To liven up all this backstory a couple of tacked-on action scenes are dropped in out of nowhere, feeling like those annoying introductory mini-games where you run around a garage learning how to duck. Her dead dad has five - five! - expositional voiceovers, most of which repeat the same information. It's nice to see Lara given a backstory about her family business and her refusal to inherit a vast fortune, but we're repeatedly beaten over the head with it. It's an hour before we make it to the island, with the first half of the film playing out like that dreaded introductory cut scene that just won't let you get on with it.
The problem is it takes absolutely foreeeeverrrr to reach that point. Star Alicia Vikander gamely throws herself across every chasm in the vicinity, sorts out bad guys with a bow and arrow and generally takes every opportunity to show off how much time she's spent at the gym lately. Once on the island, surrounded by desperate mercenaries and haunted by an ancient curse, there are some decent thrills. That's what this 2018 big screen reboot of the long-running archeology-'em-up video game is like.ĭirected by Norwegian Roar Uthaug and largely based on the 2013 prequel, the new film follows a young version of ruin-robbing aristo Lara Croft tracing her antiquity-obsessed lost father to a mysterious island. You seize the controller.Īll you want to do is play the damn game and it won't let you! You're bouncing up and down on the sofa - just let me play the darn game! Finally the game is ready. Then your console decides it has to update itself. Then there's a logo screen that sits there for ages apparently not doing anything. So you race home with the game in your hand and tear the wrapping off and stick the disc in your games console and it takes what seems like forever to boot up. To be precise, it's like when you buy a new game and you can't wait to play it. It's fair to say the new " Tomb Raider" movie accurately re-creates the experience of a video game.