Which Tomb Raider Movie Better Captured the Feel of the Games?

Video game movies have entered a new era far removed from their first decade or two. The "video game curse" has always been nonsense, but most live-action adaptations were terrible. Recent examples find fun in their absurd premise or shift to animated series. Lara Croft took three swings at box-office success. They flopped financially and critically, but which of the films finds something worth saying about the games?

Tomb Raider was one of the most memorable franchises on the PlayStation, but its efforts beyond the 90s struggled to stand out. Crystal Dynamics introduced a reboot franchise, now known as the Survivor trilogy, that reimagined Lara Croft's backstory. The new entries may as well be separate from the silly Indiana Jones-inspired series that ostensibly originated it. Croft's name is their only shared element. Subsequently, the three film adaptations come from different eras of the game's cultural impact.

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is the 12th highest-grossing video game movie of all time. It claimed first place when it hit theaters in 2001, though it only had nine or ten other entries to contend with. The wisest decision the production heads made was casting Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft. They tried several other actresses and took constant pushback from fans and gaming publications of the time. Of course, most only commented on the character's body type, suggesting a grim reading of the franchise's value. She's since played near-identical characters in a dozen other forgettable projects, but her ability to sell abysmal dialogue and bizarre story decisions elevates the text. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider was widely despised by critics, but it has a charm to it. The comedic value grants the feature a purpose it sorrowfully lacks. As an adaptation, there's nothing intelligent in Lara Croft's staging or execution. It's an utterly generic action movie starring Angelina Jolie as a character who happens to be named after a video game franchise.

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider- The Cradle of Life

Few saw the 2003 follow-up to Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. Its fate was shameful. It's a substantial improvement on the original outing, which likely scared most viewers away from the theater. Jan de Bont of Speed and Twister fame has a gift for enjoyably goofy action blockbusters. Amazingly, Cradle of Life is de Bont's most recent directorial effort. De Bont found compelling set pieces and a half-decent story in the second Tomb Raider film. Ironically, it demonstrates the critical flaw in video game movies through its mild competence. Because it isn't butchering the basic tenets of storytelling, it's a bland knock-off of Indiana Jones. Without gameplay, the franchise's tropes boil down to elements stolen from adventure movies, dual-wielding handguns, and the protagonist's sex appeal. Cradle of Life is an improvement on the first film in every significant department. It's a better distillation of the games, though only through a sharp increase in general quality.

Tomb Raider (2018)

This film adapts the 2013 reboot. Warner Bros. Pulled the rights from Paramount after Cradle of Life flopped. The studio sat on Lara for almost a decade before the first entry in the Survivor trilogy inspired a new script. Tomb Raider also failed at the box office, continuing a poisonous trend for the franchise. As its Rotten Tomatoes score suggests, it's the best film in the franchise. Director Roar Uthaug abandons the hilariously overblown action schlock of the first two entries in favor of a personal story led by Vikander's excellent performance. Jolie suited Lara Croft's bombastic acrobatics well, but Vikander brought humanity to the role. It's the same shift Crystal Dynamics made in 2013, and it works almost better than it did on the Xbox.

Verdict:

Tomb Raider (2018) is unquestionably the most faithful adaptation of the game franchise. Though it has less than nothing to do with the PlayStation titles, it's a solid take on the Crystal Dynamics reboot. Alicia Vikander's performance is the saving grace that keeps the film from the bottom of the barrel. It was the best-reviewed video game movie at the time of its release. It's far from a perfect adaptation, but it stands head and shoulders above the first two.

The Tomb Raider movies have varied appeal. The first two films are hilarious and compelling in a trashy, slapstick way. The 2018 entry is less entertaining after a fashion, but what it lacks in ironic entertainment, it makes up for with Vikander's layered performance. Those looking for an accurate take on the original films will be left wanting, but the new trilogy has at least one decent big-screen outing.

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