Being both a reboot and a video game adaptation doesn’t usually raise expectations for a movie. The first Tomb Raider films starred Angelina Jolie over a decade ago and performed well as far as video game movies go, but the newest iteration is an adaptation of the most recent video games. In 2013, the Tomb Raider games relaunched with a new Lara Croft, younger and unobjectified, and this film follows that story. Lara (Alicia Vikander; The Light Between Oceans) is living on her own as a bike courier in London after the disappearance of her father seven years earlier. When asked to meet with her lawyer regarding her family’s large estates, she discovers a message from her father about the true nature of his absence. He left for a remote island where he believed an ancient secret was buried. Determined to find him, Lara leaves England and faces the island’s natural dangers along with a competing organization led by Walter Goggins (The Hateful Eight).

With a smaller frame than Jolie, Vikander was not an obvious choice to play Lara. She has spent months training for the role and while her stature is still small, she has bulked up to the point that her fighting and, most importantly, her climbing is believable. Her Lara is an imperfect adventurer, stumbling occasionally and taking more than her fair share of hits, but she still preserves. Her determination, both as an actress or as the character, is what we see onscreen and it makes her a charismatic presence.

Vikander has to work with a script that doesn’t always portray Lara in the best light. In its attempts to show her youth and inexperience, the writing can make her seem petulant and, in some cases, downright dumb. She lives independent of her family’s wealth but is in debt and still refuses to sign the necessary paperwork to have the estate transfer to her, leaving the fate of their assets in question. Establishing Lara as a self-made adult is important but choosing independence to the point that it jeopardizes her family’s entire wealth is a ridiculous decision that undermines the sympathy the film is trying to elicit.

The supporting cast is mostly capable, but Goggins as the villain is not. His acting career has featured many eccentric roles, but here he pulls back too far. His performance is more subdued than subtle and he often comes off as disinterested. He delivers threats at gunpoint with little credible danger and seems to space out in the middle of a line as if his thoughts were drifting elsewhere during production.

A weak human villain leaves the environment to become the real antagonist. The film pulls from several specific set pieces from the video game and renders them surprisingly well. The iconic river and waterfall scene is shown with impressive scale. The sheer number of precarious situations Lara finds herself in can stretch belief, but, as an action movie, director Roar Uthaug (The Wave) keeps the death defying stunts relatively grounded. The pain that Lara suffers allows each narrow escape to feel earned, not given.

The events that propel the action are fairly standard, but well executed. The missing father trope has been repeated time and time again and when Lara finally reaches the titular tomb, it sticks closely to the elaborate traps and crumbling architecture of any Indiana Jones movie. Uthaug’s main accomplishments have been creating action scenes that have scale and weight and moving the story along at a brisk pace. The film doesn’t break any molds, but the set pieces and Vikander’s committed performance make Tomb Raider an agreeable expedition.

3/5 stars.