Two Tombs, One Raider
With the recent success of the reincarnation of Lara Croft on consoles, Hollywood was quick to announce that they too are looking to reboot the franchise. The question is, will they learn from the mistakes of the first foray?
The first two films certainly made money. For video game adaptations they currently rank 3rd and 6th all time at the box office (inflation not adjusted). But they did leave a pretty sour taste. The biggest problem Hollywood has had with video games is that they can’t make a decent movie about them. Critically speaking, the best adaption was Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, which gained a 44% on the tomato meter. Combine Lara Croft Tomb Raider and Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life tomato meters and you get 43%.
Let’s just get it out of the way. Neither film is very good. Stale dialogue, bad plots and middling acting are just a few things the critics would write. But there is one significant difference between the two films, action.
Lara Croft Tomb Raider drew inspiration from the video games. From the opening sequence we see Croft jump around with moves similar to that of the game. Her arial battle at the mansion screams video game level. Upon solving the puzzle to a tomb she is attacked by giant statues. Each scene is ridiculously maxed to the extreme. So while as a whole it may be a terrible film, it is certainly not for a lack of engaging its perceived audience.
When Angelina Jolie was originally cast as Croft, many scoffed at the idea. She simply didn’t look the part in many eyes. She more than proves herself however, and has a lot of fun doing it. Throughout the entire film she appears to giving a wink to the audience, acknowledging that while what she is about to do is absurd, it’ll be fun to watch.
Jump ahead two years later, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life one-eighties the universe they set up in the first. They turn a fun and playful film into a serious action film. We no longer see Croft pirouetting through a fight scene, she is simply all out guns blazing. It changes the perception of what you are watching. Croft’s world resembles more Indiana Jones then it does Tomb Raider.
Critics would say the second is the better film. Jolie and company would say Cradle of Life is the film they wanted out of the franchise. But there is a reason it did worse at the box office, and that is because the audience didn’t get the same video game thrill out of it. Instead they were treated to a generic action film that could have starred any character.
To successfully reboot the franchise, Hollywood needs to find a balance between both films. Something that is not ridiculously over the top, but also not generic. They may want to look at what recent comic book adaptations have done, but even that style is becoming stale. If that doesn’t work, I’m pretty sure JJ is available after December 17th.
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