Dear Raiders,
This is a personal review and report of the exclusive Tomb Raider movie pre-screening event I was invited to on March 2nd, 2018 in Berlin, Germany. This review focuses on the event and the movie. It does NOT contain any movie spoilers!
Berlin, here we come!
A few weeks ago, I received a very special invite from Square Enix and Warner Bros to attend a pre-screening of the Tomb Raider movie that will officially hit cinemas on March, 16 worldwide. So I got in the car on the morning of March 2nd and drove all the way from the far west of Germany to Berlin, Germany’s capital city. Not only would I wear my first full Lara Croft cosplay that evening, I’d also meet the beautiful Alicia Vikander in person. Not to mention seeing close friends again, meeting wonderful and extraordinarily talented cosplayers and seeing the movie two weeks before the official release – wow!
Cosplayers, Celebtrities & a stunning Alicia Vikander
Fans, cosplayers, staff, the press and photographers gathered up at the cinema, the elegant ASTOR Film Lounge, at around 7:00 p.m. There was a large Tomb Raider photowall up in the lounge where we cosplayers and fans spent around 1,5 hours that were left before the movie started at 08:30 p.m. We were offered drinks and snacks and a lot of photographers and press were around to take plenty of photos of us. Besides that, a lot of prominent personalities from Germany came to see the movie, too. They were fascinated by our cosplay costumes and happily took photos with us.
At around 8:00 p.m. the highlight of the evening arrived – Alicia Vikander a.k.a Lara Croft in person! Alicia came in and was amazed by our cosplays, looked down her beautiful dress and said: “I’m not properly dressed!” (see the video below) – We had a good laugh! A bunch of photos were taken after Alicia made it through all of us Lara‘s to find her reserved spot in the middle of our cosplay group. Although Alicia was quite busy she found the time to admire our costumes, make-up and props. She was super thankful for our support and incredibly sweet!
Tomb Raider Event Diary
I converted the original Tomb Raider movie diary I received as an exclusive gift from Warner Bros and Alicia Vikander into a personal “Tomb Raider Event Diary”. Every cosplayer who attended signed my diary and so did Alicia! She wrote:
“Lovely meeting all of you! Much love, Alicia xxxx”.
We then headed into the actual cinema room and were seated on reserved cosplayer seats in the middle of the cinema (super comfortable!). Alicia went down the room and stopped in front of the huge, curved screen to welcome everyone and conduct an interview with Jochen Schropp.
The Tomb Raider Movie – Personal Thoughts & Review
And here’s what you have been waiting for: My thoughts on the movie!
I grew up with the classic Tomb Raider games, they made my entire childhood. Lara‘s toughness and strenght made me the strong, independent woman I am today. She inspired me. So this is why I was pretty critical regarding the Tomb Raider 2013 reboot game but “found peace with it” when Rise of the Tomb Raider was released. So I was really excited about how the movie or if the movie would combine classic and reboot Lara aspects although actually being an origin story based on the Tomb Raider 2013 video game.
The official movie trailers have already shown a few classic Tomb Raider aspects, for example Lara wearing her famous braid and sporting her well-known H&K USP Match pistols. In my opinion, the movie serves not only the reboot fans but the classic fans as well! Even if you are not a Tomb Raider fan you will like this movie as what it is in its core: a thrilling action-adventure flick, starring a fantastic Alicia Vikander. I also loved the job Walton Goggins did as Mathias Vogel, Lara‘s antagonist. Furthermore, Dominic West and Daniel Wu did a wonderful job. The movie also impresses with breath-taking sets, brilliant directing and a good amount of fun – and as Lara gets beaten up practically all the time, a few laughs are much needed.
Known from the trailers already, Lara Croft is always on the run. She’s the person of interest and is therefore being hunted by the bad guys pretty much all the time. You will FEEL this speed in the movie, it is practically being delivered right through the screen. Pretty similar to when you play the 2013 video game. I loved this!
Final Words & Recommendation
If you played the 2013 reboot game, go see the movie. If you love Alicia Vikander, go see the movie. If you are a die-hard classic fan, go see the movie (you may be surprised, just be open for it). If you are an action-adventure movie loving person, go see the movie.
I was very sceptic when the first trailer was released. It got better with the second trailer and started to look quite promising to me. But the movie IS good. It really is. I enjoyed it and can only recommend to watch it and form your own opinion – it is very subjective if you like a movie or not! Personal tastes in movies vary, this is normal.
What I find to be very positive and encouraging: The Tomb Raider movie is currently rated with 7,5/10 on IMDb!
A final request: If you use any photos or other media provided in this article or words and thoughts from the article, please make sure to always name the source(s) and provide a link leading back to the original source!
The Author’s Facebook Page
Over the past few years, a lot of you have sent questions and requests regarding a personal Facebook page of the author and webmaster of Tomb Raider Web, Ani Croft. After having received phenomenal, positive feedback regarding my Tomb Raider 2013 cosplay, I decided to create a public Facebook page that people who are interested in my work as an official Tomb Raider fansite webmaster, cosplayer, actress, official Tomb Raider Localization Ambassador, gaming and fitness related stuff can follow.
You can find the Facebook page here: Ani Croft Official
Thank you for being so supportive! I really hope you’ll be as positively surprised by the Tomb Raider 2018 movie as I am! I’m really looking forward to hearing your thoughts!
Note: If you use any photos or other media provided in this article or words and thoughts from the article, please make sure to always name the source(s) and provide a link leading back to the original source!
TOMB RAIDER WEB 
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