TOMB RAIDER

UK, 2018, 118 minutes, Colour.
Alicia Vikander, Dominic West, Walton Goggins, Daniel Wu, Kristin Scott Thomas, Derek Jacobi, Jaime Winston, Nick Frost.
Directed by Roar Uthaug.

Those in the know about the title Tomb Raider will immediately think of Lara Croft. She is the heroine of computer games. Those who don’t play computer games but who like action movies, will immediately think of Angelina Jolie and the two films where she played Lara Croft. Surprising to find another Lara Croft story so soon.

This time Lara Croft is played by Alicia Vikander, Swedish actress who has performed in quite a range of films from Denmark to the UK to Australia (twice) to the United States. She won an Oscar for her supporting role in The Danish Girl. Some audiences might be surprised at the casting but, in fact, she has appeared in Seventh Son, Jason Bourne, The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

The plot is not dissimilar from Angelina Jolie’s Tomb Raider. Lara is wealthy but is disappointed by her father’s leaving her and for his disappearance, now presumed dead. We see her involved in action training, delivering food by bike around London, participating in a fox-hunt bike chase, recklessly, through the streets. She is taken out of custody from the police by her guardian, played with icy friendliness as usual by Kristin Scott Thomas. Then there is Derek Jacobi as the lawyer for her to sign the papers acknowledging her father’s death and her inheritance.

However, there is, as always, a mysterious key. Then there is a mysterious basement. And mysterious information about his mission to go to an island off Japan to find the tomb of an evil queen and investigate her curse and prevent Trinity, the evil power conglomerate, from destroying the world. (Spoiler: she does achieve all this!)

While London looks good, she gets help in Hong Kong which also looks good. She enlists the son of the captain who took her father to the island (Daniel Wu). They are shipwrecked, separated, the Chinese man taken into a labour camp, Lara rescued by the leader of an expedition, Vogel (Walton Goggins).

We see Lara’s motivation with scenes from her as a little girl, with her devoted father, the death of her mother, his departure, always calling her Sprout and a kiss with two fingers for her forehead. Vogel tells her that he has killed her father.

Vogel is in the employ of Trinity and communicates by phone with a mysterious employer. When Lara escapes from his clutches – emulating the best traditions of Tarzan leaping through the forest, diving into rivers, hanging on to wrecked planes to save going over the rapids… she sees a mysterious figure who, of course, is her father who has been surviving in caves for seven years, trying to sabotage Gogel’s attempts to find the Queen’s tomb.

Vogel has been searching in the wrong area but, with the capture of Lara and her father, the whole enterprise moves to the real location.

What goes on inside the tomb, the dangers, the threats, the various devices for floors to open, walls to close in will remind most audiences of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Perhaps a bit too similar?

A Chinese friend keeps guard in order to rescue her if necessary, vocals of the slaves support him.

The tomb is found, there are images in hieroglyphics, John Croft has misinterpreted aspects of the message, the Queen communicates an infection and destroys some of Vogel’s thugs – and, a final split-second timing for Lara to escape with her father urging Sprout to run, the two finger kiss on her forehead, and his sacrificing himself.

Meanwhile, back in London, Lara discovers some secrets about Trinity, who the head might be (as if we didn’t guess) and goes to the pawnshop where she tried to get money earlier in the film from Nick Frost and Jaime Winstone in cameo roles. She buys two guns – to be ready for a sequel.


1. Popular action show? Video game on the big screen? The transition from Angelina Jolie to Alicia Vikander?

2. The popularity of female superheroes? Characters, action?

3. The South African locations for the Japanese island? The sea, the coast, the mountains, the excavation sites, the mountains of the tomb? The interiors of the tomb and the special effects? The contrast with London, the streets, offices? The musical score?

4. Seeing Lara in action, the fight, her losing, her coach and taking his apple, working as a courier, the people in the restaurant, delivering and the group of young men, organising the fox hunt, her taking the dare, riding through the streets of London, the stunts, the crash? Anna and her coming to rescue Lara?

5. The flashbacks, Lara as small, getting older, devotion to her father, her dead mother and the tomb? Practising with arrows? The father’s farewell, the kiss on the forehead, calling her Sprout? Her recollections? Richard’s memories?

6. Richard, the explanation of the legend, the variety of ingredients, evil power, the illustrations, the curse? His research, wanting to save the world from Trinity? Seven years gone, official acceptance of his death, and persuading Lara to sign the documents, the lawyer present? Anna urging her? The puzzle, finding the key in the message? Going to the basement? The information about her father’s research?

7. Lara, pawning the emblem, the bargaining with the flirtatious Max, the comments from his wife? And the later return to recover the emblem?

8. Lara and decision to go, Hong Kong, being robbed by the young men, fighting back? Finding the boat, Lu Ren, drunk, ordering her off, falling? His dead father, the link with Richard? The two mourning the loss of their parents? Sailing, the heavy seas, the shipwreck? Lara rescued, by Vogel? And his taking the information from her bag?

9. Lu Ren and the other slaves, his father and the transport, taken by Vogel and the thugs? The years, exploitative work, the explosions?

10. Vogel, character, motivation, talking about his daughters at home, subservient to the heads of Trinity? His violence, the slaves, his thugs? The discussions with Lara, killing her father? Lu Ren and his hitting the guard, the shooting, Lara’s escape, through the forest, her falling into the river, hanging on to the wreckage of the plane, her survival? Sleeping, killing the guard, seeing the shadowy figure, climbing, her wound, finding her father?

11. Richard and the seven years, surviving, trying to sabotage Vogel’s work? Imagining his daughter’s presence? A reality, tending her wound? The discussions?

12. Lara, the arrows, the attack on the group? Richard and his going to the tomb?

13. Le Ren waiting, the others waiting to help Lara? The entry into the tomb, the range of obstacles, echoes of Indiana Jones, the dangers, the stunt work, the chasms, the floors giving way, the latter? The illustrations on the wall? The opening of the tomb, that the Queen was a carrier of plague but not infected herself? The guard touching the body, his death? Infected?

14. Vogel, his determination, taking the Queen’s finger? Richard, his being infected? Lara and the pursuit by the thugs? Richard urging her to go, his self-sacrifice? Lara and her fight with Vogel, destroying the latter, forcing him to swallow the finger? His death? The running to escape? The stones covering her?

15. Lu Ren, the rescue?

16. London, his signing the documents? Recovering her emblem? Reading the information about Trinity – and the revelation about Anna?

17. Her going to the pawn shop, getting the two guns – and ready for a sequel?