film: review

> LARA CROFT: TOMB RAIDER (2001)
Can Lara Croft end the suffering of video game fans after countless bombs like Double Dragon and Super Mario Bros.? Well, sort of…

By John C. Lyons
Film Critic

Starring: Angelina Jolie, Iain Glenn, Jon Voight

Directed by: Simon West

Written by: 6 or more guys including director Simon West (is this a record?)

Genre: Action/Adventure

Our Rating: 7 out of 10

The title of this film, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, is quite appropriate here. This film is all about its femme fatale, Lady Croft, the digital action superstar of numerous Tomb Raider video games that have made some people a lot of money over the past 5 years. Lara Croft is right up there (if not #1) on the list of most recognizable video game characters in history. Whether you liked this film or not, one undeniable fact should be how well Jolie pulled off this character. I, myself, was a little unsure of casting her at the start but I can tell you that she brings Lara Croft's character to life better than I could have imagined. Angelina Jolie IS Lara Croft. I read in an interview with her that she felt that this character was the closest one she has played to herself, and I believe it! So as you would expect, most of the focus is on Angelina, and that should make the fans happy. But as everyone knows, in order to make the big bucks and ensure longevity you need more than just a hot body…

Tomb Raider follows Lara through such beautiful locations as Cambodia and Iceland on a journey to find the pieces to an ancient artifact, which could become dangerous if controlled by the wrong people. It's always those damned, old rich guys with the bad intentions isn't it? It is a race against time, as Lara must retrieve these pieces before rival tomb raiders Powell (Iain Glenn) and Cross (Daniel Craig) do. Along the way we are treated to great action sequences, humor, and some really poor dialogue and acting. I want to make this point very clear, Angelina Jolie is this movie. With the exception of a few well-done characters here and there (I particularly liked Iain Glenn's Manfred Powell and Jon Voight as Lara's father), the supporting cast is pretty shallow. For the most part the action and special effects are done well. I was only disappointed in one instance where water shoots up from the ground lifting a piece of the artifact. This looked really bad and worse than some of the effects in Lara's animated video games. The opening sequences to the film and the gunfight on the bungee cords were the film's highlights. Each was well done and fast-paced, displaying Jolie's talents as a gun-wielding badass.

I am sure many people are going to come away from this film disappointed. I ask these people to look at the subject matter: a video game where you climb walls, shoot animals and supernatural beings, and find artifacts. They had to really work to hammer out a story and supporting characters here. The film is cheesy at times, sure, but I found this to be necessary. The people who made the film realized the material and audiences they were working with and they didn't take themselves so seriously. I found this to be a benefit for this film, and probably a good reason why it worked much better than past video game adaptations. It earned a PG-13 rating and I was happy with that. You have fans my age to please (21 and over) and then you have the young kids (13 and over). They tried to satisfy everyone with this movie and I think they were pretty successful. You don't want to just change everything and make another Indiana Jones or, especially, another Mummy movie.

I saw this film at the Tinseltown theaters on upper Peach Street in Erie.

PROs: Angelina Jolie controls the screen; nice intro; good action; could be a good franchise in the making.

CONs: Some supporting characters were horrid; a little too kiddie at times; some special effects were poorly done

(01-0618)

related links:

Tomb Raider - official site