Some things are better left buried, and some things are just discoveries and Tomb Raider is a real discovery, or I should say Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft; as I told a friend other than thinking Lara Croft is hot, I can’t say I’ve played a lot of the Tomb Raider Series. Honestly, I like Alicia way more than the Angelina Jolie versions as Alicia’s Lara was to an extent, should I say believable, real, you could feel her character more, a more visceral hero.

Seeing as how they are trying to bring back the franchise, I give them points for their faith in this film, this is more of an origin story of Lara Croft, with throwbacks to how she became the “butt-kicking” hero we know her to be. Tomb Raider being probably the second movie I’ve seen Alicia in, I’m pretty curious to see more of her as she has yet to disappoint; if only the film tried as hard but it’s decent. Daniel Ku with another Into The Badlands alum did their thing, but who watches Into The Badlands, just me, so go and watch this movie.

Pleasing the Fandango gods first let’s now get to the real just like Lara Croft or maybe more like the villain of the movie Walton Goggins as Mathias Vogel, not that this movie made me want to go “home,” though I did look at my watch more than I would like. I didn’t go into this movie with great expectations, give me a pretty girl, a bunch of guns and… hey, I thought this was America; does nobody know Randy from South Park either? I should also say the trailer song “Survivor” filled me with a bit of nostalgia, and how about this “blasphemy,” I like the trailer way more than the original Destiny’s Child.

It sounds like I’m making excuses to why I was interested in this but movies nowadays give away so much in trailers and Tomb Raider didn’t have to do that for obvious reasons being around as long as it has. Though you know what’s coming there are still plenty of twists and turns along the way as there should be, an almost “The Twilight Zone” feeling which also works well.

I don’t remember much from the original franchise but Alicia’s Lara starts as a poor, nowhere near invincible ragamuffin with daddy issues, she’s hot, did I mention she’s hot but not is some overly sexualized type of way, though the story lets us know she’s a “fox.” Even the villains are somewhat on the broke side and working just a bit less industriously than the slaves; I can’t help but wonder though set in London was that a directing choice, familiar looking down on wealth?

Yes I’m trying to stay out of the political realm, so what about the mystical story of Himiko, while that tale made sense, the idea of Lara’s father pursuing it or even Trinity is a bit of a stretch, with his money and their control. Also, Lara taking to the bow so well, yes she’s trained, but while her first kill without it brought forth such emotion, the following battles were a bit empty of such though Daniel Ku brought up a bit of the slack. Which is another thing, again Trinity held so much power but rested on fate to find labor or attempt to uncover the tomb though that would have been too much of a throwback to other versions, attacking the manor?

While Vogel is a decent bad guy, that’s just it; he’s just villain number one, he didn’t seem to have a solid plan which makes Richard Croft ridiculous. The bad guys don’t know so I’m going to set up shop at the front door, just to say you can’t come in. Now while not pivotal plot points, Lara returned to the pawn dealer but what about her training or her other job, yeah she didn’t exactly need it but was the beginning nothing but filler?

Am I asking for this movie to be longer… no way and the fact that it isn’t like any of its predecessors is a high point, only it does seem a bit rushed at times, and there wasn’t enough back story to fill it out. At least it won’t be one of those horrible video game to movie examples, if anything it’s just a blip on the radar, almost as if they were afraid of going too far with it.

Huge risk and high reward but no I believe three stars is quite enough; not a waste of money but if honestly pressed I would have watched Black Panther for the fourth time and as Tomb Raider is concerned, would the 3D version add anything honestly? Now I should probably put up a spoiler warning as if I haven’t given too much away already; everyone already knows where the film is going without any doubt.

There are no real saving graces even if the film was a bit la dee da; nothing stood out on screen for me besides Alicia’s beauty just wow and maybe figuring out one of the puzzles in the tomb. I already mentioned the one song in the trailer but as for the movie itself only Doing Me by RAY BLK is worth writing down. Another female hero for little girls I suppose and no bloody moments though, not entirely kid-friendly, but with the things on TV now I say go ahead and take the kids; I’m the cool dad, but I only have a dog.

My favorite part would be a toss up of when Alicia gets all Lara Croft minus short shorts; she’s wearing pants just saying or the somewhat iconic scene at the end when she indeed becomes; gamers will recognize. The worst was again the overall plan, sort of like Amy ruining Indiana Jones for Sheldon and the boys but tombs got to get raided right? At least they avoided some of the standard tropes like zombies; I swear there was a scene I expected a mess load of zombies, but yeah people can be horrible enough all on their own nowadays.

In all, this is a good movie to go and kill two hours, and I am somewhat disappointed this hero won’t get as recognized as other but I work retail, and they still aren’t giving Black Widow props, but that could be more to do with her weapon of choice. Only Lara has her bow for nearly the whole movie so. Three stars, more than worth a little bit of gas but keep your expectations just so low and like pretty girls and you’ll be Digging Up The Tomb Raider.