After a fifteen-year break, next spring the adventures of Lara Croft will once again grace the silver screen. The “Tomb Raider” reboot will have something of a Nordic flavor, bringing together the talents of Norwegian director Roar Ulthaug (“The Wave”) and Swedish star Alicia Vikander (“Ex-Machina,” “The Danish Girl”).
While the young Oscar winner may seem a curious choice for the role, having established herself mainly in dramas and independent films that never suggested the rough and tumble physicality of Lara Croft, Vikander recently explained to EW that she’s portraying Lara at the start of her adventures.
“She has all the fierce, tough, curious, intelligent traits, but we’ve stripped away all of her experience. She hasn’t gone on an adventure just yet. She thought he was a stuck up businessperson living in the modern youth culture of suburban London, but then this whole box of information. This is the beginning,” she said.
Surprisingly for a video game adaptation, Vikander will be the second Oscar winner to inhabit the role, following in the footsteps of Angelina Jolie. She’ll be accompanied by some heavy-hitters from TV dramas, including Walton Goggins (“Justified”) and Dominic West (“The Wire”). Here’s the official synopsis:
Lara Croft is the fiercely independent daughter of an eccentric adventurer who vanished when she was scarcely a teen. Now a young woman of 21 without any real focus or purpose, Lara navigates the chaotic streets of trendy East London as a bike courier, barely making the rent, and takes college courses, rarely making it to class. Determined to forge her own path, she refuses to take the reins of her father’s global empire just as staunchly as she rejects the idea that he’s truly gone. Advised to face the facts and move forward after seven years without him, even Lara can’t understand what drives her to finally solve the puzzle of his mysterious death.
Going explicitly against his final wishes, she leaves everything she knows behind in search of her dad’s last-known destination: a fabled tomb on a mythical island that might be somewhere off the coast of Japan. But her mission will not be an easy one; just reaching the island will be extremely treacherous. Suddenly, the stakes couldn’t be higher for Lara, who—against the odds and armed with only her sharp mind, blind faith and inherently stubborn spirit—must learn to push herself beyond her limits as she journeys into the unknown. If she survives this perilous adventure, it could be the making of her, earning her the name tomb raider.
It’s no secret that the “Tomb Raider” series has always emulated Indiana Jones to some degree, but the Jolie films were pale imitations. With a talented star and cast, hopefully this new iteration can find a winning combination of character, buried secrets, and globe trotting adventure.
“Tomb Raider” opens on March 16, 2018.