Angelina Jolie plays Lady Lara Croft, the English heiress and adventurer who travels all over the world as a kind of female Indiana Jones but kicked up a couple notches, combined with the poise and wit that you would expect to see in James Bond. If Jolie hadn't won an Oscar and previously established herself as a serious actress with some real talent, she'd be in great danger of type-casting herself as Lara Croft for the rest of her life and not finding any other work (Note: she has signed up for two sequels). She does a superlative job as this athletic and feisty character that started as an avatar on a computer screen. Apparently she did a lot of her own stunts and had a grand time doing them.
Tomb Raider is, of course, based on the game series by the same name produced by Eidos. You don't have to know this to enjoy the movie, but it helps. Essentially, in each game, Lara is trying to save the world by finding these artifacts that other forces are trying to locate. She travels to exotic locations - temples, pyramids, underground cities - and flips, runs, and shoots her way through various animals, traps, and puzzles. This movie preserves and enhances the feel of the game and, surprisingly enough, has managed to fit in a relatively decent, if simple, plot.
Of less interest but in a very serviceable capacity are Lara's sidekicks and her foes. Leslie Phillips and Chris Barrie play Wilson and Hilary, Lara's butler and inventor/mechanic, respectively. Daniel Craig plays Alex Marrs, Lara's rival and former lover. Then there's Powell, the token head villain played by Iain Glenn with an assortment of generic mercenaries. There's a plot and it's about saving the world, as usual. But that's perfectly okay in a summer movie. Then there are the neato artifacts, Lara's clever solutions under fire, spiffy tricks for getting out of sticky situations, and a sense of fun and energy. Joel pointed out that this Tomb Raider is at the same level of maturity as Dr. No was with Sean Connery as James Bond where it took about 2-3 movies to move the franchise into full swing. There is a lot of potential here for the Lara Croft movies to improve. But, knowing Hollywood and their penchant for ignoring quality, there is also a lot of room for failure.
I give this movie a 6 on the Good Movie Scale and a 7 on the Bad Movie Scale. It's a heck of a fun summer movie. Take the money saved from not seeing Evolution and go see this one.
Our Drive-In Totals:
.5 breasts
7 dead bodies
2 hot showers
1 cold shower
1 dress
6 pet robots
1 giant robot/boombox
Butler Sidekick with Shotgun
Genius Sidekick for Comic Relief
Artificially extended hair
Artificially extended bosom
Quick re-loading Backpack device
Lara Croft Mansion
Lara Croft Training Room
Lara Croft Jump to Ledge
Lara Croft Front Diving Rollout
Lara Croft Side Diving Rollout
Lara Croft Dive Into Pool
Lara Croft Continuous Run
Tomb Raider Flares
1 Secret Area
1 Power-up
Rimmer from Red Dwarf
3 annoying references to Tomb Raiding as profession
Ye Olde "Disassembled and Relocated Artifact of Doom" Plot Device
Ye Olde "Cosmic Alignment, Timing-Motivator" Plot Device
Ye Olde "Crashing Through Windowed Skylight" Stealthy Entry Technique
Scientifically Inaccurate, Audience-Oriented, Solar System Visual Randomly Inserted to Engender Audience Suspense
Dead Zone
Human Shield
Lara's Party Mix
Trashed Trailer
Kung Fu
Gun Fu
Knife Fu
Sword Fu
Spear Fu
Swinging Battering Ram Fu
Screwdriver Fu
Motorcycle Fu
Bungie Cord Fu
Robot Fu
Ice Fragment Fu
Harryhauesen Fu
Good Movie Scale: 6
Bad Movie Scale: 7
