Movie dads really need to get it together. They’re always getting mixed up in something ridiculously dangerous, then dying off and leaving their kid to pick up the pieces. I realize that watching Lara Croft sit on the couch and watch a few episodes of Top Chef before turning in early wouldn’t be nearly as exciting as rooting for her as she’s fighting for the fate of all humanity, but it’d certainly be easier on her. Her father found a tomb called the Mother of Death and, in a videotape from the beyond sequence, tasks Lara with stopping a group called Trinity from harnessing its powers. Thanks dad, that should be easy peasy.
Luckily, Lara seems more than up for all of it, calling it an “adventure.” (I’m more inclined to side with hunky Daniel Wu’s character.) There are lots of quick shots of what she’s up against: stormy seas, cliffs, creepy caverns, various villainous guys, and spiky rods swinging all around.
She gets thrown around and hurt a lot, but I’m partial to the fact that Lara is small because as all tiny women know, people often treat you like a child. Nobody’s going to be making fun of the fact that your feet don’t touch the floor when you sit in a chair if you’ve raided the hell out of some haunted tombs. She looks especially strong in the poster (weirdly photoshopped neck aside).
Her weapon of choice is a pickax, which is so badass I can’t stand it. I can’t wait to watch her swing that thing around. It’s a pretty solid choice, it serves multiple purposes.
This trailer shows off how tough she is, but our writer Janna mentioned that she hopes the movie will also let Lara be vulnerable, as that makes her a more relatable, well rounded character. I wholeheartedly agree, because women are complex and female characters should follow suit.
In addition to the trailer, the studio also released a BTS featurette to give fans a look at the making of the film.
Those shots of Alicia Vikander working out are incredible. Look at her back…
Having never played the game, I can’t speak to how the movie compares so far. Though if I know fandom, and I do, I imagine fan reactions to this teaser are going to range from elation all the way to a shot by shot analysis of how the movie is already doing every single thing wrong. Any adaptation has to speak to more than just die hard fans, and considering the poor track record of movies based on video games, Tomb Raider is going to aim for hooking as wide an audience as possible.
I’m curious as to what will be revealed in future trailers, if we’re going to get a good look at all the insanity Lara Croft is going to face in the tombs, or if they’re going to take an approach similar to the first Hunger Games movie, where they only allude to the full danger in the trailers but not show any of it in great detail. Are there creepy creatures down there in addition to everything else?! There isn’t really a limit to how many terrifying things a tomb called the Mother of Death can contain.
