AvatarLauren

Les Miserables (2012)

I love this article by Chris Plante on the realization that Lara Croft is basically Rambo.

​Lara winces at Ana’s words — as if Lara somehow doesn’t have the chutzpah in her to pull the trigger. I snort, because if there’s one thing Lara Croft is better at than Ana’s men, it’s killing. In the first seven hours of Rise of the Tomb Raider, Lara shoots, burns, stabs, and drowns men from Syria to Siberia, scavenging their bodies for resources before leaving the pillaged detritus to rot in the sun. The self-professed archaeologist shows roughly the same level of respect to ancient tombs, which she raids not for monetary gain or historical artifacts, but for weaponry and ancient, lost knowledge of combat that makes her a more efficient killer. As an archaeologist, Lara Croft’s not simply bad, she’s a threat to the entire craft. She’s a bull on an international tour of china shops.

I played nearly 20 hours of Tomb Raider this weekend, spending a lot of time on side quests and gathering XP. I played the moment they are talking about in the above excerpt just yesterday. And while I also find some of the story beats out of sync with the game play (like… just pull the trigger, srsly) Chris put it words to paper far better than I could have. 

Lara Croft is top notch at practically all things, from skinning bears to uncovering lavish, riches-strewn tombs lost for centuries in the Russian wilderness, mere yards from Soviet mining sites. But like Bo Jackson’s time in the NFL, her archaeologist career is supplemental.

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Today our houses unite to remember a great man.

We will always remember the lesson you taught us - bad actions don’t make a bad man