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Tomb Raider: From Game to Film | Culture of Gaming

The companies that own these franchises have a much more vested interest in the way these movies turn out. Assassin’s Creed had owner Ubisoft taking creative control and almost making the movie cannon. Tomb Raider, which releases today in the US, even has Square Enix in the pre-credits roll of production companies.

The film industry has long tried to find a way to capture the spirit of video games with licensed movies. We are long past the days of movies created by people who don’t understand a property or why its popular. This doesn’t mean that movies based on video games are great movies now. It just means that they aren’t useless wastes of celluloid now. (especially since celluloid isn’t really used anymore). The Videogame conglomerates that own these franchises have a much more vested interest in how these movies turn out. Assassin’s Creed had owner Ubisoft taking creative control. This almost makes the movie a cannon part of the universe. Tomb Raider, which releases today in the US, even has Square Enix in the pre-credits roll of production companies.

Tomb Raider may be the most accurate video game movie in history. Long gone are the wireframe enhanced fight scenes of the previous movies. That’s hewing closer to the reboot series that Square Enix have been releasing these last few years. Lara is much less of a super hero in this installment. She’s more of the vulnerable yet determined young archeologist. If you’ve played the first Tomb Raider in the reboot continuity, you should feel right at home here. To be fair, there are a few changes to the plot that were necessary. They had to condense fifteen hours of gameplay into a two-hour movie, nothing to be mad about.

Alicia Vikander is good at playing Lara Croft, showing the determination to survive while still having some venerability. This is not the Angelina Jolie robotic killing machine from the other movies. There is a street-smart aspect to her character that seems to always be at the back of her actions. She’s  always calculating, looking for the next threat. The Trinity leader, Mathias Vogel, is played by the always entertaining Walton Goggins who brings just the right amount of southern charm to his violent psychopath. He’s essentially playing the same character he played in Justified with the violent tendencies turned up a bit. Dominic West is fine as Lara’s Dad, Richard. He has a few scenes where he’s allowed to show some emotion other than obsession and in those quiet moments he steals the show.

The Tomb Raider Movie Overall

It’s weird to say this, but I would classify Tomb Raider as a good movie. There have been fun video game movies in the past. These were more enjoyable for unintentional humor and incompetence than actual craft or storytelling. Tomb Raider tells a gripping story. A woman taken out of her element and forced to survive in a hostile environment. It has characters with motivations and personalities instead of tropes or cardboard characters. Audiences can also sympathize with Lara. They’ll not only be rooting for her to win, but also on the edge of their seats wondering how she will win.

In the future, there is no doubt in my mind that Tomb Raider will become the template for other video game movies to follow. I just hope that it finds its audience and isn’t forgotten due to the video game movie stigma. This is a movie first, based on a video game second.

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