The first raised letter on his crypt leads to his secret study, where she learns where he went - to Hong Kong, and then to Yamatai, all in search of Himiko, an ancient sorceress who was buried alive. But now that it’s time, after seven years, to legally declare Richard deceased, Lara discovers that he has left her a trail of bread crumbs. In outline, this all seems quite standard, even a touch cliché. (What she doesn’t realize is that he’s no mere global tycoon, any more than Indy Jones was just a tweedy archaeologist.) We meet Richard in color-desaturated flashbacks, where he stands in the garden of Croft Manor (a place lordly enough to evoke a mini Versailles), saying goodbye to the young Lara as he heads off on yet another open-ended business trip. Lara, an heiress who doesn’t act like one, is disconnected from her family’s vast holdings (she doesn’t, as of yet, have access to her wealth), and it’s her relationship with her vanished father, the tender, protective Richard Croft (Dominic West), that provides the film’s unexpected emotional core. She has to escape a mass of bike-riding “hunters,” and does it with the kind of split-second ingenuity that will serve her well when she lands on Yamatai, a rocky fairy-tale island off the Japanese coast, where her father disappeared seven years ago.
It remains very much its own thing, starting with a “fox hunt” bike race through the streets of London, where Lara, who works as a courier, is the volunteer “fox,” wearing a tail and carrying a can that’s dripping chartreuse paint. Yet “Tomb Raider” isn’t beholden to sequences like that. That doesn’t make “Tomb Raider” anything more than an engrossingly fanciful adventure lark, but it’s that rare thing, a propulsive blockbuster with a bit of heart.Ī handful of the movie’s set pieces are lifted right out of the game, like one in which Lara shimmies over the rusty-jointed carcass of a propeller plane, balanced over a mile-high abyss that’s enough to give you vertigo. Vikander humanizes Lara Croft the way that Harrison Ford humanized her obvious predecessor, Indiana Jones. Her Lara may be the most grounded and believable cinematic video-game protagonist I’ve seen (she’s based on the rebooted, origin-story version of the original game), and since we buy her as a person, the movie is actually that much more immersive. She comes off as an imploring, impulsive young woman who’s in over her head but will beat the odds anyway. In “Tomb Raider,” she doesn’t come off as an action star (the way the toned and implacable Jolie did). "I'm hoping that we get on track and get to do something together," she added.Vikander, small-boned and olive-skinned, has a delicate, contemplative quality that’s strikingly European. "When Misha was mentioned to me and I saw the work on Lovecraft Country, I was extremely impressed."Īccording to the actress, she has "so much fun on the Zooms" with Misha, where they've talked about "big action set pieces and stunts" for Tomb Raider 2. "When the studio first said they were interested in a sequel, I got really excited," Vikander says. The actress said she really has a connection with the sequel's new director Misha Green, sharing her vision for Lara Croft. Lead actor Alicia Vikander spoke about Tomb Raider 2 with Total Film (via Gamesradar+), revealing that it's still a ways off.
Related: Tomb Raider's Next Game Needs To Learn From Tomb Raider: Legend Much has changed since then, and despite the fact that 2021 is nearly over, the film hasn't even begun filming at this point. Soon after the original movie's premiere, a sequel was announced with an intention to hit screens sometime in 2021. Lara Croft actress Alicia Vikander has broken the silence about what is happening with the Tomb Raider movie sequel, and it sounds like it won't be coming for some time.