Searching for Himiko

TOMB RAIDER

8/31/2018

Searching for Himiko

SUMMARY

“Lara Croft, the fiercely independent daughter of a missing adventurer, must push herself beyond her limits when she discovers the island where her father disappeared.” – IMDb.

The movie’s protagonists are Alicia Vikander, Dominic West, Walton Goggins, Daniel Wu, and Kristin Scott Thomas.

This movie is PG13, because of the brief violence and cursing, so you better ask your parents for permission first. Tomb Raider was directed by Roar Uthaug and the script was written by Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Evan Daugherty. It was nominated for the Teen Choice Awards 2018, in the following categories:

- Choice Movie Actress, Action—Alicia Vikander.
- Choice Movie—Action.

REVIEW

I have, unfortunately, never seen the Angelina Jolie version, but have seen her on other movies and have enjoyed her acting. However, as I’ve seen on reviews on her movies, the film wasn’t great, but Ms. Jolie’s acting was incredible and praised.

This movie is good to pass the time on a rainy day, especially on weekends. It’s more like a prequel to the other Lara Croft movies and videogames, as it centers on a 21-year old Lara trying to find her father in an almost inhabited island.

I think I’m getting a bit ahead, aren’t I? Let me guide you from the beginning…

The movie starts with stunningly drawn graphics introducing the viewer to Himiko, the Death Queen of Yamatai. She could kill someone with just the touch of her hand, and so her own army of generals wanted to bury her alive to stop the killing.

She lays untouched on her tomb, but there’s an organization that wants to find her…

And then, BAM!

We see Lara as a 21-year old woman training in a boxing ring with an opponent. The lady beats her—making me gasp in shock. Wasn’t Lara Croft supposed to be strong and beat all her opponents? Also, why on Earth did she suddenly like boxing? Did she do that to escape her feelings about her father? Or did she suddenly just enjoy/like boxing?

Afterwards, Lara makes fun of how the lady “did not marmalize her”, while the lady actually did marmalize her. She steals an apple from the boxing ring’s owner, which sighs.

I figured out, that Lara didn’t use her fortune to pay everything. She didn’t even live on the bloody manor her father had left her! She was living off with her friends at a dirty apartment that barely had electricity! #umwhat?

After that, Lara has to go and deliver some food, since she actually works as a food carrier. We find out that a boy has a crush on her, and that she’s quick and dumb enough to be a fox for the food courier company.

And we also learn that she actually is a literature lover, citing Shakespeare’s Hamlet—so we make out she’s intelligent. So, she’s not dumb, but is quick.

Wow, how people are judged by their appearance a lot.

Then, since she’s the fox for the food courier company, she gets chased down by her workmates. And she gets covered in green paint at the end—resulting her last legal guardian, Ana Miller, to come and get her.

Ana tells her to come and sign the papers that will give Lara her inheritance, urging her that this is the right thing to do.

Richard disappeared a few years back at Hong Kong, in search of Himiko’s tomb. The police men couldn’t find him, so they abandoned the search for Lara’s dad.

So, she goes to Croft Enterprises the next day, and the secretaries at the desk couldn’t believe she was dressed up that way. Like, the mistook her for a courier, which she was, but she wasn’t there for that.

She was there for an appointment with Ana.

There, she gets the news that her father had left her basically an entire fortune, Croft Manor, and valuable things from her childhood. And then, she sees a Japanese puzzle which laid on the manor when she was a child.

Instantly, she opened it, and she found a clue that would lead towards the greatest mystery she would discover on her life.

Her father had an obsession with archaeology.

And he wanted to find Himiko.

Lara found out that her father had sailed towards an inhabited island with someone, called Lu Ren.

So, Lara goes to Hong Kong and finds Lu Ren (not the same one his father sailed with though, but his son)—but a series of events happen.

Before she even got to him, though, some boys (the only ones that spoke English) wanted to kidnap her bag, which contained all clues to Himiko. She was saved by Lu Ren, who was drunk at that time.

And so, the both of them become partners in searching for Himiko, and get shipwrecked on Yamatai, being discovered by Trinity and being forced to become slaves so they can help them find the tomb leading to Himiko.

So, Lara decides to escape, making herself injured and finding a WW2 plane while doing so.

Afterwards, she finds her father, one of the most heartwarming moments of the whole movie. What I think that could be better would be how and why Lara got there? Why all of sudden did she want to climb to the cave her father was in hiding? How did she know it was her father—which looks basically unrecognizable.

Then, she goes back, starts shooting the bad guys with her arrow because she wanted to get away from her father for a moment, and then finds out Trinity had already found the tomb thanks to her father’s notebooks.

Geez, Lara. You should’ve burned all the research like your father told you too!

Oh wait.

YOU’RE TOO STUBBORN!

So, her father’s enemy, Mathias Vogel, suddenly decides to threaten Lara when Richard approaches the camping site to see the tomb, which has beautiful carvings on it. I must say, the Set Decorators did a fantastic job doing all the “historical” sites!

And so, Lara opens the tomb, and faces a lot of challenges there. One of them, making her father, Mathias, and the rest of the expedition team that was inside the tomb with her die.

Making her the only survivor.

AND NOW…

My rating!

I give this movie a 6/10.

Why?

Well, they had an OK plot. They could’ve just made it an eensy-weensy tiny bit better, and it could be the Tomb Raider you know or want.

I think you should give this movie a chance, it’s worth it if you have nothing to do on a rainy day and are too bored to do anything. I recommend it that way, so you can see a little bit of action, drama, and beautiful graphics, but it's not worth a second viewing.

And guys, remember Alicia Vikander is an Oscar-winner actress, so you’re safe. Nobody gets nominated for an Oscar by doing nothing haha! I assure you it’s going to be enjoyable, if you have nothing else to do and enjoy drama/action movies for entertainment.

So! I hope you enjoyed this post and will give the 2018 version of Tomb Raider a chance! And like many people say—don’t judge a film by its cover! Actually, it is “don’t judge a book by its cover”, but I thought it would be funny to do a pun haha! Have a great month, my lovely readers! 😊

©2018
Pink Smoothie!
AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Any pictures/gifs do not belong to me, otherwise stated.

Here is the official trailer and behind the scenes...