Daddy Issues of the Tomb Raider

laracroftwashere:

The new TR movie has been confirmed to be about young Lara in search to see if her father is dead or alive. That’s right. Another parental storyline.

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I’m so tired of this. Another rehash of the plot from the first movie, and every single TR game since Crystal took over. This will be the FOURTH telling of that story. (Count them: TR Movie, Legend, TR 2013, TR Reboot Movie.)

How many more times are we going to be subject to this method of reboot?This same focus on Lara’s parents?

Either make a game or a film where THEY are the protagonists, or tell us a story about Lara. She is not her parents. She is not Richard.

Lara Croft should not live in anyone’s shadow.

Even if this isn’t the plot, and simply the “motivation”, it’s still the same story over and over. And frankly, it’s not a good enough motivation for Lara. Stop trying to inject family issues into Tomb Raider, because they do not belong there. Lara’s story has been done in such better ways. Throw her into a situation she has caused and explore her character by her reactions and her struggle to right her own wrong. Look at the Last Revelation. Look at Angel of Darkness (no really, get off your high horse and study it). Look at how Lara interacts with a rich cast of diverse characters. These are personal stories to Lara, full of emotion in their own right, that goes well beyond the surface. Oh, and there’s not a parent in sight.

And to be honest, after so many years and countless rewrites of a script, yes – I did have hope for this film. After countless rewrites I did expect something new, original, and unexplored. So to read that this reboot movie will deal yet again with Lara’s “personal” family drama is a punch in the face. It screams so obviously of a script written by someone who either doesn’t know who Lara Croft should be, or someone who is trying to re-re-re-re-invent her. Either way, someone who has no idea what they’re doing when it comes to Lara. This is not commentary on their abilities, merely their ‘vision’.

I’m sure Alicia Vikander will pour her heart into the role. But with this story and motivation? I have zero confidence in this movie and it’s plot while it revolves around daddy issues. We’ve been there, we’ve done that, try again. 

Lara deserves better.

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Story writers hard at work on the new TR Movie.