a decade now to see Nathan Fillion in an Uncharted adaptation (which is finally happening, incredibly). He has a broad visual resemblance to Nathan Drake, but the reason that people have wanted so much to see him is that his acting style fits the character's persona very well. Acting is crucial to characterization, and the Lara Croft character is what people are watching a Tomb Raider movie for. You even pointed out, separately from her appearance, that Vikander's performance lacks the "sex appeal" of Jolie's.


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