Book Review: Tomb Raider: The Art and Making of the Film

This is one of those "art and making of" books that does not have much art. This is really a film production book. If you're expecting an artbook with concept art, you'll be sorely disappointed. If you want a movie companion book that talks in detail about filming and production, you'll be in for a treat.

Tomb Raider: The Art and Making of the Film is a wonderful large format 176-page hardcover movie companion packed with loads of text and behind the scenes photographs.

There are interesting stories like how Alicia Vikander trains to become lean and fit to portray Lara Croft. You'll get to read about how she performs her stunts, and how they are filmed. There are details like how the sets are built. They actually built the Hong Kong harbour set in Cape Town, Africa, complete with all the boats you see in the film. Endurance is a huge set by itself too. Then there are sets for the island, caves and the tomb.

There is a lot that goes behind the scenes to make this movie possible. And this book does a good job showing us just how tough film production can be, especially for an action film like this. There are also interviews with the cast and crew, Alicia Vikander, Walton Goggins, Daniel Wu and director Roar Uthaug.

The photos included in the book are fantastic and there aren't many film stills thankfully. The couple of concept artworks included are great, but they are too few of them unfortunately.

Overall, it's worth the money, I can easily recommend this to those who loved the film, and those who love to read about movie making.

This book was borrowed from Basheer Graphic Books for review purposes. You can order the book from them. Check with Basheer on Facebook.

Tomb Raider: The Art and Making of the Film is also available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN)