PixlBit

An action-packed film that gives you plenty to look at, but falls flat

The Playstation game Tomb Raider (released in 1996) saw incredible success, giving the world one of the most iconic femal characters in video gaming. This success is apparent because two Tomb Raider movies were released in the early 2000s. The series is perfect for a movie adaption as Lara takes the tombs in search of ancient relics and treasures, sort of like Indiana Jones. 

Released in 2001, the film was directed by Simon West. The studio behind the film was Mutual Film Company and Paramount Pictures distributed. Compared to the movies we've already looked at this week, TR had some very famous actors, including Angelina Jolie, Jon Voight, and Daniel Craig. The acting is top-notch; however, the other parts of the movie are not. 

Angelina Jolie plays Lara Croft, British adventurer, jouranlist, tomb raider, and all-around hot female. This is one tough woman. Jolie plays Lara perfectly, looking the part as she wears her guns on leg holsters. The supporting actors are also great; several of them are goofy, and Jolie acts "cool" throughout the whole movie, so it balances everything out. 

The plot is intriguing at first, but quickly becomes complicated, then ridiculous. I'll summarize it as best I can: Every 5,000 years, all nine planets align perfectly, producing a solar eclipse. The Illuminati is a group in Venice that desire to put together an ancient relic known as the Triangle of Light, but they have to find both halves, which have been hidden. With the halves together, they will be able to control time itself, but they must put the halves together in the ancient temple just as the planets align. Sounds complicated already, right? 

Lara Croft lost her father 15 years ago, but she remembers him telling her about this Triangle of Light. She discovers an ancient clock and receives a secret message from her father that was marked to be delivered at this specific time, just days before the alignment. The letter contains a clue and Lara finds a note written by her father years ago that tell her all about the triangle. But Manfred Powell (Iain Glen), one of the members of the Illuminati, is desperate to find the triangle, so he tricks Lara into thinking he's a lawyer with a "thing" for old antiquities (but she's not fooled). So the adventure begins! 

The action is over the top and ridiculous (no surprise there). However, not all of the action is bad. I especially enjoyed the scene when Powell's men break into Lara's mansion in order to steal the clock. Lara takes out several of them, but they escape with the clock. It's funny because her butler realizes they have been invaded and pulls out a shot gun (as if this sort of thing happens all the time). In reality, Lara would have been killed, but this is a movie, remember? 

Powell and his team go to Cambodia to get the first half of the triangle; unbeknownst to him, Lara travels there too. There's a huge fight scene in the temple there as statues come to life and try to slice everyone to pieces. It's a ridiculous scene. In the end, Lara gets the half of the triangle and Powell looks like a little boy who can't get a toy at the store. 

Iain Glen did a good job playing the villain, yet twice Lara makes him look like an idiot (once in the temple in Cambodia and also at the end). "That's not the right spot," she says glaring at him. "You're bluffing, Lara, stop that!" "Well, if I'm not, you'll just have to wait 5,000 years for another chance." Of course, he gives in and throws her the clock. They end up "working together" to get the whole triangle, then they fight each other at the end. When Powell has both halves at the end, he puts them together and nothing happens, so he kills Lara's close friend Alex West (Daniel Craig) by throwing a dagger at him. Lara knows what to do, so he gives it to her and she throws it up into this weird magical sphere and it comes apart. How did she know how to do that? 

If you think that's bad, it just goes downhill from there. Lara goes back in time and meets her father, but he tells her she has to destroy the triangle. What a bummer! She goes back to the moment when the dagger is in the air and she turns it around to hit Powell. He's struck in the shoulder and collapses. As they get ready to run, Powell taunts Lara, so they have a final battle. Now remember, Powell has a wounded shoulder, yet he fights as if he isn't injured at all! Once Lara is done kicking his butt, she runs out of the place, and everything (I mean EVERYTHING) blows up! There must have been fifty explosions, and she's still there, running out. 

So there you have it, a plot that seems interesting, but falls flat. Lara could not unite with her father, Powell got beat by a woman, and the triangle of light was destroyed. So Lara gets nothing in the end. And no wonder the plot was a mess, the script went through several revisions before it was finished; they just couldn't seem to get it right. 

The acting was the best part of the movie, yet Jolie was nominated for Worst Actress Golden Raspberry Award, but lost (what a shame). TR was a box office success (mainly because the video game was so popular), yet it received negative reviews. A sequel movie was made in 2003, and it was slightly better than this one (slightly). 

Final Thougths

If you're willing to sit through this 1 hour 40 minute-long movie, you can view it (as well as the sequel) on netflix. It's not a terrible movie, with some fun moments and good acting overall, but if you expect it to be like Indiana Jones, well, your expectations are way off track. It fails to catch the great adventure of movies like IJ or Back to the Future. Instead, it's a mindless movie full of a lot of explosions. But since it's not too terrible, I'll give it 3 out of 5 stars (mainly because Angelina Jolie is such a hot actress).