Rating: 1.5/5 stars

Making video game movies does not seem to be a job of which filmmakers pride themselves. From “Super Mario Bros.” to “Assassin’s Creed,” they are rarely, if ever, a winner in the eyes of the movie-going public. Some have wondered if “Tomb Raider,” the first onscreen incarnation of the popular game franchise since the two Angelina Jolie films from the early 2000s, will act as a redemption for such projects. Unfortunately, it will not be doing anybody any favors.

Lara Croft (Alicia Vikander, “Jason Bourne”) spends her adult years kickboxing and participating in illegal bike races in London. After an arrest, Ana Miller (Kristin Scott Thomas, “Darkest Hour”) of Croft Holdings, Lara’s father’s company, reminds her of an inheritance that she has yet to claim. This leads Lara on a quest to Yamatai, an island in the Devil’s Sea, to find answers about her missing archaeologist father and a tomb holding a queen named Himiko, who it is said will unleash dark powers if her sarcophagus is found.

“Tomb Raider” is surprisingly filled with many negative aspects. To start, there is a scene where Lara’s ship heading for Yamatai is being knocked about in a typhoon. Putting aside the fact that it is mostly green screen, what ruins this segment is the abysmal lighting. At times, it gets so dark that the action is next to impossible to look at. A few other scenes suffer from this issue.

Also, an opening kickboxing scene is unnecessary and feels redundant next to the bike racing scene. Even worse, it is shot in a “shaky cam” style that is too easy to recognize in action films nowadays. Numerous supporting characters, such as Daniel Wu’s (“Geostorm”) Lu Ren, are not even needed for the plot, and removing them would make no difference. A prologue describing Himiko’s backstory is completely unnecessary since this same backstory is given as Lara examines her father’s research. Even though the more recent “Tomb Raider” games have taken on a grittier tone, one unfamiliar with the franchise could be forgiven for thinking that the film is a “Batman Begins” or “Casino Royale” wannabe in the style of such failures as “Fant4stic” and “Power Rangers.”

The one flaw that ruins the film is how the character of Lara Croft is mishandled. Lara’s quest throughout the film is to find answers about her father, but that is where the problem lies. Not only does Lara have that to worry about, but also the discovery of the tomb and a villain in the form of Walter Goggins’ (“Maze Runner: The Death Cure”) Mathias Vogel, who claims to have known her father. The fact that the film falls back so much on the father plotline undermines Lara’s character and actually makes her seem weaker than she should. Throughout the film, she is shown to be smart and is solving puzzles, some of which threaten the lives of the other characters. That’s handled well, but during some of the more desperate and high-stakes moments, the father plotline distracts and stifles her, preventing her from doing the right thing, even if the end of the world is at stake. This is especially true in a moment when she has to step up and become a warrior. In a world where well-rounded female action heroes like Wonder Woman and Okoye, Shuri and Nakia from “Black Panther” exist in the movies, this is unimpressive.

Image from Warner Bros. Pictures via YouTube.com