Mine is not the popular opinion.

Angelina Jolie's take on Lara Croft in a pair of movies shortly after the turn of the century was stylish and fun but, to my taste, overly reliant on the supernatural and unbelievable CGI. This new version, starring Alicia Vikander in the title role, is gritty, more realistic and easier to swallow.

It's a shame that the studio decided to cancel this version of the franchise after only one outing.

As Croft, Vikander is not the same glossy and confident child of privilege that Jolie portrayed. Jolie never got mussed, and her confidence never wavered. Vikander, on the other hand, is athletic and capable, but at the same time inexperienced and a little naive. This Croft story also depends less on fantasy, with puzzles and traps that are based on mechanics, not magic.

There's little here that couldn't be re-created in real life by a good engineer. That's honestly a little refreshing, in a genre that relies a little too heavily on Indiana Jones-style mysticism.

The plot centers on Lara's discovery of a puzzle left behind by her father Richard (Dominic West), who has been missing and presumed dead for seven years. He had last departed on a quest to find the final resting place of an ancient Japanese queen who could apparently spread death with a touch.

When Lara sets out to follow her father's footsteps, she finds an evil corporation, Trinity, led on this mission by Mathias Vogel (Walton Goggins) trying to find the tomb first -- for, of course, nefarious purposes. Cue fights and stunts and the raiding of tombs.

Where Jolie's Croft was unflappable even in the most extreme circumstances, Vikander's Croft flaps quite a bit -- and yet rises to the occasion. She gets dirty, she gets hurt and she discovers that killing a foe isn't necessarily easy.

Don't get me wrong -- this isn't a great script. The movie plot is a little by-the-numbers, and most of the characters lack depth or development. But I'll take this Lara Croft over her glossy predecessor, and I would love to see what she could do with a sequel.