Has Hollywood ever made a good video game film?
While some might argue differently, there has never been a good video game movie. Sure, there have been some watchable ones. Some are delightfully campy, with sparse moments of fun peppered throughout an otherwise banal story, but overall, these films are made only to cash in on an existing fan base to be forgotten until the next one drops.
Simply stated, video game narratives are generally sparse. They rely on broad strokes and archetypal characters to drive home a point often in made in better, deeper novels or films. This is, of course, the point.
Video games are about the gameplay, the challenge, and the story is meant as an accessory, not the important element. Still, an exposure to big ideas through the medium of video games is something to be discounted exactly, particularly if it leads the player to discover other works with similar themes.
Nevertheless, the point remains: video game movies aren’t very good, largely because the source material on which they are based worked better in that medium. Trying to add depth, motivation, and eloquence to a story meant to progress through linear achievement is a daunting task, to say the least.
2018’s Tomb Raider is no different. It might, in fact, be worse, simply because it’s a reboot of a franchise that never really took off to begin with.
This year’s Tomb Raider is an origin story for adventurer Lara Croft, the female Indiana Jones clone known more for a pixelated pair of pointy breasts than any particular escapade. Angelina Jolie was perfect for the original incarnation, which was more interested in her appearance than her combat and puzzle solving skills.
Alicia Vikander plays Croft in this version and she matches the more rough and tumble character that has made a comeback in recent years. She’s smaller, more proportional, and to the film’s credit, not quite as invincible as you might expect. Vikander is the best part of the film, mostly due to her competent acting skills.
The film, however, unfolds predictably and moves from action scene to action scene without pause. In fact, Tomb Raider very much leans in to its video game origins. Each scene feels almost like another level: it begins with a combat tutorial, before switching to a vehicle tutorial, and culminating in a puzzle solving tutorial, with a cut scene between each one. After these opening scenes, the actual game begins with a foot chase through a Chinese port, to a water level platformer, to a thrilling jungle escape complete with a miniboss battle.
Director Roar Uthaug, a Norwegian filmmaker whose work I’m unfamiliar with, likely planned much of this. He regularly positions the camera behind Lara, giving the audience the distinct impression of third person video game perspective. There are worse ways to film and the choice makes sense.
As always, it’s the story that causes the film to suffer, especially since we’ve seen so much of this film in other films. As I mentioned, Lara Croft is very much inspired by Indiana Jones.
Think then, about how Spielberg wrote his films and framed his stories. The artifacts Jones hunts for, at least in the best of the series, are biblical in nature. The villains are Nazis.
The audience certainly has experience with these elements, so they can be referenced without spending precious minutes with awkward exposition. Additionally, in Raiders of the Lost Ark, the viewer doesn’t need a history of Henry Jones Jr. That he’s an American archeologist is enough to get the story started and dive straight into the action.
What backstory we need is revealed through dialogue, through acting, through intuition. There are no sepia tinged emotional flashbacks that keep the audience from creating their own histories. There’s nothing wrong with a film asking the audience to think—it leads to engagement.
Tomb Raider isn’t the worst movie in the world. Neither is it worth a trip to the theater. It will play for a long time in theaters, however. It’s a frustrating thought, especially since a film like Annihilation currently has one showing and will likely vanish next week. But such is Hollywood. Chattanooga will host the fifth annual Chattanooga Film Festival in two weeks. Save your money for that.