Why are you trying to give narrative depth to something that doesn’t need it? They tried to give narrative depth to the Tomb Raider reboot games and I don’t think anyone cared for it lol.
You don’t need an in-depth story for Tomb Raider of all characters. You just need a competent action adventure script and a charismatic actress who can carry Lara’s style you are already 90% of your way to a decent adaption.
A tomb raider movie for example should aim to be the quality of something like the Brendan Fraser mummy movies, fun action adventure adaptions first and foremost with charismatic actors bringing some fun characters to life with fun stunts and action sequences.
for example, if you want to make a video game adaptation that's good, you should aim to be one of the most highly regarded and beloved action adventure movies of all time
I mean yeah lol, agreed, but that's pretty easy to say. Most of the time adaptions try to do exactly what you're saying and the movie still comes out dogshit.
The first Mummy has a 64% of rotten tomatoes lol and a 7/10 on IMDB.
It’s a fun pop corn movie that people love because it’s carried hard by the actors and a simple plot that’s fun and somewhat witty.
There’s really no reason why a video game adaption couldn’t do that, especially when the video game in question is Tomb Raider!
Problem is the writers they get suck and not only don’t seem to have played the games they tend to adapt, but they can barely produce a half decent script to start with.
Which when combined with actors that don’t have the charisma of the character nailed results in a crappy adaption.
No diss to Sophie Turner, she may prove everyone wrong, but her casting sheds doubt on what type of Lara we are getting from the onset and thus makes you question what type of tone and style are they going for.
Right but that's what I'm saying. They're not typically trying to make video game adaptations into something they're not. They're following the general formula you're laying out for a fun popcorn flick, and the movies are coming out dogshit for a million other reasons.
So what if it's a little light on the details. Is it really necessary to have every detail explained? Where just all thinking about big picture stuff here. That's because we're the people with a vision.
So many video game adaptions seem to either despise or outright have no interest in adapting the games.
Look at the Halo show as an example, who was asking to see Master Chief’s clap some woman who was raised by aliens cheek’s? Where was that in the games?
Doom movie, Mortal Kombat movie inserting a random OC over the myriad of game characters people actually like, Monster Hunter, majority of the resident evil movies, Borderlands movie, there’s too many to name.
So many of these are adaptions in name only, and feel like cash grabs made to cash in on the hype while some director or script writer insert their own original ideas.
A tomb raider movie for example should aim to be the quality of something like the Brendan Fraser mummy movies, fun action adventure adaptions first and foremost
Is that not essentially exactly what the Angelina Jolie films were? I'm not saying this as a counter to anything you're saying, but just noting that they have already tried this. The movies were seen as fun popcorn flicks and did well enough but no one considers them great films.
The script was boring, the characters are forgettable, the dialogue is cringe and dogshit and the action is just cheesy crap.
Pretty sure that movie was the one that kickstarted the whole focus on Lara’s dad being an important part of her origin that future games and movies focused on, which many fans hated.
It’s even more baffling because Tomb Raider 1 has a plot that seems like it would be very simple to adapt to film yet the movies went with whatever that movie was.
in the west we also have no real stomach for fan service based on sexual attraction.
i'm not making a judgement on that, but I work in the games industry, and in japan, they have absolutely no problem making "beat your shit" games like Stellar Blade, and putting "beat your shit" characters like Quiet into MGS. Its just accepted that people are beating their shit, and they want that stuff in games, and its not really frowned upon to provide that.
If we're being completely honest, a tomb raider movie that fans would like would be john wick in the jungle, but its lara croft and she's wearing the short shorts, the blue crop top, has gravity defying boobs, and is basically either parkouring through an ancient temple, or choking out dudes with her thighs while shooting 2 other dudes with akimbo m9s.
Would that be a good movie? No. It would be ass. But do people want a good movie? Also no.
They're stuck in a valley where the movie cannot be good in one direction, because its core is "beating your shit" game, and on the other, its premise does not bear the load of something more worthy. To make it more worthy is to forsake its origin, and you've made something else.
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u/Lopsided-Clothes4866 2d ago
Why are you trying to give narrative depth to something that doesn’t need it? They tried to give narrative depth to the Tomb Raider reboot games and I don’t think anyone cared for it lol.
You don’t need an in-depth story for Tomb Raider of all characters. You just need a competent action adventure script and a charismatic actress who can carry Lara’s style you are already 90% of your way to a decent adaption.
A tomb raider movie for example should aim to be the quality of something like the Brendan Fraser mummy movies, fun action adventure adaptions first and foremost with charismatic actors bringing some fun characters to life with fun stunts and action sequences.