Tomb Raider brings Lara Croft (Alicia Vikander) to the big screen once again, as she struggles with coming to terms with the death of her father (Dominic West). Now remember this is a action film, so no need for Kleenex. Lara is unable to believe her father is actually dead, despite him missing for 7 years. Only when she finally agrees to meet with his lawyers to settle his estate does she realize through a series of clues left behind by the man, who he really was: a Tomb Raider. Lara sets out to find out what happened to her father by any means necessary, and finds herself crossing paths with a dangerous madman.

“Some men like dangerous women.”

For This Chick’s fellow Tomb Raider gamers, this movie will not impress. It does not follow the recent Tomb Raider games as closely we would have hoped. The writers drastically altered Lara’s story and removed various traits and details that looking back are obviously incredibly necessary to the core of the game’s mythology. Firstly, Daddy Croft was only a tomb raider in secret. He didn’t raise Lara to study and be an explorer like him. Two, unlike her game counterpart, the film’s Lara holds no university degrees, and has no interest in exploration or archaeological expeditions (you’ll recall in the game she journeys to the island of Yamatai as part of a crew), and only sets off on her adventure to find her father. She has no innate sense of curiosity or wonder, and sadly the only real trait of game Lara’s persona that remains is her uncanny ability to solve puzzles. Shouldn’t a movie called Tomb Raider, based on a game about a tomb raider, be about a woman who is, in actuality, a tomb raider by trade?

All of Lara’s colleagues and friends from the game are gone. Characters like Sam, Jonah, Reyes, and Roth are absent, and seemingly replaced by a single drunken fisherman (Daniel Wu). The game’s villain, Mathias (Walton Goggins), is changed significantly as well. Here he is introduced working for Trinity (a sinister organization further explored in the game’s sequel) and is essentially an errand boy, stationed on Yamatai until he can find Himiko’s tomb. If you recall the 2013 game, he autonomously led a dangerous army of zealots, known as the Solarii, and was a much more formidable antagonist than the film’s version

The strangest issue with this adaption is how they handled Queen Himiko, the center of the game and film’s entire adventure. The film completely removes all supernatural elements regarding Himiko’s history. The island’s constant storms are replaced with rocks and reefs, and her army of undead guards with booby traps. The result is disappointing to say the least. It also seems, oddly enough, to have been borrowed from a different game franchise, Uncharted. Without the mystical elements, the film lacks depth, stakes, and most of all, any real sense of terror.

“Us Crofts, we have responsibilities.”

Now before non-game fans think This Chick’s being to hard on Tomb Raider, it wasn’t bad. The adaptation just made some odd choices, as with all video game movies (see 2005’s Doom for the worst offender), and the ending is very obviously rushed to set up the inevitable sequel. As always Vikander was terrific, and is surely a strong feminist icon in the making. West and Goggins were solid and the relationships explored were engaging and well developed. The action looks great, and some is even lifted straight from the game’s level design. And most importantly, if you can disconnect the strange divergences from the game, it’s a hell of a lot of fun, and that’s what action movies should be.

This Chick scores it: 6/10

This Chick, the gamer, scores it: 3.5/10