Lara Croft: Tomb Raider

I am not here to defend any plot snags this film might have. I however thought it would be cool to come here and say that I liked this movie. It was quite entertaining. Maybe not always "riveting" but fun action cheese nonetheless. Jolie brought a computer woman to life well and the movie is a good rental, maybe even an unpopular purchase.

I gave it 7/10 stars.

Like Mr. Schwarzenegger is the one and only Conan (+Terminator) and Peter Sellers the one and only Inspector Clouseau, Angelina Jolie embodies Lara Croft to the day. Yes, both movies (Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life)) are far from perfect but at least they tried to capture the spirit of the games - character- and story-wise. Alicia Vikander may be a good looking woman and a decent actor but she is in no way Lara Croft (that "modernized" Lara is just plain terrible). Anyway, as most movie adaptions of games are rather total fails or subpar, both Tomb Raider movies starring Angelina are solid adventure and action food.

Directed by Simon West and co-written by Mike Werb, Sara Cooper, and Michael Colleary, Tomb Raider is an adaptation of the video game franchise.

The story follows a very wealthy, but also incredibly skilled archaeologist, Lara Croft, as she goes after an ancient artifact that has the ability to control time during the planetary alignment. However, she is also competing for the artifact with another wealthy individual, Manfred Powell, who is the leader of a group, who plans to use the artifact for their own evil doings. However, reluctantly, they must join together to get the complete artifact.

By this point in time, video game adaptations were OK to downright terrible. Only one movie had gone above that before this point and that was Mortal Kombat, which wasn't great but much better than anything else.

Tomb Raider was the first adaptation that I remember a studio investing a big budget towards, and that was exciting to all of us who played the games.

With that said, the plot is not great. One of the issues with having three writers is that multiple ideas tend to get thrown in and that is very evident here. It's a mess. The Triangle artifact plot is definitely in line with the games, but the explanation on what it does and how to use it is all over the place. They have multiple characters in multiple scenes try to explain it but it always seems different and adds to the confusion.

Despite that issue, everything about this movie is in perfect line with the video games. From its tone, it's art design to overall shooting style. Simon West does a great job making this feel like the games, which was light years above so many other adaptations that came before it.

Also, while there might be a lot of insufficiencies with the plot, this is a cast that is really up to the challenge of getting around that problem. There was no better choice for the title character than Angelina Jolie. She is so committed to this role and literally mirrors the character from the games perfectly, while also making it her own. She's so good, that it is hard to picture anyone else in that role.

Noah Taylor and Chris Barrie play Lara's tech expert and butler, and are essentially the comic relief in the movie, which they perform exceptionally. Taylor says "bugger" about 50,000 times but it works.

This was also the first movie that I remember ever seeing Daniel Craig in, who plays Alex West. If you were to tell people back in 2001 that this guy would be the future James Bond, you would've gotten dead silence. Great performance though, and I do like his chemistry with Jolie. I kind of wish they did more together.

The last actor I'll bring up is Iain Glen, who plays Manfred Powell. He's such an over the top villain that he's actually pretty memorable. He's the most cliched bad guy but it works in this film.

So overall, it's not perfect as a story. It's a movie that really could've benefited from a script doctor. However, there's so much that works. It fits the game so well, the cast is game, and the results are undeniably entertaining.

I don't play video games, had never heard of Tomb Raider. I stumbled across this film on cable and absolutely loved it!

The person writing this usually tends to like movie classics and classical actresses. Rarely do I enjoy action films. This one is an exception.

Angelina Jolie is spectacularly fit, and in top acting form for this physically demanding role. I admit that I like the multi-talented Jolie. I found her to be a very believable Lady Lara Croft. Her acting, stunts (which she did most of herself), and her wonderful diction with a British accent, were a true delight. I watched this movie on cable at least ten times before I did something very, very rare for me: I purchased the DVD. Barring this film, the ONLY pre-recorded movies I own are classics.

The plot may be a bit on the thin side. It is, afterall, designed *after* a video game. Another thing I enjoyed about the film was the fact that while there was a great deal of violence, there was no unnecessary gore or vulgar language - read: buggar vs. what it could be.

I have to highly recommend this film for anyone who enjoys pure escapism at it's best! My 75 year old mother liked the movie, and she has very good taste when film is involved.

Many video game enthusiasts were looking forward to the movie adaptation of the "Tomb Raider" game series. When "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" was finally released, not all of them were satisfied. But the movie does have its good points. Angelina Jolie takes the lead as Lara Croft, the famed archaeologist/adventurer, woman warrior and gamer's dream girl. She plays the role as if she were meant to be Lara Croft. The movie also boasts some very good visual effects and exciting action. The plot does leave a bit to be desired, though. The ancients may have had deep knowledge about the universe and the planets, but the concept with the planetary alignment was just barely plausible. But, really, with movies like this, it's all about explosions and the star's body. Lara Croft's game might not be for everybody, and the same goes for the movie.