After the disastrous attempt to adapt Assassin’s Creed for the big screen, it’s hard to see what video game can possibly make the transition to the big screen. However there maybe one glimmer of light on the horizon ahead of the release of the highly anticipated Tomb Raider movie starring hot property Alicia Vikander.
Fresh from her nuptials with the aforementioned Assassin’s Creed star Michael Fassbender, Vikander has carved out a very impressive reputation in Hollywood after a string of award worthy performances. Breaking onto the scene with a spellbinding performance in Academy Award winning Ex Machina as the eerily captivating artificial intelligence humanoid Ava, the actress went onto impress in The Man From U.N.C.L.E and Jason Bourne as well as picking up an Oscar for her portrayal of Gerda Wegener in The Danish Girl.
She also has a knack of impressing in underwhelming movies. However her star power can’t carry the film alone and this has been a common theme with video game adaptations of late. As already mentioned Assassin’s Creed had Fassbender, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time had Jake Gyllenhaal and even the original Tomb Raider franchise had Angelina Jolie and sadly none of these A-List big hitters could save them.
On paper Tomb Raider should be an easy property to adapt to the silver screen. It’s an action adventure film with a strong female lead, a formula that Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman and Atomic Blonde starring Charlize Theron has proven this year can not only work but also be a critical and box office success. If follows their lead, Tomb Raider should be a massive hit.
And Vikander isn’t alone. The Wire star Dominic West portrays her father (for the second time having previously portrayed her father in Testament of Youth) Lord Richard Croft, a missing adventurer who encourages Lara to continue his legacy while the effortlessly talented Kristen Scott Thomas appears to point her in the right direction, potentially as her mother. The Shield‘s Walton Goggins, who is no stranger to being the bad guy portrays the mysterious Mathias Vogel and Daniel Wu, Hannah John-Kamen and Nick Frost are also amongst the cast.
Worryingly though the film has an inexperienced director at the helm in Norwegian filmmaker Roar Uthaug and the two writers Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Alastair Siddons have only one credit between them. The former however, Robertson-Dworet has been entrusted as part of the writing team for Marvel’s 2019 first female led solo outing Captain Marvel.
The trailer certainly manages to impress with spectacular stunts, gorgeous scenery and upbeat soundtrack. It also shows Lara in much more practical attire than her video game counterpart and considerably less sexualised than Angelina Jolie iteration. While a trailer can’t be trusted as a good indicator of whether or not a movie will be a success, I’m quietly optimistic that this will finally break the video game adaptation curse that has plagued its predecessors.
So mark the date in your calendars’ and cross your fingers as Tomb Raider is released here in the UK and across the Atlantic in the United States on 16th March 2018.
Are you excited for Tomb Raider? What did you think of the trailer? Let us know.