2003 was the year of the last appearance of Lara Croft in cinemas, with the film Tomb Raider - The cradle of life, where the protagonist was Angelina Jolie. Unfortunately for that project the proceeds were bad, the actress was nominated for the Razzie Awards and the saga stopped.
This year, the production houses Square Enix, Warner Bros. e Metro Goldwyn Mayer, on the wave of the new series of successful videogames that since 2013 has rebooted the character of Lara Croft by telling the prequel stories of the first video games of the 90s, reproduce an unprecedented and exciting story on the big screen.
In fact, Lara is not a woman expert in weapons, fighting, and archeology, charming and with large breasts, but she is a young girl who must discover her hidden talent.
The Tomb Raider movie that will hit theaters next 15 March was directed by the young Norwegian director Roar Uthaug (The Wave) and draws inspiration from these latest video game series, to interpret Lara Croft the Oscar-winning actress, of Swedish origin, Alicia Vikander (Ex machina, The Danish girl).
The most famous videogame heroine in the world returns to the big screen with an unpublished story, written by Geneva Robertson-Dworet. The young Lara, daughter of an eccentric adventurer, will begin to truly discover herself on a journey that will lead her on the trail of her father, who died seven years earlier, with a stubborn choice against the will of the latter.
Young, independent and not inclined to follow the rules, in order not to accept the disappearance of her father, she does not sign the papers that would make her well-off, she barely pays the costs of the rent and the gym where she trains, delivering Asian food to her home by bike.
The transformation arc of the character Lara Croft is clear from the very first scenes of the film, being itself the concept of the work. Alicia Vikander's performance leaves nothing to be desired, her talent also emerges in a mainstream role, different from the busy films we've been used to seeing her until now.
In the film, several scenes appear that recall the 2013 video game that relaunched the universe of tomb raider, and becoming one of the best-selling games of the saga, players will surely appreciate these settings recreated to perfection, so much so that in some places it seems to be really inside a video game.
In this adventure that takes her to a remote island in Japan, she must fight the enemies who want to usurp the tomb of Himiko, the goddess of death, and bring destruction to the world. To stop this evil plan he will have to resort to all his acrobatic and intellectual forces, he will have to both resist situations of constant physical danger but will also have to solve impossible puzzles in a few seconds.
Too bad for some clichés that in these films created for everyone and focused on superheroes, which always appear in the room, those moments of perfect suspense that are punctually ruined by phrases or scenes, repetitive in the vein.
Nevertheless, the scenarios and interpretations are very accurate, the sets, the pure action scenes perfectly refer to the video game and immerse the viewer in an almost parallel universe, so much so that it does not seem like a film in some moments, thanks also to a sound design. perfect.
Cinema and game universe come together more and more, similar technologies are bringing these two worlds closer and closer and soon the symbiosis will be perfected and integrated.
Dominic West (300), Walton Goggins (The Hateful Eight) and Daniel Wu (Into the badlands) also take part in the artistic cast. While the technical cast is made up of notable names such as Oscar-nominated editor Stuart Baird (Skyfall) and Oscar-winning costume designer Colleen Atwood (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them).
