TOMB RAIDER (2018) Movie Review
The Story of a Legendary Woman Finding Her Calling.
Romans 11:29 - "For God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn." (NLT)
Tomb Raider serves as a prequel to the beloved Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) and Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003).
This modern film portrays a young, uneducated, inexperienced Lara Croft working a day job and barely scraping by. She suffers in the hope that her father will return to her after leaving on a business trip from which he never returns. She has not yet found her calling.
That hope is all that drives her. She has no passion for history or mythology. She does not believe in magic. She has no faith. She merely exists in denial. That denial holds her back until the day she discovers a clue to her father’s whereabouts. Thus, she begins a journey to find him and bring him home.
Romans 12:11 - "Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically." (NLT)
However, the father she finds is not the father she remembers. He is not even happy to see her. His obsession with his mission has turned him against hope, his daughter, even against reason. He spends seven years obsessing over an ancient relic. He tries to control others from discovering it. He wishes to keep it hidden away.
Both Lara and her father face a decision between saving each other or potentially saving the world from this relic. Lara chooses to save her father, because she does not believe. Her father opts to die, because he believes too much. The closure helps her move on.
Job 28:28 - "And this is what he says to all humanity: ‘The fear of the Lord is true wisdom; to forsake evil is real understanding.’” (NLT)
Only when they open the tomb do they discover the truth. No magic. No evil. Instead, they discover a middle ground. Science perceived as magic. A virus. A plague. Upon this discovery, Lara realizes her calling. Not to protect the world from myth and magic. The evil lies within the person who would use this virus as a weapon. The evil lies in greed.
The deeper she digs, the more greed she finds. She targets the organization behind the greed, the people who would use a virus as a weapon against the world. This is her calling. This is her drive.
Everyone has a calling. Not everyone has a drive. Experience develops one’s drive. Lara’s journey in this film give her that experience, which gives her drive. Let us all use experiences, good or bad, to give us the drive we need to fulfill our calling.
Proverbs 3:7 - "Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil." (NLT)
