When Lara Croft was introduced to the world in 1996, she was just what video games and pop culture needed: a female adventure heroine just as smart, strong, and filled with emotion as her male counterparts. Her popularity carried her from computer screen to theater screen five years later to reverse the role of action star in films as well as games.

Yet today both mediums are so filled with strong female protagonists that they have completely blended in with the boys, losing what made the idea significant back in the day. Since characters like Lara today receive criticism for being a “Mary Sue” or filling a social agenda, Crystal Dynamics redesigned the character in 2013 with relatability at the forefront. Now, five years later, the new Lara makes her big screen debut to attempt the same feat her predecessor did.

Director Roar Uthaug’s Tomb Raider is adapted from its 2013 namesake and 2015’s Rise of the Tomb Raider. Refusing to believe her father’s disappearance seven years ago resulted in his death, Lara Croft (Alicia Vikander) sets off towards Yamatai, a seemingly uninhabited island her father had researched extensively. Upon arriving, Lara finds that the island has for years been under the control of Trinity, a secret society bent on world domination via supernatural weapons recorded in legends. Ruling over the island is Mathias Vogel (Walter Goggins), who enslaves or executes anyone who hinders him from discovering the tomb of Himiko, a queen with the power to spread death.

The biggest difference between the new Tomb Raider and its 2001 incarnation is Lara’s inexperience. Unlike the killing machine Angelina Jolie played in the last decade, Vikander plays a woman who is very new to the idea of being a globetrotting fighter of evil. This is a good fit for an origin story as every fight and puzzle that Lara fails is just as important as the ones she wins.

Perhaps this development could be more understandable if the movie explained what trial Lara was facing each time. Explanations for riddles left by her father and some ancient puzzles are provided, but in almost as many cases they are not. Some important scenes rely on Lara fiddling with a rotating gear puzzle, but it is never explained where it came from or how Lara’s fiddling actually achieves anything.

Much more straight forward are the action scenes of which there is no shortage. Even the plot-heavy exposition managed to include both a kickboxing scene and a high-speed chase through the streets of London unlike any other. Once the film moves to Yamatai, the adrenaline is increased with lots of bullet dodging and hand-to-hand combat sprinkled in between falling down waterfalls and jumping over booby traps.

The action scenes mimic the video game by being relentlessly kinetic and are greatly assisted by the sound that accompanies them. Junkie XL’s score is as percussive as it was in Fury Road and is accented by some of the best gunshot and bowstring sound effects ever crafted. The smallest puzzle boxes and the largest collapsing structures get equal aural attention.

Unfortunately, the action gets so enthralling that it feels like a disappointment when it comes time for a scene advancing the plot. There are a lot of unexpected twists, some familiar to fans, some brand new, but each one just feels like a means to reaching the next action scene.

Therein lies the trouble with basing a movie on a Tomb Raider game: the story and characters Crystal Dynamics invented were always means to letting the player shoot people on a forgotten island. Though there is plenty for fans of action/adventure movies like the Indiana Jones series to appreciate, Tomb Raider was made for people who already love Lara Croft.

Several of the action scenes, like parachuting through a jungle and crawling out of a collapsing cave, are lifted straight from the video game. Even one of the game’s most important quotes returns to be spoken by a different character. It is interesting to see how all of these moments and ideas were reworked into new contexts, but this goal to appeal to existing fans meant sacrificing some logical plot elements just for the sake of giving fans something new.

Still, Tomb Raider does succeed in appealing to its target demographic (which, if you couldn’t tell already, includes me). Perhaps most importantly the new Lara is a heroine who sticks out among her contemporaries by not being perfect, but having the potential to overcome what tests the future holds for her.

Tomb Raider, like its protagonist, is a promising outlook for a future franchise that just slips up occasionally. Lara earns a relatable 8/10.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider, the conclusion to Lara’s origin story, will be released on September 14.