The Many Makeovers of Lara Croft

Many recognize Lara Croft as the tank top and cargo pants-wearing, highly intelligent, athletic, beautiful, sexy protagonist of the long-running Tomb Raider video game franchise, which sees her go on archaeological adventures and discovering ancient tombs around the world. Over the years, she’s been embodied multiple times by multiple different people, such as Shelley Blond, Keely Hawes, and Camilla Luddington, who were the first stars to make Croft’s voice come alive. Later on, it was Rachel Appleton and Angelina Jolie who expanded the video games into successful films Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) and Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life (2003), transforming Croft into an action/adventure-seeking heroine who defeats bad guys and uncovers hidden archaeological treasures as well as turning her into an iconic superhero protagonist hellbent on saving the world and finding her father. While Appleton played a younger version of Jolie's Lara Croft, Jolie herself was so sexy and confident as Croft, sporting the high ponytail and weapons, performing stunts like fighting on the back of a motorcycle, and gunning down bad guys in creative and breathtaking ways.

Now with Roar Utthaug’s reboot coming, we get to experience another side to Croft, and we get to learn even more about who she is as a person before she became the Tomb Raider. In this new version, the film opens with Lara trying to be a normal 21-year-old girl working as a bike courier in London and taking college classes, but as the film continues, Lara becomes interested in investigating why her father disappeared and ends up traveling to where he was last found on an island somewhere near Japan. Yes, that’s right, folks, we are getting to see a more human Croft, not the superhero version Angelina Jolie we know from the previous two films. Academy Award-winning actress Alicia Vikander will be tasked with bringing this more relatable Croft to the big screen. Check out the first pic of her in costume here!    
        
Tomb Raider is currently filming with a planned release date of March 16, 2018!

(Image via Paramount Pictures/YouTube)

- Natalya Gioiella, YH Contributing Writer