The biggest problem with the film is that it doesn't feel like it's really moving anywhere until the third act hits. Also, there's no substantial challenge or obstacles for Croft to face that she doesn't just breeze right through without difficulty. Only one puzzle really offers up any high stakes or tension, which takes on the form of something we'd see in The Goonies organ scene, but even that gets solved fairly quickly and yields minimal consequences. One never got the sense that Croft is ever in any real sense of danger — even when she's standing on the threadbare remnants of a crumbling plane strewn across the peak of a waterfall — because the film treats her as invincibly as a video game avatar.

The film goes for a grittier and more realistic approach to the character, borrowing plot points and visually aspects directly from the 2013 game's storyline and its sequel; however, at times, it doesn't want to wholly obey its realistic anchor, which gives it some obvious tonal issues. In one moment the film wants to be rooted in a hardline reality, and in the next breath it adopts a total non-reality ideology for the sake of "cool" shots, like Croft doing a mega jump off a sinking ship into the tumultuous ocean. It may make for some dope promotional marketing, but it has no real place in the world the film creates.