Summer Cinema: ‘Tomb Raider’
There seems to be a curse on movies made from video games. This curse comes in many forms, but usually it means a terrible movie that flops horribly at the box office. However with this summer’s hopeful hit “Tomb Raider,” the video game movie curse didn’t quite take its full revenge.
Overall, “Tomb Raider” was a very mediocre movie. It had fun moments, a lot of heart pounding adventure, a confused romance and even a shower scene for all those video game fanatics who have wished and dreamed since they started playing the Tomb Raider video games. Obviously they need to get out more.
The film stars Oscar winner Angelina Jolie in the title role as a wealthy treasure hunter who must follow mysterious clues left by her dead father as she searches for the two pieces of the triangle of light-a relic with the power to control time.
Croft is aided by her faithful butler Hillary (Chris Barrie of “Red Dwarf”) and her techno-geek friend Bryce (Noah Taylor “Shine”) as she races across the globe to get the pieces before Manfred Powell (Iain Glen “Gorillas in the Mist”), a representative from the underground cult the Iluminata who has his own designs on the artifact and its powers.
Alex West (Daniel Craig “Elizabeth”) plays Lara’s chief archeological rival and supposed love interest. Unfortunately for the viewer, Craig can never decide if he likes Lara, hates her, is trying to help her or is trying to help Powell. He is a very confused character lacking in any real emotion or purpose. He’s just there to fill space and give the girls drug to the movie by their boyfriends something to look at.
Stiff acting and lack-luster story aside, “Tomb Raider” does have a few redeeming qualities. The first is the locals used so splendidly throughout the movie. From Cambodia to downtown London to the frozen Arctic, the movie helps create the adventurous world of the video games and provides an escape from our hum-drum existence for its duration.
The action sequences were also fun and inventive. One scene of the movie had Lara dangling from bungee cords in her living room while fighting off a squad of armed thugs attempting to steal an artifact from her mansion.
The films creators have been very optimistic about their movie (to the point of signing Jolie for a sequel) and they have a right to be. The film’s first weekend brought a gross of $48.2 million at the box office and has helped catapult Jolie to action stardom joining Arnold and Sly as the only successful female in the genre.
Although a very mediocre film, “Tomb Raider” is a fun escape across the globe and arguably the best video game adaptation to date.
Grade: B