BLACK PANTHER - SO COOL
That movie was so cool. So good. I totally thought it was a good movie. The best. So cool.
And another thing - it was cool.
And another thing - it was cool.
It becomes clear very early on that this is an origin story for the character, and with that, you’re not going to get as much of the RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK as you’d hope. What you get in its place is one flashback after another. The screenwriting team of Geneva Robertson-Dworet & Alastair Siddons goes heavy on emphasizing the father-daughter relationship. Providing Lara a motivational push is one thing, but the film’s desire to be taken as a serious family drama often feels forced.
As happy as I am that the studio learned from the mistakes of the previous films and decided not to just cater to teen boys (there isn’t an unnecessary shower scene this time around), the producers lean a little too heavily into the BATMAN BEGINS formula. The crafted an origin-story based on the success of the rebooted video game series but lost the sense of fun associated with the title. It’s as if the film was afraid to play in the sandbox it designed for itself. When you have a title like TOMB RAIDER, you expect a certain level of light-hearted escapism. While I don’t wish the series to reclaim the silliness or the teen-boy-ogling of the previous films, it would go a long way if they leaned slightly little more into the pulp territory.
As happy as I am that the studio learned from the mistakes of the previous films and decided not to just cater to teen boys (there isn’t an unnecessary shower scene this time around), the producers lean a little too heavily into the BATMAN BEGINS formula. The crafted an origin-story based on the success of the rebooted video game series but lost the sense of fun associated with the title. It’s as if the film was afraid to play in the sandbox it designed for itself. When you have a title like TOMB RAIDER, you expect a certain level of light-hearted escapism. While I don’t wish the series to reclaim the silliness or the teen-boy-ogling of the previous films, it would go a long way if they leaned slightly little more into the pulp territory.
When TOMB RAIDER embraces the jungle survival genre, it starts to step in the right direction. The bow-and-arrow and gun violence are somewhat surprising (without reaching RAMBO levels of gore), but the scenes are still missing that certain level of excitement. However, the film really comes alive with its entertaining finale which feels straight out of INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE, and I mean that as a compliment. It’s the first time that the film decides to live up to its name and have fun with the premise.
The nice thing for non-gamers is that you don’t have to have played any of the games to pick up what is going on. In fact, it goes out of its way to explain every step of the way. Since this is a “video game adaptation” and because that genre carries such a negative track record, I’m happy to report that the curse is over – this is the best video game adaptation I’ve seen. While TOMB RAIDER won’t be remembered for its stunts, story, or action, it does now hold the high-score in terms of video game adaptations. It doesn’t feel like a game-changing moment, but it’s a level up from the rest.
The nice thing for non-gamers is that you don’t have to have played any of the games to pick up what is going on. In fact, it goes out of its way to explain every step of the way. Since this is a “video game adaptation” and because that genre carries such a negative track record, I’m happy to report that the curse is over – this is the best video game adaptation I’ve seen. While TOMB RAIDER won’t be remembered for its stunts, story, or action, it does now hold the high-score in terms of video game adaptations. It doesn’t feel like a game-changing moment, but it’s a level up from the rest.
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