No matter how many times a video game movie fails, studios are still not willing to give up on trying to make the first good adaptation. Even though there are many games waiting to see their first live-action adaptation, Tomb Raider is set to get a second chance. After Angelina Jolie starred in two films in the early 2000s, Warner Bros. has turned the franchise over to Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina, The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) to play adventurer Lara Croft moving forward.
The reboot is helmed by The Wave director Roar Uthaug and recently began rolling cameras to meet a 2018 release date. While some new cast members have joined since then, the first set photos unsurprisingly focus on Vikander, and she already looks the part.
The Daily Mail has released the first set photos from Tomb Raider, all of which shine the spotlight on the new lead. Unlike set photos from other movies, these do not simply show Croft walking and talking, but instead in the midst of pulling off dangerous stunts. She is shown running on, falling off, and climbing on a rusty platform, and to make these events even more difficult, her hands are bound and she has a leg injury as well.
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With production underway and an action set piece like this taking place already, this very well could be where the film picks up with Lara - similarly to how audiences instantly join Indiana Jones' adventure in Raiders of the Lost Ark. If this is the case, wherever Lara has found herself is not accompanied by the best circumstances. She is clearly on the run from someone (likely those to capture and bound her) and has a bleeding wound on her leg. All this goes to show that Vikander, while not having the prototypical action star build, has fully embraced her latest role.
As filming continues, future set photos may reveal the looks of co-stars Dominic West as Lara's father, Daniel Wu as Lara's sidekick, and Walton Goggins' mystery villain. Vikander's look here meanwhile is an accurate adaptation of Croft in video game form, from the top to her hair or even the boots. With the movie's plot set to focus around Lara's quest to find and possibly rescue her father, this escape could be the start of that journey. If Vikander can sell audiences on her being Lara (something she is already doing with these photos alone) and her story has enough heart and action to keep them engaged, maybe this can be the first video game movie to really deliver.
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Source: The Daily Mail
