Lara Croft - Tomb Raider (Special Collector's Edition)

Lara Croft - Tomb Raider (Special Collector's Edition)
by Simon West

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DVD Reviews of Lara Croft - Tomb Raider (Special Collector's Edition)

DVD Review: Action has never been sexier....
Summary: 4 Stars

Tomb Raider begins with a bang like most action films. We meet up with Lara Croft as she battles a massive training robot. This sequence is an impressive way to kick things off. As Croft, Jolie gets to flex her action muscles flipping all over the place and firing guns at the metallic menace. This scene serves its purpose well enough, to draw the viewer into the type of film Tomb Raider is. From here, we learn that heiress Croft is haunted by the mysterious vanishing of her father (played by Jolie's real life pop Jon Voight), whom disappeared several years ago. There's a lot of buildup in the first twenty minutes or so as Laura begins to investigate the mysterious origins of a rare clock she discovers walled up in storage, hidden by her father. Lara discovers this "clock of ages" is a device that will allow to user to control time and space when all the planets are aligned. From here, most of the plot and characters go out the window in favor of wild action sequences. There's some hokum about a cult called the Illuminati-also seeking the clock. They exist to give Lara the majority of the resistance she will encounter during the course of her adventure.

What doesn't work about Tomb Raider is the lack of a good villian, a script with several loose ends and an unsatisfying climax which feels a tad rushed an anticlimactic. Our villian in this film just sits on the fence, he's manipulating Lara to do his bidding, but he provides no tnesion. His character is bested by Lara for almost the entire film, we are given no real reason to fear him and his minions. By the finish, it almost becomes a bore, the clash between Lara and the villian provides no suspense and by this point, we almost don't care anyway.

Another problem is the weak screenplay. Its got plot holes big enough to drive a truck through. For example, in one scene, a character sells out Lara Croft to the villians and his motivations for doing so are never explained. We never know why, nor do we ever see this character again. Another head scratcher is the appearence of a little 'phantom' girl who pops up on occasion to guide Lara Croft along on her quest. Exactly who she is or why she's there is anybody's guess. There are a couple of genuinely silly moments involving Jon Voight (as Lara's father) that are intended to provide emotion but can be taken as unintentional comedy.

Director Simon West (Con Air, The General's Daughter) handles this film and provides as many pluses as he does minuses himself. As far as handling the more plot heavy elements of the film, West inexplicably seems uncomfortable. In contrast to his previous film, the plot dependant General's Daughter, West did a much better job. Whether or not you liked that film, West told the film's story with a sure hand. In Tomb Raider, not a single shot seems to last more than six or seven seconds. In trying to develop a plot with this 'MTV' style, it gets tedious and absurd. On the flipside however, West stages some of the most exciting action sequences seen in a while and does a brilliant job of orchestrating them. The two showstoppers are the battle in Croft manor and the fight with the stone creatures. West is a good action director and in this film, has done some of his best work.

Exhilirating action aisde, the good points outweight the bad almost completely thanks to Angelina Jolie. Saying that as Lara Croft, Jolie may very well be THE sexiest woman ever to grace the screen is indeed an understatement, but it's also unfair. Jolie looks the part, but she plays it even better. Stepping into the shoes of a video game character and doing so successfully probably isn't the easiest thing to do, and it's never been done right up until now. Angelina Jolie steps into that skin tight outfit and weilds those pistols with such gusto and enthusiasm that it's hard not to like her character. Admittedly it's a bit hard to get to know her beyond the first twenty or so minutes, but with such a lackluster script Jolie really shines through more than any other actress would or could. She's a great actress and makes for a perfect action hero.

All in all, Tomb Raider's good points outweight the bad because it's still a fun adventure. It may not be a classic, but there's enough sex appeal and adventure to keep your eyes glued to the screen for its running time. If you're willing to turn off your brain before you go in, you'll probably have a good time.

I hope this does well enough to inspire a Tomb Raider 2, there's a lot of room for improvement and to not use Jolie again would be a crime! She's a perfect hero and makes this DVD a must own for me when it come out!

Description of Lara Croft - Tomb Raider (Special Collector's Edition)

Perhaps to distance himself from Lara Croft's video game origins, director Simon West takes things a bit too seriously; Tomb Raider handles its plot (involving a planetary alignment, the nefarious Illuminati, and coveted relics that hold the key to controlling the flow of time) with all the gravity of a championship chess match... minus the tension. If the movie had lightened up and been truly suspenseful (instead of being suffused with been-there, done-that familiarity), it would have been an instant popcorn classic. As it is, however, this is an elegantly mounted adventure featuring exotic locations (in Cambodia and Iceland) and an exotic star born for her role. Even without her padded bra, Jolie would be the living embodiment of Lara Croft, and that's enough to bode well for inevitable sequels. --Jeff Shannon