Rating: 
Summary: Yet Another Bomb in a Sad Summer Lineup
Review: By far the greatest thing about this movie is Lara Croft herself, played by the bodacious Angelina Jolie. She does a fantastic job, and I can't think of anyone who could have fit the role better. However, breasts and a great bod only go so far, as this movie shows.The plot is crafted around the wildly popular video game series of the same name, and as such is unbelievable. However, a movie is a movie and is thus allowed to be "fun." Of course we can have time travel and mystical cities and statues that come to life. That's what a summer movie is all about. But sometimes the fantastic elements in a movie get out of hand. Such is the case in "Tomb Raider." Lara Croft plays the daughter of a deceased English archaeologist (played by John Voight, Jolie's real-life father) who was familiar with the mystical "Triangle of Light," an ancient object of great power that would allow its user to travel through time. The triangle's power was so great that it destroyed the city, and the ancient people who used it--fearful that it would wreak havoc again--split it into two pieces and placed them on opposite ends of the earth. Now for some reason, the planets are about to align for the first time in 5,000 years, and the two halves of the triangle must be united before this occurs for it to assume its former, powerful abilities. Croft finds a mysterious clock in her house that is the key to finding the two pieces; it acts as a kind of compass, and is the coveted prize of her nemesis Manfred Powell (played by Iain Glen). He belongs to a secret society called the "Illuminati," and for some reason has been directed by the leader of this society to retrieve the two pieces before the planetary alignment is complete. The plot quickly degenerates into cliched action fare: Croft's compass is stolen in a hyped-up raid on her mansion (why is it that the bad guy always seems to have an army of henchmen at his disposal, merely for the purpose of getting killed in a hyped-up action scene?), and then she has to get it back. In the process, she travels around the world, doing Venice and Siberia (where she is apparently unphased by the cold, letting her buxom chest hang out while yelling "Mush!" to her dog sled team), dodging computer-enhanced stone statues and bullets all the way. Aside from the sad plot, "Tomb Raider" redeems itself somewhat with Jolie's performance. Her attitude fits the role, from her pseudo-genuine accent right down to that "annoying" strand of her that keeps dangling in her face. She pulls off the cool, cocky heroine so well that she'll have men going gaga everywhere. Her skin-tight shorts and a clearly unnecessary shower scene were meant to sell the movie, since it's obvious that nothing else would. Croft's computer geek sidekick Bryce isn't funny, even though he's intended to be the comic relief. Her absurdly prissy butler Hilary adds a bit of humor, but his role has been done before. Even Manfred Powell isn't sufficiently evil to make us hate or even dislike him. I never developed feelings for him one way or another. Come to think of it, all of the characters have about as much depth as a wading pool. This movie had some potential, but it wasted it all on trying to appeal to the short attention spans of 13 year old boys. If something isn't exploding on the screen, something is exploding out of Jolie's blouse. The movie hardly gives you any reprieve from its tireless and overdone actions stints, and the worst part is that none of them are even cool. "Tomb Raider" tried to be the next "Indiana Jones," but it played out more like "The Mummy Returns Again." I suggest you save your cash and wait for the rental.
Rating:
Summary: Over-hyped, Over-blown, and just plain bad
Review: Let's get something straight. I did not see this movie voluntarily. I was DRAGGED by my cousin to see it on the only night I had off of work the whole week. I knew right from the get-go that a movie based on a figure that, not only is she highly over-exaggerated, but very disturbingly, is the object of sexual fantasy for many 12 year olds, would be awful. Lord help me, I was right. I'm not one to walk out of movies, but I left my cousin there and walked around a little bit. I just couldn't sit through it anymore. The plot was....there was no plot. How can you make a plot out of a game like that? Video game to movie adaptions NEVER work, mainly because there is bad acting, bad casting, and no plot. This movie suffered from bad acting and bad plot, as far is I could tell (I only stayed for around 45 minutes). I am not fond of Angelina Jolie in the first place, but she did not perform well in this movie at all. The special effects were painful to look at. As far as we have come in the use of CGI and special effects (Final Fantasy: The Movie), they couldn't do better than that? These effects make movies that you would see on Mystery Science Theatre 3000 look like masterpieces. The action sequences are beyond pointless. If you want to see real action, see Gladiator, or Crouching Tiger. Not this movie. And finally, I have never, EVER, seen a movie that has been so over-advertised. I never wanted to see the movie in the first place, but as each day went on, and another advertisement came on the TV, I just got more and more frustrated. 'Go to Taco Bell now and get YOUR Tomb Raider Stuft Burrito! IF you bite into Lara Croft, you win!' 'Go to King Kullen and get YOUR Tomb Raider paper bags!' 'Register at NYIT and get a FREE course in Tomb Raider 101!' 'Go to McDonalds, say hello, and get over 45 pounds of useless Tomb Raider promotional garbage!'. Never in my life have I ever seen a movie so overblown like this. The game itself was never any good, in fact it was repetitious, boring and sleep-inducing. The movie is no different. Don't see if you know what is good for you. The game is aimed at 12 and 13 year old's pubescent fantasies. Making a movie out of it was a bad idea.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Action
Review: A great mix of action and comedy that makes this movie really enjoyable, I don't care what anyone else says...I liked it and I'll see it again
Rating: 
Summary: Tomb Raider: A live action video game hollywood style.
Review: How I love the hype of movies in the summer! But none so much as Lara Croft: Tomb Raider which upon my first viewing left me rather unimpressed, but then I went and saw it again. I can't say that this is a movie I completely fell in love with but it is a movie that grows upon one during a second viewing. The visual affects were fantastic and also the visual clues that give insight into Lara's personality were intriguingly complex. That is what is missed in the first viewing, the very subtle visual aids that tie the plot to our heroine's destiny. These, however, are the only way that one can begin to understand Lara Croft because much like her digital counterpart Joli's Lara is ever the mysteriously beautiful enigma. With a few curt phrases and a slew of disdainfully looks, players of the game may recognized the amused eyebrow; Joli wraps the cloak of mystery around Lara tightly and firmly. So if you are going to see Tomb Raider to get an better idea of what makes Lara Croft tick then save your money but if you are going to watch a mysterious beauty kick a little butt and save the world then Tomb Raider is the movie for you.
Rating:
Summary: Good Movie
Review: A well put together movie with several down falls. I enjoyed the movie very much. The acting was good, directing was good, writing was average, and the action sequences were good. I went in expecting less with the awful reviews out there but came out loving it. Angelina Jolie put in a solid performance as Lara Croft and the supporting characters were average, without the exception of the butler (he was awesome). My only real complaint was that the music could have been better. There really wasn't any and when there was it did nothing to further the scene (make you get into it). It would have made some of the scenes more pumped up or made them more exciting. If they had such little music they should have inserted the soundtrack into the movie. All in all a good enjoyable summer movie. Movie Review: 8 1/2 out of 10 Film Review: 6 1/2 out of 10.
Rating:
Summary: Angelina, You Made Me Proud
Review: It was a shocking moment when, halfway through Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, I realized that I was completely engrossed and thrilled by a movie that is based on a computer game. That doesn't happen every day, now does it? The script may not win any Academy Awards, but the acting is exceptional and the action is well worth the price of admission. Angelina Jolie successfully portrays Lara Croft with elegance, style, and a very impressive accent that she never waivers from. The movie is full of some very dry wit which you don't normally see in action films, and I have to say it had me laughing out loud. Of course the movie has it's flaws, but it's so much fun to sit through that you hardly even notice them. Many people will no doubt get something that they did not expect with Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, but in my opinion, that is exactly the reason why I loved it.
Rating:
Summary: Not just a shallow action movie, quite an excellent adventur
Review: I found this to be a wonderful movie. It's PG13 but I took my children and there's only a few spots that were mildly frightening. It's not just all guns and action, and not excessively gory. It actually has a plot with some interesting twists and turns. The character Lara lives up to all the advanced billing, and even turns out to have some depth. I went into the theater expecting a shallow action thriller, and was pleasantly surprised to see that effort was taken to go beyond the special effects and the action to development a real story line. I don't often get out to movies in theaters these days, but this one was well worth it. I will definitely get this one when it comes out on DVD.
Rating:
Summary: Worst movie of the summer, save your money
Review: Jolie was a poor choice for this film and her "accent" is offensive. Don't waste your money on this over-hyped atrocity!
Rating:
Summary: INDIANA JOLIE ROCKS!
Review: TOMB RAIDER is not quite the classic action adventure fun movie that RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK and LAST CRUSADE were, but it's one heck of a good time! As a woman, I just wanted to see the girl kick some butt, and that she did. Angelina Jolie seems to be having a great time as Lara Croft, and her Lara is smart, sexy (but not overbearingly so), determined, and a force to be dealt with! I've never played the game, but this movie does seem to be very faithful to the game concept. The action is almost non-stop, the location shots are gorgeous, the computer animated sequences are GREAT (I'm assuming the stone monkeys, etc. were CG), and Lara wins in the end (did you really think she wouldn't??!) My 65 year-old mother and I both thought this movie was a lot of fun, and I can't wait to see it again! GO LARA!
Rating:
Summary: Tomb Raider Takes the Cake
Review: Now don't be fooled, kids, this movie isn't good enough to merit even one star. Its actual rating is somewhere on the order of -3 stars. Tomb Raider is, by far, the worst movie I have seen since...wait, there was no worse movie. Talk about orignality. Using a video game character/plot and action scenes ripped off of every previous action movie. What creativity! Amazing! Well, let's get cracking. The first thing that triggered my stupidity sensors was the very first scene of the movie, where Lara is training in some kind of simulated tomb, and a psychotic killer robot jumps out and attacks her with a deadly array of dental instruments. After an impressive showing of hackneyed Matrix-like, shoot-em-up action, the dim-witted Lara defeats the robot, laughing hysterically all the way. That's a mere sampling of the stupidity to come. Don't worry though, I won't spoil it all. You have to get some enjoyment out of your $8, don't you? Well, as said, nothing is new about the action, except for a particularly ludicrous scene where Lara kills off about ten armed commandos while jumping around on a bungee cord in her own house, in her pajamas, and unarmed. The rest of the action was copied from previous movies, I suspect because the producers were too busy playing Tomb Raider the video game to think of anything original. This is one of those movies where you're constantly rooting against the main character because she is so incredibly stupid. Laughing in the face of danger, chuckling when your life, the fate of the universe, and especially the fate of the "magical triangle" are at stake, are not signs of a good action hero. Excuse me. Heroin. These are possibly signs of a lobotomy patient, a video game character, or a flat out idiot, but definitely not of a good ol' action hero. What ever happened to the Golden Age of Action--the 1980s, when films such as The Delta Force, Rambo, and Lone Wolf McQuaid were the authority on how to make a good action film? They were corny yet funny. Tomb Raider was corny yet corny. Another thing that was very chucklesome was the intensity with which Lara performs ordinary actions, from opening the hell out of a book to viciously smashing a hole in the wall of her own house when she thinks there is an evil clock waiting for her on the other side. But it doesn't end there. There's also intense dog sledding, intense obelisk sufring, and intense showering. That brings up another point. Whenever Lara is around, you never know if you're watching a movie or some kind of model photo shoot (with a hideous model). There is the aforementioned intense shower scene, where Lara flips her hair around in slow motion and gazes passionately at the ceiling. This scene has no purpose whatsoever, except to mark the point where the audience will really start hoping that Lara will get killed for being such a doofus. But, getting back to the point about the model photo shoot thing, there are numerous random close-ups of her thighs and butt, as well as conspicuous, slow-motion chest bouncing. And every character she meets has some comment about her alleged "beauty." Perhaps this was intended as an attempt to make her appear attractive. It failed miserably. If the makers of this movie had put down their Playstation controllers for a moment to focus on the movie they were making instead of the video game they were copying it from, they might have realized what a waste of time and money it was, and done us the favor of scrapping the whole movie. Too late.
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