Alicia Vikander Makes Her Bid For Action Hero Glory In ‘Tomb Raider’ Trailer

There comes a time in every young Oscar winner’s life where they have to try to take on a giant potential franchise, and for Alicia Vikander, that time is now. The 28-year-old actress, following her win for Best Supporting Actress in The Danish Girl, makes her big debut as an action hero in the upcoming Tomb Raider movie. She, of course, plays Lara Croft, the famous video game character who Angelina Jolie brought to life in two mediocre movies from the early aughts. The goal of this film, as we see in the brand-new trailer, is to introduce us to a younger version of Lara, before she becomes the famed Tomb Raider (in movie biz parlance, they call that an origin story). 

We don’t see this in the trailer, but according to the movie’s official synopsis, Lara is a bike courier, refusing to follow in the footsteps of her eccentric billionaire adventurer dad (Dominic West). But when her dad dies under mysterious circumstances, well, it’s time for Lara to start raiding some tombs. 

For Vikander, this marks the first time a major motion picture rests entirely on her shoulders, and even though she has the name recognition of the Tomb Raider brand to fall back on, it nevertheless marks a test in her career. After winning her Oscar back in 2004, Charlize Theron made a similar pivot and starred in another big-budget adaptation, Aeon Flux. And while that movie itself didn’t turn out so well, Theron ended up just fine. No matter what happens with Tomb Raider, we have a feeling Vikander will be, too.