March 22, 2018 – I went to see this despite less than stellar reviews (48 out of 100 at Metacritic) and it wasn't as good as I was hoping for. I was hoping it would be as good as “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider” (2001) which is based on the same video game. This is essentially a reboot of the Tomb Raider franchise, and it is actually the third film in the Tomb Raider franchise after the 2001 film and “Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life” (2003). The first two films starred Angelina Jolie.

The main problem with this lackluster reboot is the absence of any interesting characters other than Lara Croft herself, played by the beautiful Alicia Vikander of “Ex Machina.” Vikander does a good job playing Lara Croft, having gotten herself into fighting shape for this adventure, which is loaded with literal cliffhangers, to the point of being repetitive. By the way, I am not a gamer. I'm a movie guy. I am judging this as a movie, not how it compares to the game it is based upon.

In this film, Lara is working as a food delivery person, having exiled herself from her family and fortune. Her father, Lord Richard Croft (played by Dominic West of “The Square”) disappeared years ago searching for some ominous thing buried on a remote, mysterious island. Lara gets pulled back into the family's adventure-filled business after reading a cryptic message left to her by her father.

This clue leads to a secret underground lair where Lara discovers more clues to the whereabouts of that mysterious island where her father was headed to the last time there was any record of his travels. She follows the clues to Hong Kong and a boat named Endurance, and its drunken captain, Lu Ren (Daniel Wu of “Warcraft: The Beginning”) who reluctantly agrees, after being well paid, to take Lara on a dangerous search for the remote island.

On a typical movie “dark and stormy night” with lots of expensive digital effects, the ship runs aground. Lara and Lu Ren are cast ashore on the island and taken prisoner by a mob of mercenaries working for a shadowy, evil organization. The goal of this organization is to find the tomb of a legendary evil person, Himiko, deadly Queen of Yamatai (ancient kingdom in Japan). The reason for this extremely expensive expedition has to do with the belief that Himiko's tomb might have something of great danger, and great value, hidden inside.

The evil mercenaries are led by a driven man named Mathias Vogel (Walton Goggins of “The Hateful Eight”) who is being blackmailed into obeying the instructions of the organization funding the expedition. We know he's evil though, because he kills people now and then, just because he finds it expedient to do so.

Adventures on the island include cliffhangers, escapes, captures, threats, murders and a booby-trapped tomb of Himiko with some impossible ancient gadgets designed to kill people. If this sounds a lot like an Indiana Jones plot, that's because it is exactly like an Indian Jones plot. It is also like a National Treasure movie, but not as much fun. It is far too serious for that.

I saw this in 3D. I like 3D movies, but there was way too much “cross-talk,” or “ghosting” (like seeing double) in the presentation. I'm not sure why. It may have been the movie, or the projector set up. I saw “A Wrinkle in Time” in the very same theater, in the same auditorium, a week earlier with the exact same 3D glasses, and there was no cross-talk then. I also saw “Pacific Rim: Uprising” a week later in the same auditorium in 3D. No ghosting in that one, either. So the problem was confined to “Tomb Raider,” but I have seen some 3D cross-talk before in that same auditorium. Anyway, the presentation was annoying, and the movie was disappointing. This is another in a long line of mediocre Hollywood action films. It rates a C.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in digital formats, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

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