Did Tomb Raider do enough to freshen up the genre? I thought the deadly puzzle with the multi-coloured stones was a neat spin. Ditto the ladder over a sharp fall, which recalled the precarious bridge scene in Temple of Doom. But there was a moment down in the final resting place of long-dead Japanese queen Himiko when nobody in the auditorium would have been too surprised to hear Harrison Ford whisper “close your eyes” as the baddies furtively prised open her ancient tomb. Given the inspiration for the original video game was a certain whip-cracking archaeologist, it’s probably a little unfair to criticise Tomb Raider for swiping too heavily from Raiders of the Lost Ark. Crucially, the Swedish actor always looks genuinely capable of taking down stronger male opponents, though the CGI-tastic finale in which she climbs through a collapsing torrent of boulders surely rather beggared belief. Vikander is capable of her own uniquely spiky form of feminine menace, as exemplified by her sinister turn as a flirty robot in Alex Garland’s Ex Machina, and she more than holds her own as the all-action archaeological explorer. Photograph: Ilze Kitshoff/APĭespite failing to register with the critics, Jolie’s stint as Lara Croft did achieve the feat of setting her up as one of the more bankable female action heroes of the past 20 years, leading to sojourns in Mr and Mrs Smith, Wanted and Salt. Genuinely capable … Daniel Wu, left, and Alicia Vikander in Tomb Raider. Did you appreciate bearing witness to the birth of a legend? Or would you have happily skipped the first 45 minutes of the film? Alicia Vikander: action hero It’s a neat way to make Lara more relatable, but does rather fail when we know she only has to sign daddy’s death forms and walk half a mile south down Bishopsgate to be restored to the lap of luxury. Lars Croft, a swedish surfer dudebro, who accidentally stumbled into an old viking tomb and now wields a battle axe. Laredo Croft, bubblegum chewing cowgirl with lots of guns. In the new movie, Croft is living among the hoi polloi of Shoreditch, barely scraping a living as a bicycle courier because she refuses to admit her father is dead and lay claim to her spectacular inheritance. L1R1 Cr0nk, a cyborg from a dystopian future, adept at raiding data tombs. In 2001’s Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, we first meet Jolie as she is fighting a giant robot to retrieve a priceless diamond. Who boasts the finest cut-glass English accent? Angelina or Alicia? Did the new movie’s slightly more grounded approach appeal more than the 00s action cheese of the original films? Who made the best Daddy Croft, newcomer Dominic West, or the earlier films’ Jon Voight? And were the new movie’s screenwriters right to dispense with any real romantic interest for Lara this time around, hunky Daniel Craig replaced by a fellow from the local Indian restaurant who never quite summons up the coverage to ask Lara out? East End chicanery and origins story fatigue Sometimes that's what action heroes are all about.All action … Angelina Jolie in 2001’s Lara Croft Tomb Raider Photograph: Alex Bailey/AP I don't relate to James Bond or John Wick. I certainly do not want fucking Nathan Drake to steal her "smug, snarky wisecracker in the face of danger" persona so she has to be reinvented as a "relatable" woman. I do not want a "cornered animal" who gets terrorized by rapey thugs (looking at you, Tomb Raider reboot). She throws herself into ridiculous danger (and honestly, kills the shit out of bad guys and wildlife alike) just because she's independently wealthy and has nothing better to do. If I see a Tomb Raider movie, I want to see a rich, brilliant, athletic, gun-totting ass-kicker who raids tombs not because she has to or needs to, but because she wants to. You want a strong female character? That's Original Lara Croft (not the weepy one that apologizes to the deer she kills)! She doesn't need to be "woke", she doesn't need to be "softened" or made "realistic". Lara is an amazing poster child for "needs no man" yet there is always a need of late for some reason for writers to give her a love interest, a daddy figure or male mentor. She shouldn't be "conflicted" or need to "find her strength". She should be a combination of James Bond, Indiana Jones and John Wick. Men want her, women want to be her, but she just does what she does and fuck anyone in her way. She should be snarky, she should be confident. IMO, like the games, a Tomb Raider movie needs a Lara who is big, badass and absolutely awesome.
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