Improved ‘Tomb Raider’ is still emotionally inadequate

Since she first appeared in the video game “Tomb Raider,” adventurer Lara Croft has established herself as the product of an ideal straight male imagination: gorgeous, intelligent and wildly athletic.

Her physical appearance and complexity have drastically evolved the release of the game 22 years ago. In that game, as well as two “Tomb Raider” films released in 2001 and 2003 that starred Angelina Jolie, Croft was portrayed as a sex symbol, noted for her buxom bosom and tight clothes.

Starting with the reboot of the video game in 2013 and continuing through this most recent movie, Lara Croft, who is played by Alicia Vikander, has transitioned into a more realistic grown-up action hero, as opposed to a teenage fantasy. Gone are the absurdly disproportionate dimensions and skimpy outfits; in their place is a real woman: strong and uncertain, but gaining confidence as the storyline progresses.

The 2018 reboot of “Tomb Raider” focuses on Lara Croft’s  search for her missing father. Croft lives a peaceful life as a bicycle courier in London. But when she uncovers clues to her father’s whereabouts, Croft embarks on her journey to explore the mysterious tomb of Himoko, which translates to “mother of death.”

The film is an effort to wipe the slate clean and incorporate a well-developed story, characters and emotional core.

Sadly, the result is extremely average. The movie is not uniquely clever or innovative, but as an diverting action movie,  it still attracts quite a large audience.

By paying respects to the previous movies and games, but moving in a distinctly different direction, “Tomb Raider” depicts Vikander as an action star who can actually act compared to previous films.

However, a major problem for this franchise is that the concept of “tomb raiding” is simply not very interesting to many audiences. And this movie is more of a predictable retrieval quest that doesn’t involve any “real” tomb raiding.

Another downside is one that almost all movies that are based on video games fail to overcome. Since video games are fun because the player directly participates in the plot by exploring worlds and solving puzzles, it is difficult for the audience to sit back and watch the actions they usually control on monitors unfold on the big screen.

To solve this, the story needs to be even more emotionally appealing to keep the audience engaged. Director Roar Uthaug attempts to do this by incorporating a large part of the storyline from the video game and throwing in big, unexpected plot twists.

But by focusing on the recovery of an artifact from a tomb, he gives away too much of the plot from the outset. This makes the interesting parts of the movie fall short of true excitement.

This “Tomb Raider” movie is certainly new and refreshing, but as an adventure film, it does not rise above the level of being moderately entertaining.