FILM REVIEW: “TOMB RAIDER” STARRING ALICIA VIKANDER; FROM WARNER BROS. AND MGM

This article originally appeared on CinemaRetro

BY MARK CERULLI

There’s a new Tomb Raider in town and she’s not… well… she’s not your older brother’s Tomb Raider. Gone is the statuesque, pistol-packing Angelina Jolie of the iconic video game character’s first movie incarnation. Alicia Vikander’s Lara Croft is pared down to the essentials – a dangerous tomboy who is smart, feisty and tough as nails.

When we meet this Lara Croft she’s broke, toiling as a London bicycle messenger, getting her ass kicked in MMA training and still reeling from the disappearance of her father (Dominic West) seven years ago. He had vanished exploring a mysterious island off the coast of Japan. When she discovers the key to his hidden workroom, she becomes hooked on his quest and decides to follow his trail all the way to the jungle tomb he was desperately trying to keep from ever being opened.

Directed by the aptly named Finnish director, Roar Uthaug, the film starts off at a breakneck pace and rarely slows. The action moves like a bullet train from a bike chase in Central London to a Hong Kong dock melee and then on to a remote island as forbidding and dangerous as the one King Kong calls home. There, Croft encounters her father’s nemesis – a shadowy organization called Trinity which is laser-focused on finding the final resting place of an ancient Queen known as “The Mother of Death.” Their archaeological dig is run by a psychotic thug played with real verve by Walton Goggins (Justified), who could clearly give Hannibal Lecter a run for his money. When he steals Croft’s father’s journal, the path to the tomb and its hideous contents is revealed and the final battle begins.

Vikander is fit and relentless, yet vulnerable for an action hero – when she takes a beating, you feel it. The amount of training Ms. Vikander had to endure for the role must have been epic. As the New York Times’ review pithily noted, she has “a washboard stomach you could play the blues on.” (Sorry, that was too sweet not to reuse!) Cinematographer George Richmond makes great use of the lush South African scenery, and his zooming camerawork flies through jungle canopies and ancient tombs with equal finesse.

While Vikander’s Lara Croft isn’t as snide or as sexualized as her predecessor, hers is a strong debut and like Daniel Craig’s Bond, she’ll make this iconic character her own.

TOMB RAIDER is released by Warner Bros. and MGM. The film makes its North American debut on Friday, March 16.