Lara Croft is a character that needs no introduction.
For more than two decades, Miss Croft has held her place as one of the most instantly recognizable names in the gaming industry and soon, Warner Bros. and The Wave director Roar Uthaug will usher that illustrious Tomb Raider onto the big screen. And not for the first time.
Back when Angelina Jolie wielded those iconic dual pistols, Lara Croft made the jump to cinema twice in the space of three years, though after The Cradle of Life was pummelled by critics, the Tomb Raider series quietly retreated back into the shadows. Leave it to Crystal Dynamics, then, to resurrect the video game icon with a compelling, expertly crafted origin story about Lara’s journey from intrepid explorer to seasoned raider of tombs.
That video game title, one released in 2013 to critical acclaim, has been name-dropped by Warner Bros. multiple times during the development process of its live-action Tomb Raider movie, and sure enough, as part of Entertainment Weekly’s ongoing Comic-Con preview, the Oscar-winning Alicia Vikander confirmed that her Lara Croft will be a little wet behind the ears.
And so, after touching upon some of the intense stunt work involved in the creation of Tomb Raider, Vikander went on to discuss this particular rendition of the great Lara Croft, who steps far beyond the confines of her personal comfort zone to hunt for her missing father, Richard James Croft (Dominic West).
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.
The historic legacy of Tomb Raider isn’t something that’s lost on Vikander, either, who pointed to the blistering success of Wonder Woman as another example of a female-fronted blockbuster done right.
I went to the cinema and saw Wonder Woman the other day. It’s a mixture of joy and sadness pouring over me, as I was thinking, ‘Oh, my God, I haven’t seen women onscreen like that.’ And I wondered how many stories there have there been throughout the years that haven’t been told. If Wonder Woman made such an impact, which it deserves to, then we need to use ten times as much force to make some change. It needs to happen.
Tomb Raider plows into theaters in time for March 16th, 2018. Hannah John-Kamen, Daniel Wu, and Walton Goggins co-star.
