Release date: January 9, 2018
Film: Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
Tagline: The game was a ground breaker, but is the movie a good representation, or like every other video game movie? Nostalgia Critic takes a look at Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.
We remembered these tropes so you don't have to:
- Crazy Is Cool: Considers Lara Croft to be this as she's an adrenaline junkie who does crazy stunts and only does archaeology because it's cool. He even admits that the character's credibility was Angelina Jolie's performance (who at the time, was a bit of a wild star).
- Geeky Turn-On: As early as 1997, the young Critic develops an apparent fetish for blocky video game character models due to his fascination with the original Tomb Raider's Lara Croft. At the end of the review, Critic tells the original Lara that he's since moved on to a higher form of love, namely a female character model from Minecraft.
- He Really Can Act: The Critic is puzzled by Daniel Craig's unconventionally invested performance in the film, questioning whether or not that really is Daniel Craig.
- Irony: Points out that American Angelina Jolie is doing a fake British accent while British Daniel Craig is doing a fake American accent.
- Retroactive Recognition: The Critic notes that Daniel Craig was still an unknown actor at the time of the movie's release.
- Rule of Cool: The Critic excuses a number of stupid moments for the film for this reason.
- Shmuck Bait: A particularly dark take on the trope. Poking fun at Lara's "security system", the Critic describes a scenario in which a robber (Jim Jarosz) comes across an unlocked house and a big bag of money labeled "take it"... except the owner of the house (Malcolm Ray) is sitting there with a Slasher Smile and a loaded shotgun, goading him to take the bag. The robber, disturbed by this setup, wisely decides to leave the money alone and head out.Owner: Come back any time!
Robber: I won't! - Swiss-Cheese Security: Subverted. He first considers Lara's house to be this, but then remembers this is Lara and she's probably been hoping for someone to break in and give her a fight.
- Video Game Movies Suck: Subverted. In the end, the Nostalgia Critic considers it the better of the video game movies he had reviewed in the past and how it was faithful to how the original games were (pre-2013 reboot) at the time of its release.
- Worthy Opponent: He notes that Lara and the villain have a very interesting dynamic centered around this and considers it one of the best parts in the movie.
"Lara, no! The place is coming down!"
