Director: Simon West

my rating: 3/4

Straight from video game fame, Lara Croft is brought to life on the big
screen to put more fire in this summer's box-office flame. Rife with
special effects and little humanity, "Tomb Raider" would seem like an easy
target for nasty criticism, as was justifiably done to the horrific "The
Mummy Returns". However, "Tomb Raider" rises above the challenge and
becomes a rather surprisingly delightful and silly adventure.

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If Indiana Jones were ever to be a woman, he would be nobody else but Lara
Croft (Angelina Jolie). She's a well to do adventurer who exudes physical
and mental dexterity, while being sexy at the same time. Like her father
(Jon Voight), she searches for archaeological treasures all over the globe
to benefit humanity and for personal satisfaction.

Realizing that the world is going through an important astrological event
that only occurs once every five thousand years (all the planets in our
solar system aligning with the sun), Lara needs to locate the two halves of
an ancient artifact, the "Triangle of Light". Whoever puts these pieces
together at the exact moment of the planetary eclipse would have godlike
powers to control space and time. In a race to prevent a secret society
from getting hold of the artifact, Lara must now beat them to it and save
the world from the evil that they can unleash.

First and foremost, "Tomb Raider" is a popcorn flick. It is not meant to be
a philosophical treatise, but just a movie to entertain and dazzle us with
special effects and breathtaking fight scenes. "Tomb Raider" delivers,
although not always successfully, but enough to be enjoyed and recommended.
Choreographed fights are abundant, and some are actually well done, as the
scene where Lara is tethered to the ceiling while acrobatically fending off
intruders. Traces of a video game are also amusingly evident, like when the
big bad guy comes out and you have to shoot it a million times to get to the
next level.

Indeed, it is very difficult not to compare "Tomb Raider" to "The Mummy
Returns". The former is an example of a good popcorn movie, while the
latter is a poor excuse for one. These two boast action, adventure and
fanciful tales, but what differentiates them is the level of annoying
stupidity; the rolling eyes factor. "The Mummy Returns" is peppered with
lame dialogue and populated with imbeciles, but "Tomb Raider" is smarter
than that. It keeps dialogues to a minimum, and just says what needs to be
said, focusing more on what it does best, the adventure. In addition, all
the characters are likable, and this really helps.

Angelina Jolie is perfect for the role of Lara Croft. I don't think there
is any other young actress out there that exhibits such confidence and
agility. She has good screen presence and it shows.

"Tomb Raider" entertains for the most part and will probably be one of the
not-so-bad summer blockbusters. It is a fun and enjoyable game.oops movie,
that won't leave you feeling cheated.

Mazzyboi

Mazzyboi's Movie Reviews