Fan favorite Walton Goggins has a new gig. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Goggins (Justified, The Hateful Eight) is finishing up negotiations to the villain in the upcoming Tomb Raider movie. I don’t know about you, but that’s perfectly all right with me.
Goggins has quite a lot of experience playing not-so-savory characters. I’m sure the villain pants will fit just as well in Tomb Raider as they did in… Predators? No, bad example. Regardless, Walton Goggins is one of Hollywood’s finest character actors under the age of 50. I’m sure he’ll be just dandy.
Goggins will star opposite Alicia Vikander, who will play heroine Lara Croft. This new Tomb Raider will take after the 2013 reboot game, in which Lara was reimagined as a younger, bow-wielding pain sponge. If this new movie puts Lara through as anywhere near much torture as the 2013 reboot did, it’ll veer into horror territory. I expect the movie will aim for a much more palatable PG-13 rating.
The Filmmaker
At the helm of this movie is Roar Uthaug, director of Norwegian cult slasher Cold Prey. But if you want a better idea of what this new Tomb Raider might be like you should also see his disaster movie The Wave. It’s got everything you love about American blockbuster disaster movies, but it’s good. I mean, surprisingly good. Roland Emmerich would be jealous.
I’m curious to see where Uthaug and current screenwriter Geneva Robertson-Dworet will take Lara. I seem to be one of the few who didn’t like how Lara’s story continued in 2015’s Rise of the Tomb Raider. That game suffered from underdeveloped villains (among other things). Let’s hope that Goggins gets a much meatier role in this upcoming film than those villains.
The new Tomb Raider movie is currently on track for a release on March 16, 2018.