Lara Croft: Tomb Raider

by

debbie lynn elias

Based on the popular PlayStation video game series, "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" should have stayed just that - a video game. Although killed in Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, Sony obviously couldn’t pass up the chance to earn another buck and resurrected Lara Croft for not only additional video games, but this film as well.

Directed by Simon West of "Con Air" fame, pouty-lipped Angelina Jolie stars as Lara Croft, a wealthy, born-into-privilege British heiress who gets her kicks as an adventure-seeking archaeologist/tomb raider. In the opening scene, we find Lara doing battle with a deadly robot which, of course, is merely a training exercise, and in which she, of course, prevails. On hearing a ticking behind a wall in her vast estate, she proceeds to rip out the wall, uncovering a clock which was hidden away by her now deceased father, Lord Richard Croft, played by Jolie’s real-life father Jon Voight. Concealed within the clock, our heroine discovers the All-Seeing Eye, the key to controlling time. The ticking, we learn, is a countdown to an alignment of the planets that only occurs every 5000 years. And of course, this is the 5000^th year since the last occurrence.

Split in half centuries earlier and placed at opposite ends of the earth, the All-Seeing Eye is being sought by the Illuminati, a group of deviants obsessed with controlling the time-space continuum. (Isn’t everyone?) After finding a letter from her father secreted away in the binding of a book, Lara learns that she must stop the Illuminati in their quest, which is headed by Manfred Powell (played by Iain Glen) and his aide, archaeologist Alex Marrs (Daniel Craig) former friend and flame of Lara, and keep the pieces of the All-Seeing Eye from being rejoined. In the event the halves of the Eye are united at the exact moment of the solar alignment, the individual in possession of same will be granted the power over light and time.

The journey takes both camps around the world with stops in Venice, home of the Illuminati, as well as Cambodia’s Temple of Angkor Wat. It should be noted that this is only one of the few times that the Western World had been privileged enough to gain access to or film this ancient Buddhist temple and the footage shot is spectacular. Naturally, there is plenty of high tech shoot-em-up action at every stop along the way.

Needless to say, both halves of the Eye are found, with each side controlling a half. As part and parcel to the requirements of succeeding in time control, however, a journey must be made to an ancient city hidden in the bowels of the earth inside a crater created centuries ago by the crashing of a meteor. Located in the frozen tundra in an area known as the Dead Zone, neither high tech gizmos nor basic mechanical equipment will function, forcing our group to resort to dog sleds for transportation and hand-to-hand combat for defensive maneuvers. A plus for the testosterone driven is Lara’s tundra costuming which, despite (or more than likely, because of) sub-zero temperatures, is a mere open cape and extremely tight fitting sweater.

The underground city is a monument to the talents of the art direction and set design teams. Both mystical and ethereal, a gargantuanly proportioned model of the universe hovers above a glistening pool of water which seems to serve the same purpose as a medieval moat. With creative nods to the Indian Jones and Mummy movies, ancient stone creatures resembling the Flying Monkeys from the "Wizard of Oz" stand guard around the universe. Special effects complete the city conceptualization and bring on the film’s climatic moments.

Although bland and lacking emotion in her portrayal of Lara, Jolie’s athleticism serves her well in this role while her uncanny resemblance to the video Lara (save for a few more bodily curves) makes her the perfect choice to bring this action-hero to the big screen and all males to the theater. Always a big fan of multi-generational acting families working together, casting Jolie’s real-life father, Jon Voight, as her on-screen father, Voight is ideal in the role, bringing some much needed, and extremely believable, emotion to "Tomb Raider." Iain Glen’s performance as Manfred Powell is simultaneously evil and seductive while Daniel Craig as Alex Cross lacks any credibility as a tomb raider.

With arguably the best fight scenes of any recent film, kudos go to stunt coordinator Simon Crane and the stuntmen, stuntwomen and actors themselves, who pulled off some intriguing aerial martial arts and difficult and dangerous fight maneuvers. Were it not for these people, there would be no real reason to see this film. Being short on plot and any meaningful dialogue or character interaction, the action sequences are all that keep the film going.

Unfortunately, despite the masterful effects and almost non-stop action, not even filming on the 007 sound stages can make this film anything more than a poor imitation of some really cool video games. Do yourself a favor - if you must see this film, if for no other reason than Angelina Jolie in shorts and tight t-shirts, go to a matinee showing and use your ticket savings to buy a Lara Croft video game.