Alright, let’s start from the end: the new incarnation of Tomb Raider is dumb. It is! It’s a dumb action movie. This is why it’s easy to disdainfully push it aside. But then again, when was the last time you saw an intelligent action movie? As a rule, most movies which Hollywood spurts out nowadays, are not exactly the embodiment of wisdom and sophistication—doubly so, when it comes to action movies. In fact, if we honestly look back, to the now nearly extinct action hero genre, we can see that none of the classics were exemplars of good script writing.
An Age of Heroes
Commando, Rambo, Conan the Barbarian, American Ninja and even Indiana Jones movies… sigh. We were young and needed the entertainment. Still, as ridiculous as those movies could become, I remember that as a kid, they were also very empowering. As a boy, they gave me something to aspire to, and made me believe in honesty, friendship, loyalty, truth, justice and the American way. All of the values which in this post-modern world are considered naïve and obsolete. When I grew up, of course I saw through the special effects and the gaping plot holes. But that didn’t change the fact that when I needed someone powerful to look up to, to help me believe that I too could achieve great things – these movies were there to empower me.
Her Too
What does this have to do with Tomb Raider 2018? Well, everything. See, if nothing else, Tomb Raider is a classic action-hero movie with a female lead. It’s an action heroine movie! As such, it is not about sophistication, it’s not about emotional depth or even reliability. Seen in this light, some of the ridiculous plot twists and turns may be forgiven… to some extent. It would be pointless to judge the movie by the standards of other kinds of movies. But if we acknowledge what the movie is, and judge it accordingly, the situation changes.
Body Image
For one thing, it’s very hard not to notice that Alicia Vikander is no Angelina Jolie. She is pretty, and she has a very athletic built (one of the only things in the movie with a reliable explanation), but she does not have Jolie’s formidable mammaries, nor her pouty fleshy lips. In short, she’s attractive but also human-looking. Girls and young women could potentially aspire to look like her and go exercise like mad. Sure bits aspiring to look like Jolie and going under the knife.
An Action Heroine for the Generation
For another, it is fair to say that there is no romance in the movie. Lara is a young strong-willed rather brilliant woman on a mission, she doesn’t need a love interest. As a result, she is the star of her own movie. She does not stand in relation to any man, nor does she at any point resign her control to a man. She Jumps, fights and solves riddles all on her own. In short, Lara Croft is the perfect action heroine. It is entirely possible that she too, like the movie heroes of our childhood, inspire kids (girls this time) to aspire for greatness.
In that respect, one may hope that Vikander’s Lara Croft will herald a new breed of female heroes in movies – the kind that stands on her own, and shows girls everywhere that they can, too.
