Sarah Taaffe-Maguire and Gavin Burke joined Sean Rocks in studio to give their verdict on some of this week’s latest film releases. At the forefront, the latest adaptation of the video-game-turned-franchise, Tomb Raider.
Ex-Machina‘s Alicia Vikander plays 21-year-old Lara, who is living in London following the death of her father. Sarah explained that Croft is “living paycheck to paycheck”, stubbornly refusing to deal with paperwork concerning her father’s death and her inheritance, in the stubborn hope that he will be found alive.
“She then realises that maybe this is ridiculous. Her father’s been missing for 7 years. She better sign the papers and move on with her life. In the process of so doing, she is given a puzzle forming part of the will which she opens and then leads her to explore and find out a secret life her father had been leading.”
Gavin assured Sean that this exposition is disposed with quickly in favour of flying fists.
“Once you get that mucky character motivation stuff out of the way, it’s action all the way after that.“
It’s inevitable that comparisons will be made between Vikander’s Tomb Raider and the 2001 film starring Angelina Jolie. Sean asked if audiences will “recognise” the character of the previous films. Gavin confessed that he was coming to this “totally cold”, as he has not seen the original version or played any of the video games. He told Sean that he felt a bit aged out of the target market.
“I think the audience that it’s certainly pitched at, 12-year-olds, will certainly get a bang out of it in an Indiana Jones way. I think it leans too much on Da Vinci Code problem-solving with puzzles. On to the next puzzle and on and on we go. But the Indiana Jones action stuff is a lot of fun.”
Sarah enjoyed the Japanese mythology in the film, even if it’s perhaps not the most historically accurate. She told Sean she was “relieved” that Vikander was not hyper-sexualised in the film.
“It was such a tonic, to be honest. She’s allowed to wear whatever she wants and be a normal person who is strong and beautiful. But that is not the selling point or core part of the lore of this film.”
Listen back to the full review on Arena here.