Without talking about her looks, how would you describe Lara Croft’s character? If you’re having trouble doing so beyond a synonym or two for “adventurous” than you’re probably not alone. The producer of the in development reboot of the film franchise based on the popular Tomb Raider video games also thinks that the lead character doesn’t have much depth to her and is looking to change that.
In an interview with Coming Soon, Tomb Raider reboot producer Graham King stated –
Listen, the box office, they weren’t disasters but I find it interesting that the story that we’re telling is really the story before she became Lara Croft, so it is a character piece. It does have a lot of really great characters, but it’s a lot of action and a lot of fun, and for me, it’s something very different. I’ve not really done a movie like that before, but I really gravitated to rebooting this franchise and we’re going to give it a shot.
It sounds like King is looking to attack one of my main bones of contention with video game adaptions – their lack of characterization. Video game movies, by their nature, are pretty-much plot driven. The characters have a goal and a series of obstacles they must navigate around in order to reach that goal. But there’s never really any deep examination of what drives these characters or how the incidences of the plot change them as people.
Don’t think that a concentration on characterization will necessarily exclude plenty of action and thrills, though. Raiders Of The Lost Ark is perhaps the perfect adventure film, but when it comes to characterization, its first two sequel Temple Of Doom and The Last Crusade have strong character arcs for Indiana Jones without sacrificing any of the action. More recently, the James Bond franchise was rebooted with Casino Royale, which arguably had the strongest characterization for the British super spy since 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
