[wpdevart_youtube]8ndhidEmUbI[/wpdevart_youtube]
Dir: Roar Uthaug (12A 120 mins)
Alicia Vikander steps into the shorts and vest of Lara Croft, playing the female adventurer in a grittier take on the video game icon. Angelina Jolie previously embossed the female Indiana Jones, the prim and proper English lady with a penchant for adventure, Vikander’s Croft is based more on the recent games promising a rougher around the edges heroine. Following the disappearance of her father played by Dominicv West, this Lara has been struggling to make ends meet, working for a bike delivery Service and living in a communal space in London. Her explorer dad has left her the keys to a mystery however, a deadly threat located in a tomb in Japan, the contents of which are also wanted by nasty Mathias Vogel played by The Hateful Eight’s Walton Goggins. Much running about, pickaxe, bow and arrow wielding and grunting ensues as Vikander goes from action set piece to set piece under the direction of Uthaug, who gave us suspenseful Nordic disaster movie The Wave. Hopefully this won’t be a limp reboot, but a viable action franchise for a female icon that’s not just for salivating teenage boys.
****
Opens March 16