‘Tomb Raider’ Reboot Movie: We Don’t Need To Start Over, They Need To Leave It Alone

An upcoming Tomb Raider reboot movie is apparently happening, as Hollywood attempts to try milking even more money out of the video game franchise, which also reinvented itself. However, the video game almost entirely changed the controls and made it more of a story-driven sequence of cutscenes and quick-time events with some actual gameplay left in.

The video game series has succeeded, partly due to making Lara Croft look less like a supermodel with “front baggage,” which would probably make her gymnastics painful. It might also have been boosted due to the Xbox One fan population going out of their way to get Microsoft’s console outselling the PS4. The console war alone likely made Rise of the Tomb Raider a best-seller, alongside Titanfall, Halo 5, and Sunset Overdrive.

The movies are almost an entirely different entity, with Angelina Jolie having nearly destroyed her public image as a female archaeologist with a stuffed bra and a penchant for big pistols. The sexualism of the character most likely turned what could have been a perfect marriage of Indiana Jones and James Bond into something almost insulting to the game’s fan base.

The Tomb Raider reboot film could be Hollywood’s attempt to put more female protagonists on the big screen in the search for gender equality. Much like Paul Feig’s all-female Ghostbusters reboot, and Ronda Rousey’s Roadhouse remake, it’s not necessary, and could only further prove that we should have just left it alone.

Even the YouTube version above had its flaws, according to commenters, and it’s the first part of several.

If Tomb Raider is getting a reboot in theaters, why not Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter? It could be because the fighting franchises outside Dead or Alive are basically male-dominated storylines and Hollywood is trying to put more women out there. Sadly, Dead or Alive is famous for something other than its gameplay, the same thing that probably drove the sales of the original Tomb Raider games.

If you’ve played them, it should be obvious, but if you haven’t, the female characters’ tops are a bit “stretchy” in places to grab our attention.

Norwegian director Roar Uthaug is said to be helming the latest film, and it could be attempting to use the storyline from the previous films, according to Geek. Besides Lara being reunited with her father (which had an extra dimension of surreality the first time due to the fact that Jon Voight actually is Jolie’s father), the first movie didn’t really have much of a story. The second film seemed like it was written as it was filmed, since parts of the story didn’t make any sense and the movie logically should have been over in a half hour.

Tomb Raider movie reboot imports a director https://t.co/Cy8pIkSzP6 pic.twitter.com/1Dnb2VArkb

— Geek.com (@geekdotcom) November 19, 2015

Hopefully, Roar decides to add to the Tomb Raider reboot movie’s story in a way that doesn’t make it even worse, like Josh Trank did with Fantastic Four. The Hollywood Reporter claims the story is unknown so far, so there is hope. Better yet, perhaps Hollywood should have just left the series alone and not decided to make a Tomb Raider reboot over a decade later?

Movies based on video games rarely do well, and the ones that do are usually treated to sequels, which ruin them. That’s what happened to Mortal Kombat and Resident Evil. The first films were good enough, but the sequels were mostly unwatchable. Only Silent Hill and Prince of Persia seemed to be turned into decent films, and many fans are hoping that Warcraft is the next good one.

Sadly, the first trailer for Warcraft borrows heavily from James Cameron’s Avatar, so it’s unknown if the film will redeem itself and be one of the best movies based on a game ever made.

With the Tomb Raider reboot, though, it seems apparent that Hollywood is trying too hard to get more female-led films out there. They should leave the reboots and remakes alone and focus on making female-led movies good instead.

[Image via Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life/Warner Bros.]