It seems that video game adaptations are about to make a comeback in a massive way, what with Warcraft, Assassin’s Creed, Uncharted and Tomb Raider all in various stages of development, among others. Unlike their predecessors, each of these adaptations is looking quite promising and we’re feeling fairly confident that together, they’ll be able to buck the trend of shitty video game-based films.
In regards to Tomb Raider, a lot of fans are still on the fence about it as the last time the series was adapted for the big screen, the results were mediocre at best. So far, Warner Bros. and MGM don’t have anyone to play Lara Croft, but they’re still making good progress what with the hiring of director Roar Uthaug and scribe Geneva Robertson-Dworet.
Aside from that though, we still don’t know a whole lot about the project, especially in terms of story and what direction they’re heading in with the character. We can, however, confirm for you that the film will take its cues from the 2013 game, which told the origin story of Lara Croft.
Uthaug recently sat down for an interview with IGN and spoke about how well Crystal Dynamics was able to make Lara a relatable character in their reboot, and that he’s looking to do something similar with the movie.
“I think making Lara Croft feel like a real human being, that’s definitely something we want to bring to the big screen as well,” he said. “I think we’ll want to make people relate to Lara as a character. I’m hoping to bring some of my Norwegian sensibilities to the franchise.
I’ve always been a fan of strong female characters,” he added, “and I think I’ve had strong female characters in all my previous movies, so that’s something I thought was interesting.”
Further in the interview, the director noted how he’s striving to make the action in the film feel real, which is definitely nice to hear:
“I think we’ll want to make it feel like a modern action movie and to make what’s going on feel like it’s going on for real.”
It still may be very early days for the upcoming Tomb Raider film, but it certainly sounds like Uthaug has the right vision for it. While it’s hard to say just how well the adaptation is going to turn out until we at least know who will be playing Lara Croft, at this point, we’re feeling pretty optimistic.