Not much is going on in the first images Warner Bros. released of Alicia Vikander assuming the role of Lara Croft in Tomb Raider, but in all three of them she appears looking both tough and vaguely concerned. This is certainly a less explicitly sexualized version of the video-game character than Angelina Jolie’s take; sure, she dons the typical action heroine tank top, but it mostly covers her midriff, and she’s substituted short-shorts for long, sensible pants.
“I think people can identify with her for lots of different reasons, but for me I very much see her as a model for many young women,” Vikander said in an email to Vanity Fair, where the images debuted. “She’s trying to carve out her place in the world and connect her future with her past. She also has a fantastic mix of traits—tough, smart, vulnerable, plus she’s kick ass!”
Per Warner Bros., in this film, Lara is 21 and working as a bike courier when she tries to solve the mystery of her father’s death by seeking out “a fabled tomb on a mythical island that might be somewhere off the coast of Japan.” Tomb Raider is directed by Roar Uthaug and also stars Dominic West, and is due out in March 2018.