In the 2013 game, Lara is a student of archeology sailing to an area called the Dragon’s Triangle for some casual adventuring. There are some slight differences in the film’s plot and the 2013 game however, some of these elements seem to have been borrowed from the game’s sequel, Rise of the Tomb Raider. In the trailer, we see Lara with her hair in the signature plaited braid hold up two pistols in a similar manner. Towards the end of the game during the final boss battle, Lara obtains two guns - a throwback to the dual-pistol-wielding Lara Croft of previous games. There’s also an easter egg at the end of the trailer similar to an easter egg in the 2013 game. This axe has become a hallmark of the new game series. We watch Lara use it to climb out of danger and slash more than a few enemies.
Perhaps the most obvious call-out to the Tomb Raider series reboot is Lara’s tool of choice: a climbing axe. They are searching for a tomb that will grant them a terrible, otherworldly power. In the movie, Trinity is also an underground organization that threatens to take control of the world. They collect relics with supernatural powers and destroy any remnants of the civilizations that used them, claiming they are heretics against the Roman Catholic Church. In the game, the Order of Trinity is an ancient militant group funded by the Vatican. The group lurks in the world’s shadows, seeking to control mankind and the course of the world’s development. The malicious group Trinity that Lara’s father mentions is also taken directly from the 2013 game. In the 2015 follow-up, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Lara makes her own audio diaries, mirroring her father’s style of narrating his discoveries. In the 2013 Tomb Raider game, Lara frequently plays audio tapes that her father left behind as she goes about her journey. He has left her video diaries, instructing her to beware a group named Trinity. In the trailer, we learn that Lara’s father has passed away. In the game, Lara climbs along the same structure to cross a similar space. There’s a moment in the trailer when Lara runs across a fallen airplane to cross a ravine.
There are a few visual similarities to the game as well, down to the shooting angle. Vikander’s costume mirrors this to a T even the bandages on her right arm mirror those shown on Lara in the game’s promotional artwork. In the reboot game, Lara wears a tank top, cargo pants, and boots, with her hair in a simple ponytail. First and foremost is Vikander’s costume. There are several points in the new trailer that show how the movie will sync up with the 2013 reboot. Like her more recent video game counterpart, she is an untested young woman, her demeanor less confident - but she is clearly not without bravery. Previous Tomb Raider films featured a more mature version of Lara Croft, a grown woman backflipping and gunslinging through ruins and mowing down bad guys, sure of herself (and very much sexualized). The 2018 Tomb Raider film, starring Alicia Vikander as the archeology student-turned-action hero Lara Croft, leans heavily on the 2013 video game of the same name by studio Crystal Dynamics.
It’s clear from the outset that this is a far cry from the Angelina Jolie movies of yore.