Tomb Raider 2018

In the season of rehash/remake/reinterpret we have a new film Tomb Raider. It’s of the genre of Video Game Films (if we can define such a genre) and is the third such movie, others are Jumanji and Assasin’s Creed.
Well Jumanji is not really video game to movie, however you can consider it in the same vein, for comparison purposes. For me, Jumanji really worked as it captured the essence of video gaming, with lots of humor, great 3D. Tomb Raider veers away from the essence of video gaming, yes it has some kicks, punches close shaves etc, however it misses the essence of video gaming on barometers of unpredictability, levels etc. This is because there seems a conscious effort to create a series or a franchise of Lara Croft movies.
Thus, Tomb Raider has an arc to it, and it is solely focused on the lead character of Lara Croft. The movie focused on the emotional development of the character, her first kill is a deep moment for her, whereas in the previous Tomb Raider it was a natural part of Lara Croft’s character. Here we see Lara Croft develop into Lara Croft.
This basically translates into lower levels of excitement, barring a few scenes, 3D was not needed. The idea of the queen Himiko representing death is quite intellectual and ingenious . A fascinating idea of ancient myths, traversing the real and magical, basically a matter of subjective interpretation. Major excitement in the movie may come in the subsequent films as this film has laid a good foundation to build upon.
However, stand alone the movie pales in comparison to Jumanji and Assasin’s Creed. It a strange way it betrays the whole video game concept, and moves more into the territory of comics interpreted into movies. It feels more on the lines of Thor-1, and hopes to jump Thor-2, and steer into Ragnarok territory, as we see clear indications of using humor rather than Dark Knight levels of greyness.
A good watch if have nothing else to do!