After nearly fifteen years, Lara Croft is returning to the big screen, this time with Alicia Vikander as the titular tomb raider. This marks the second attempt to translate the video game icon’s success to the cinema, following the pair of early-2000s Angelina Jolie films that could generously be described as middling successes.
Unlike prior ‘Tomb Raider‘ films, however, the upcoming reboot appears to be much more firmly rooted in the games. In particular, it draws a very direct and very apparent influence from the 2013 video game reboot of the franchise. Like the film, that game depicted Lara Croft’s origin story as the young adventuress finds herself stranded and forced to survive on a mysterious island off the coast of Japan.
Though filming wrapped earlier this summer, remarkably little was made public during production, though what little the studio did release has looked promising. That all changed today with the release of the film’s first trailer. The trailer, which offers our first substantial look at ‘Tomb Raider’, is available here:
Lara Croft is the fiercely independent daughter of an eccentric adventurer who vanished when she was scarcely a teen. Now a young woman of 21 without any real focus or purpose, Lara navigates the chaotic streets of trendy Easy London as a bike courier, barely making the rent, and takes college courses, rarely making it to class. Determined to forge her own path, she refuses to take the reins of her father’s global empire just as staunchly as she rejects the idea that he’s truly gone. Advised to face the facts and move forward after seven years without him, even Lara can’t understand what drives her to finally solve the puzzle of his mysterious death.
Going explicitly against his final wishes, she leaves everything she knows behind in search of her dad’s last known destination: a fabled tomb on a mythical island that might be somewhere off the coast of Japan. But her mission will not be an easy one; just reaching the island will be extremely treacherous. Suddenly, the stakes couldn’t be higher for Lara, who – against the odds and armed with only her sharp mind, blind faith and inherently stubborn spirit – must learn to push herself beyond her limits as she journeys into the unknown. If she survives this perilous adventure, it could only be the making of her, earning her the name Tomb Raider.
Helmed by Norwegian director Roar Uthaug, ‘Tomb Raider’ stars Alicia Vikander, Walton Goggins, Daniel Wu, Dominic West, Hannah John-Kamen, and Antonio Aakeel. The film is due to be released on March 16, 2018.
What did you think of the trailer? Are you looking forward to seeing more of Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft? Let us know in the comments and be sure to check back with ScienceFiction.com for more on ‘Tomb Raider’ as it becomes available!
