Lara Croft: Tomb Raider

December 11, 2004

Rated: PG-13 Runtime: 93 min Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Angelina Jolie plays Lara Croft and is perfect for the role, both in looks and attitude. If you aren’t familiar with the game character, Lara Croft is a wealthy adventurer who is highly educated and walks in very exclusive circles. Think of her as a rich Indiana Jones and you’ve got the general idea.

The movie makes a few passing remarks to the adventures she’s gone on in the game series, but the story stands on its own for those who aren’t into the games. Honestly, it doesn’t take much to follow or figure out the story in this movie, everything is paint by numbers, but it still works out to be a pretty picture.

After an opening action sequence and a shower scene (gotta keep those teenage boys drooling) we’re introduced to the bad guys who are after an ancient artifact which gives the possessor the ability to control time. Seems that this artifact arrived on earth a long time ago in a meteor and a city sprung up at the crash site where people worshipped the gods or something. Eventually they decided the object was too dangerous so they split it in half and hid it at opposite ends of the earth.

OK. Right. So the bad guys (those pesky Illuminati) want the artifact so they can go back and time and make history look like they want it to. It’s up to Lara to find pieces first and save the Universe! I warned you not to expect a great story here.

The saving grace in this film is the wonderful special effects and action sequences. We’re treated to attack robots, stone monkeys, an assault by some professional thieves that look like a swat team and great looking set in the ancient city. Oh yes, we also get to see Lara run in slow motion, which I found to be highly amusing.

Posted by John | Filed Under 3 Stars, Action, Angelina Jolie, DVD, Daniel Craig, Iain Glen, Jon Voight, Leslie Phillips, PG-13