Tomb Raider Review: 4 Ups & 5 Downs

2. The Emotional Beats Don't Work

The emotional core of Tomb Raider is the relationship between Lara and her father Richard, which is largely explored through flashbacks interspersed throughout the film, where Richard bonds with Lara both as a young child and as a teenager.

Unfortunately this father-daughter set-up never rises above feeling laughably cliched, an earnest but generically lazy attempt to imbue a dull story with some added emotional pull.

The fact it even tries to be emotional puts it above most video game movies, in fairness, but it's totally hollow, and every time the movie randomly cuts back to a washed-out flashback for a few seconds, it's more likely to draw chuckles rather than tears from you.