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Lara Croft - Tomb Raider

Lara Croft - Tomb Raider

List Price: $12.99
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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Great game doesn't translate into a great movie
Review: I have played the Tomb Raider game a few times and it's a pretty good game. But after checking out the movie, I have realized that a good video game doesn't always equate to a good movie. The movie had no character development and it focused to much on Lara's breast and skin shots along with her simple character lines. It was a sterotypical movie for sure, Lara seemed to be larger than life with wealth, beauty, and intellect.

I am sorry I wasted my money on this movie, because I could have went to see "Evolution" or some other flick instead. If nothing else, this movie has been hyped up by everyone and that in itself will cause millions to waste their money seeing it.

Do yourself a favor and wait for it to come out on video or DVD to rent it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Fun, fun fun!
Review: "Tomb Raider" is an adventure packed ride. Lara Croft (Jolie) is a butt kicking English "Lady" who prefers to dress in leather and tank shirts than dresses and hats. Lara's father Sir John (played by Jolie's real life father Jon Voight) was an archeologist who taught Lara everything he knew about artifacts, but went "missing in the field", and is presumed dead. On the eve of the anniversary of his death, Lara is awakened in the middle of the night to a clicking sound. When she locates it, she discovers a clock her father had hidden in a box under the stairs. The box contains an ancient clock that serves as a key to locating 2 separate pieces of a triangle that, when put together, gives the owner the ability to control and travel through time. Lara also discovers a letter her father left her containing instructions on how to use the clock and locate the triangle pieces- he also tells her she must destroy the pieces so they do not fall into the wrong hands. Unfortunately for Lara, there is someone who knows about the clock and steals it from her. She, in turn, must beat them to the punch, using her natural instincts and cunning. It sounds like a simple plot, but the action scenes make it much more interesting than it sounds. I've heard it rumored that Jolie did all her own stunts and if so, she's awesome! I kept leaning over to my sister-in-law and saying "She must have had the best time doing this!" I also read somewhere that Simon West said he wouldn't have directed the film if Jolie had turned down the part. Too right- who else could have embodied (no pun intended)Lara Croft? It's great to see a new type of heroine on the screen- one that's tough, self-sufficient, and doesn't let any obstacles get in her way. If you're wondering wether or not this movie is for you, think "Raider's of the Lost Ark" meets "Stargate", and you'll have your answer. Worth watching for the action alone.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Exactly What It's Supposed To Be
Review: This movie is nothing special. It's not intellectually-stimulating. It's not life-altering. Tomb Raider is basically a hot chick in tight clothing jumping around a lot. That's basically it. And frankly, that's what it should be. After all, that's what the game is about.

I didn't go into this movie expecting a really moving story. I expected an action film. And trust me, this film DOES deliver. It's a summer action flick, what more do you expect? Action movies are, by definition, fun movies with a lot of explosions and action with very little story. Not every film has to be a psychological examination of the human psyche. I enjoy films like that, but I also like the occasional action film. And why? Because it's FUN!!! It's based on a freaking video game for crying out loud, it's SUPPOSED to be fun.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Action has never been sexier....
Review: Tomb Raider explodes onto the screen with spectacular special effects, some show stopping action scenes and best of all, Angelina Jolie perfectly cast as Laura Croft. Her embodiment of the popular video game character is very close, yet Jolie gives Lara Croft her own spin and the result works in her favor. The end result? It should've been a lot better, because what Tomb Raider is missing, is a good script. Things begin well enough, but after about a half hour of introducing characters and drawing up some interesting character angles, things quickly disintergrate into a typical summer action film. An assault on the senses but a total insult to the brain. Still, if you're looking for action, sex appeal or just a harmless way to kill 104 minutes, you could do a lot worse than Tomb Raider.

Tomb Raider begins with a bang like most action films. We meet up with Lara Croft as she battles a massive training robot. This sequence is an impressive way to kick things off. As Croft, Jolie gets to flex her action muscles flipping all over the place and firing guns at the metallic menace. This scene serves its purpose well enough, to draw the viewer into the type of film Tomb Raider is. From here, we learn that heiress Croft is haunted by the mysterious vanishing of her father (played by Jolie's real life pop Jon Voight), whom disappeared several years ago. There's a lot of buildup in the first twenty minutes or so as Laura begins to investigate the mysterious origins of a rare clock she discovers walled up in storage, hidden by her father. Lara discovers this "clock of ages" is a device that will allow to user to control time and space when all the planets are aligned. From here, most of the plot and characters go out the window in favor of wild action sequences. There's some hokum about a cult called the Illuminati-also seeking the clock. They exist to give Lara the majority of the resistance she will encounter during the course of her adventure.

What doesn't work about Tomb Raider is the lack of a good villian, a script with several loose ends and an unsatisfying climax which feels a tad rushed an anticlimactic. Our villian in this film just sits on the fence, he's manipulating Lara to do his bidding, but he provides no tnesion. His character is bested by Lara for almost the entire film, we are given no real reason to fear him and his minions. By the finish, it almost becomes a bore, the clash between Lara and the villian provides no suspense and by this point, we almost don't care anyway.

Another problem is the weak screenplay. Its got plot holes big enough to drive a truck through. For example, in one scene, a character sells out Lara Croft to the villians and his motivations for doing so are never explained. We never know why, nor do we ever see this character again. Another head scratcher is the appearence of a little 'phantom' girl who pops up on occasion to guide Lara Croft along on her quest. Exactly who she is or why she's there is anybody's guess. There are a couple of genuinely silly moments involving Jon Voight (as Lara's father) that are intended to provide emotion but can be taken as unintentional comedy.

Director Simon West (Con Air, The General's Daughter) handles this film and provides as many pluses as he does minuses himself. As far as handling the more plot heavy elements of the film, West inexplicably seems uncomfortable. In contrast to his previous film, the plot dependant General's Daughter, West did a much better job. Whether or not you liked that film, West told the film's story with a sure hand. In Tomb Raider, not a single shot seems to last more than six or seven seconds. In trying to develop a plot with this 'MTV' style, it gets tedious and absurd. On the flipside however, West stages some of the most exciting action sequences seen in a while and does a brilliant job of orchestrating them. The two showstoppers are the battle in Croft manor and the fight with the stone creatures. West is a good action director and in this film, has done some of his best work.

Exhilirating action aisde, the good points outweight the bad almost completely thanks to Angelina Jolie. Saying that as Lara Croft, Jolie may very well be THE sexiest woman ever to grace the screen is indeed an understatement, but it's also unfair. Jolie looks the part, but she plays it even better. Stepping into the shoes of a video game character and doing so successfully probably isn't the easiest thing to do, and it's never been done right up until now. Angelina Jolie steps into that skin tight outfit and weilds those pistols with such gusto and enthusiasm that it's hard not to like her character. Admittedly it's a bit hard to get to know her beyond the first twenty or so minutes, but with such a lackluster script Jolie really shines through more than any other actress would or could. She's a great actress and makes for a perfect action hero.

All in all, Tomb Raider's good points outweight the bad because it's still a fun adventure. It may not be a classic, but there's enough sex appeal and adventure to keep your eyes glued to the screen for its running time. If you're willing to turn off your brain before you go in, you'll probably have a good time.

I hope this does well enough to inspire a Tomb Raider 2, there's a lot of room for improvement and to not use Jolie again would be a crime! She's a perfect hero and makes this DVD a must own for me when it come out!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: the worst movie so far this year!!!!
Review: With so many story holes, botched directing, and lame dialogue, it's hard to know where to begin explaining how awful this movie was. Go rent Raiders of the Lost Ark and save 2 hours of your life.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Just what I expected...
Review: I heard/read the critics reviews just like everybody else, but went to see TR opening night anyway - it was a fun movie with good action, good special effects and, of course, a hot herione with big guns (grr!). I don't imagine it will be nominated for any academy awards, and I haven't ever played the TR game, so I can't speak to the trueness of the storyline, but it was a fun two hour escape - sometimes that's all a movie should be.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: I fall a sleep
Review: I'm supposed to review this movie, but I fall a sleep, So, that's all I got.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Tomb Raider - It Hits, Then Sometimes Misses
Review: There's no question about it - Angelina Jolie IS Lara Croft, the Tomb Raider! As a man who is IN LOVE with Jolie, it was such a shame that the film could feel, at times, empty and cut down with many quick cuts to the next scene.

I know about the story of Lara Croft (well, partly) that she is the Indiana Jones for women, and that she is an adventure-seeking, wisecracking, beautiful lady of prominence. She is based on the computer video games by Eidos, and very popular with the geekboy group of men and boys. (I just watched this film because I love Angelina!) But, honestly, I expected a whole lot more - or rather, a whole lot better!

At times, I got so rapped up into the film that I couldn't wait for the finale to unravel. But then, nothing happened! For example, the ending where, after they find the Clock of Time, Lara has to escape via dogsledding. To make it worse, there's no snappy ending with a possible finality to the cave where the clock was located. The characters involved, like the villains and even Lara's father, were just thrown in the mix and never truly flushed out. This film continues to drag with its insistent use of flashbacks, slow motions, and cutesy-poo remarks from a butler and an inventor.

In no way was this Jolie's fault, doing the best she could with what she had. But the film could have been better, no thanks to director Simon West's heavy-handedness with the film's structure and storyline, which was that cohesive. Let's just say, TOMB RAIDER could have been a little softer, like getting rid of the prologue with Lara's "fight" with a giant robotic spider (or whatever it was) named Simon; and that final shot before the film fades out with Lara, dressed like a lady, takes her trusty guns, on the butler's tray, and points it at the newly-constructed Simon (as in the director, perhaps?).

As I said earlier, the villains weren't flushed out properly. They appeared to be paper cutouts of other villains from the James Bond films. Iain Glen plays Manfred Powell, the villain who appears to be suave and sophisticated, but carries an ulterior motive in finding the Clock of Time and controlling time itself. Then there's his crony/partner/Lara's competitor (perhaps past lover, who knows?) Alex Marrs, played by curious appeal by Daniel Craig. There is, however, an interesting scene where he is showering and confronting Lara in the nude! (Though it's better left to the imagination to what he looks like.) Noah Taylor does provide the comedy as Lara's friend and inventor, Bryce. And then there is Jolie's real-life dad, Jon Voight, who has a cameo appearance as Lara's father, Lord Richard Croft. Voight, despite his minimal time onscreen, does a very good job in being the voice of the film. This comes just after his performance in the atrocious "memorial" film PEARL HARBOR, where he played President Franklin Roosevelt.

I wished, with all my heart, that the this film would have been much more - and it could have. Maybe in the next installment (they are planning two more sequels) they will shed somemore light on this film. Unfortunately, this one missed its mark.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: too cool this is a girl for girls
Review: my girls age 8yrs. and 12yrs. loved it in fact went back to see again .....no sex what a treat the girls will feel stronger after this one......oh, i liked it also.....so did uncle david!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Hollywood Product
Review: Why is it that all Hollywood films of the summer have to be so much 'product' and so little 'movie'? Does Angelina Jolie do a good job here? Yes. But why don't Hollywood execs understand that the success of Indiana Jones was that the films had more than just special effects going for them? Even the original Brendan Fraser MUMMY had this going for it, and the makers of THE MUMMY RETURNS didn't even get it right! I guess this leaves the burden of creating an exciting, INTELLIGENT summer film on the shoulders of Tim Burton!


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