Could the Tomb Raider Movie Work?

There’s a curse on video-game to movie adaptions. Something doesn’t quite translate. The Assassin’s Creed movie was a jumbled mess of a film, butchering an IP that many people loved. It handled the lore and the premise as well as I handle my anxiety.

Poorly.

We have other movies from video-games like DOOM and Prince of Persia, but the only one worth watching is DOOM, if not for the over the top action and sort of okay cast. Plus, the Rock is in it so, instant-win there. There seems to be something wrong with the way these movies are done. But could Tomb Raider fix that?

For starters, the tone is far more accurate to the Tomb Raider games we’ve come to expect. Tomb Raider (2013) was a wonderful reimagining of the franchise, one that Square Enix thought was a total flop. Despite the fact it sold upward of 1.5 million copies.

It was gritty and uncomfortable at times simply due to what Lara must do to survive. There’s a moment involving a red-hot arrow tip and a broken-down helicopter than particularly gave me the wiggles. But that’s the point. Lara Croft is a tank and this new movie should make her as such.

But this new movie coming out in 2018 could be just a film adaptation of that. A true look at the Lara we’ve come to know and respect. The Angelina Jolie movies weren’t great, but that’s because of how she was portrayed. She was still being played as this over-sexualised icon that just so happened to shoot people and steal cool stuff from tombs.

But this one, played by Academy Award winner Alicia Vikander, looks the part. Just a total badass doing badass stuff. Because she should.

Hopefully, it’ll be the saviour that Assassin’s Creed was supposed to be. Because it would be really cool to see more video games get their time as movies. Warcraft tried but had a barrier for entry. You kind of had to know enough about the world for characters to make sense. Oh well.

Please be good.

Fingers crossed for 2018.