I remember watching my cousin playing "Tomb Raider" one night, and I was intrigued by this female character running around with tight shorts shooting whatever came at her. I never got into the game, though. I gave up on video games once the technology went past the old Nintendo 8-bit system (mostly because I hated the fact that I shelled out money on all these games, but when the technology advanced, you had to get new hardware that wasn't backwards-compatible). Nevertheless, "Tomb Raider," mostly due to the character of "Lara Croft," seemed really cool to me. But not cool enough to play.
As the game grew more and more successful, the potential for a movie based on "Tomb Raider" seemed great. Early rumors indicated that Elizabeth Hurley was gonna be cast as "Lara Croft," and I thought she woulda been perfect. She has the accent, she has the class, and she DEFINITELY has the body. Eventually, it was Angelina Jolie who got the role. She would be a different take on the character than if Elizabeth Hurley played the role, but I could see the possibilities. As I heard more about the movie, and then saw the trailers, I was really excited about the movie. Angelina Jolie IS "Lara Croft," ya know?
So I saw the movie, and take my word for it, Angelina Jolie is playing the role she was born to play. She looks great, and more importantly, she looks like she's having a great time doing it. Angelina Jolie is already a pretty big star, but "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" is gonna make her an even bigger star. Unfortunately, the movie sucks.
There are certain things in the movie that are great. Great concepts, great ideas, great acting, and a great Angelina Jolie shower scene that's absolutely unnecessary, though I'm glad I got to see it. But while I was sitting there watching the movie, I wasn't really getting into it. The movie didn't do it for me other than getting to see Angelina Jolie running around looking yummy. Also, there's no suspense. It's not like she's gonna die at the end. You know she'll survive, so she never seems to be in danger. I DID like that this movie doesn't resort to the kinds of things you'd find in a cheesy chick flick. "Lara Croft" is a badass, and she doesn't need a man to rescue her, nor is she interested in Prince Charming... she's no damsel in distress. Men bow to HER, dammit! Very cool. And very sexy.
Aside from Angelina Jolie, her real-life father, actor Jon Voight, plays her father in the movie. He's not in it a lot, but he's very good in the few minutes he's seen in the movie. There's something very touching about seeing them together onscreen. Playing her sidekick is Noah Taylor, who played a young version of Geoffrey Rush in "Shine," and also played the band manager in "Almost Famous" (eventually, Jimmy Fallon shows up as the band's new manager). He's very funny in the movie, and he has all the good lines. Actually, he may have the ONLY good lines.
"Tomb Raider" was directed by Simon West, and this is his third film. His first was "Con Air," which was an entertaining piece of crap. After that, he did "The General's Daughter," a completely different movie that I loved. What a dark movie that was. As for the writers, well, the story was by Mike Werb & Michael Colleary. Together, they wrote the far-fetched, but very entertaining movie, "Face/Off." After that, the credits say "Adaptation by Simon West." I have no idea what that means. What did Simon West adapt? The story by Mike Werb & Michael Colleary? If so, what did he adapt it to? Not the screenplay, because screenplay credit goes to Patrick Massett & John Zinman (screenplay debut for both). I know that Simon West directed the movie, but I'm a little skeptical about his "Adaptation by" credit, especially since he's never written anything before. Maybe he adapted the video game into a simple story? But then wouldn't that be the guys who got the "Story by" credit? Ugh. Hollywood is a machine that cranks out this crap endlessly. Who knows who did what?
Suddenly I have an image in my head of Charlie Chaplin being cranked between huge gears in that machine in "Modern Times." I tellya, that Charlie Chaplin was a genius.
It's been a pretty weak summer so far. I was hoping that "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" would be, at the very least, a fun movie to watch, but it's not. Certain elements in the movie are very cool, but not enough to save it. Ultimately, what saves it is Angelina Jolie. You can't help but to love her in this movie. It helps that she has a great character to play, but no one coulda played her better. Maybe Elizabeth Hurley would have, but we'll never know. Personally, I don't think she would have.
Scale of 1-10: 6