Subtitle: What if the tomb raider…didn’t want to raid tombs at all? For a while, it looked like director Roar Uthaug was going to deliver a video game movie that transcended the genre, mostly through the neat trick of having his ass-kicking heroine be driven by the thoroughly human desire to be Daddy’s little girl again. It seems the old man ventured off seven years back, and it’s been downhill ever since for poor Lara Croft (Alicia Vikander, throwing herself into the role by throwing herself off a cliff, among other things). Lara’s sort of grown-up now, but she still can’t bring herself to tap into Dad’s wealth by declaring him dead. Uthaug also does what he can with the narrative, working from the notion that every myth is based on some reality, and that those realities can bring their own drama. But in the end, he is overcome — by lousy dialogue (repeated exchange: “Well, we’re not dead yet.” “No shit.”), by hacky Indiana Jones ripoffs (The Last Crusade’s Three Trials are here rendered as The Ordeal of Himiko), by draggy pacing (that is one long boat wreck), and by action that too often feels like watched gameplay. (2018) — Matthew Lickona
This movie is not currently in theaters.