उपयोगकर्ता समीक्षाएं

"Tomb Raider" is a harmless diversion that should please its core audience. I loved the performance of Angelina Jolie, who brings the computer game heroine Lara Croft to life. I watched an interview with Jolie in which she said that she really "became Lara Croft".

With her mock British accent, Jolie is a lot of fun as the adventurer-archaeologist who is equal parts Bruce Wayne and Indiana Jones, but with a much better body.

Taking its cue from the video game, the film's screenplay is more of a puzzle than a plot. The script is a patchwork of ideas that plays like a Greatest Hits collection of other films. It deals with end of the world stuff, but it never feels apocalyptic. It's controlled chaos, utterly lacking in surprise. The script jumps from one expected moment to the next, never apologizing for its lack of originality.

At least Jolie understands the limitations of the script. There's enough conviction in her performance to make you want to believe in Lara Croft, the spunky heiress is who is equally at home in her spacious mansion or within the catacombs of a lost tomb. She's guided by the spirit (both literally and figuratively) of her late adventurer father, Lord Croft (Jon Voight), and assisted by an archaeologist Alex West (Daniel Craig) and cyber-geek creator Bryce (Noah Taylor).

The film opens like "Raiders of the Lost Ark," with Lara Croft deep inside one of those musty, dusty tombs. Instead of outrunning a giant boulder, Croft squares off against a mechanical monster, a robotic menace that seems to come out of nowhere. It doesn't. We learn that it's a creation of Bryce, used to keep Croft on her toes.

Angelina Jolie made the perfect Lara Croft; her facial expressions and sly smirks added a personality to the flick that I can only imagine the video game is missing. She seemed smart, brave, and composed as well as full of emotion. Okay, maybe the parts with her father (real-life papa Jon Voight) were a little over the top, but since the whole movie is just eye-candy anyway they seemed to fit.

The fight scenes among ruins got me. How can you not love Lara Croft jumping onto a swinging obelisk to smash a glass eye that holds the key to time, or sledding thru an ice cave being pulled by dogs? Or the scene where the villains jump through her castle windows as she rappels around the walls, smashing chandeliers and pistol-whipping bad guys? What's a girl to do but hop on her motorbike, take a guy out sideways, and race off at 100 miles an hour? Excellent.

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.

I've watched this movie around five times in total now and every time feels like the first, it's a lot of fun. The ludicrous plot about the planets aligning always surprises me that's what the writers went with, as opposed to you know, raiding tombs?

I watched the special features on the blu-ray and saw one of the creators make a statement that the film wasn't at all "cheesy, corny or camp" - did this guy watch the same version I did? The film is all of those things, from the opening scene in which Lara fights a training robot to then insert a mix-tape cassette, Lara's padded pointy breasts, and not forgetting the film ends on a freeze frame shot of Lara holding her guns - yeah not at all...

If somehow you've never seen this film until today, don't take it at all seriously or you won't enjoy it, just switch your brain off and you'll likely get something out of it.

Ok, Tomb Raider may not be the greatest action film I have seen but it still is a quite good movie. Although it has borrowed the elements from Indiana Jones -films and its story is very flimsy, Tomb Raider was a fast-moving and enjoyable picture which has a great and striking action scenes. The best thing in a whole movie was of course Angelina Jolie. She did a great work as Lara, not only portraying her as a

hard-boiled fighter but also a sensitive woman. So, although movie is typical and imperfect, it is watchable especially for Jolie and

action sequences.

Take an infinite number of monkeys, give them an infinite number of typewriters and and infinite amount of time and one of them will write Hamlet. Yet it took five monkeys to write this GARBAGE!

An impossibly bad plot with no explanation of what the "Illuminati" intend to do with the infinite power of time once it's in their control. Action sequences shot with such confusion that at several points I was hoping one of the millions of fired bullets would leap out of the screen and put me out of my misery.

A terrible movie and a great disappointment.

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.

I was really sad by how awful Tomb Raider was... there was no excuse for it to have been so bad. Angelina was PERFECT for the role of Laura Croft, but the astonishingly bad plot, script and direction destroyed a movie with at least moderate potential. I think monkeys could have brainstormed a better storyline than that which we were presented.

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.

Ever since seeing the greatly hyped sequel to Speed, Speed 2 - Cruise Control I thought Hollywood would ever create a summer that terrible again. I was wrong. Yes, despite that summer movies are made for their popcorn, eye-catching appeal and do you rarely see an academy award nomination other than best sound or visual effects, Tomb Raider has to be the worst summer movie since Speed 2. Where one feature of the movie was lacking (such as the storyline), I looked to another feature of the movie (the action scenes) just to be as disappointed.

To begin with lets begin with the terrible storyline and characters. The storyline lacks in any intensity or danger. Not once did I ever feel that Laura Croft was ever in any danger or even got really that beat up. Other than that scratch on her arm that the Monk's tea healed and a bloody lip. Also the characters where terrible accept for Jolie's. And even then the fake English accent and the bad azz attitude about where ever she just decided to parade through was ridiculous. Indi at least had to sneak around for fear of being caught or killed. Then there is her little buddy who designed all her gizmo's and lived in a trailer thats right out of Charlie's Angels. Oh and that is gizmo, the only cool thing about her "gear" was the backpack that she reloads her guns with. I was hoping for at least a wide range of gizmos and gadgets or something. Who know hand held lanterns with no off switch (remember she had to hide it behind a rock) were so new aged technology. Furthermore who was Powell and who was West? You never know if there was any romantic past or not between West and Croft. All you know is that West is the ever redundant, "In it for the money" character. Also why is Powell so bad, other than being a "lawyer" (Baa Baa Ching....groan, lame overdone joke). But seriously if Powell was to obtain the triangle what was he going to do with it? He never said, other than let Laura see her father. Heck Powell was kind of a nice guy in that aspect. Other than that it just seemed that Powell wanted a little triangle to add to his collection, nothing more. So I never really felt like the rest of the world was ever in any danger. I could have been eating my Frosted Flakes and never of known the difference.

Now for the worst part of the movie the action sequences! COMPLETELY UNORIGINAL!!!!!!! To begin with the action scene in the beginning is straight out of the opening action scenes of Indiana Jones. Next we move to the bungee scene. Here we have a rip off of the pulley scene in the computer room from the first Mission: Impossible. Then we go to the car garage of Crofts's abode. And here we find more James Bond 007 cars than I've ever seen. Not to mention the McGuyver like "drill gun". Then the motorcycle up on one wheel n' all again Mission Impossible but this time the Part 2. Where to next ahh yes the actually original fight scenes that were lame. I never knew fighting a 5000-year-old armed statue could be so easy. Just one good whack to the gut and down they go. What else..... ah yes, the Back to the Future references. I believe I remember Doc Brown telling Marty McFly "Destroy the time machine it brings nothing but trouble, and can bring nothing but evil if to fall into the wrong hands." Now Biff did some damage if I remember correctly. Anyway here we are with Lord Croft telling Laura "Destroy the Triangle it brings nothing but trouble, and can bring nothing but evil if in the wrong hands." You know the whole time I'm thinking why didn't she destroy the one part of the triangle in the first place. The Aluminate would just be running around looking for the other piece of a triangle. Not knowing that Laura had already destroyed the other half. Bada bing, movie over. BUT NO, being led out of the ice cavern by the team of dogs. Hmmmm again I think of Indi being dragged behind the Nazi truck by his whip.

I'm sorry if you have found my rantings offensive if you really liked the movie that much. I am aware that this is a summer movie, but as far as summer movies go this ranks down there with Speed 2. This movie is just plain terrible! I didn't find anything really that interesting or exciting about it. It's a movie that I left feeling like I've seen hundreds of times before. At least this wasn't as bad as Speed 2, but it's the worst one I've seen since it. I'm dreading the sequel, I don't know why Paramount is going to want to make another installment, but hey sometimes you get lucky. That is if you have better writers, director, and actors. Video game movies should stay where they belong in my opinion, on our televisions and PC's. I was hoping that perhaps this time they could make something out of it, I've been let down again. Although that Final Fantasy might be good..... lets hope for Video game movie's sake.

Tomb Raider - (1.5/10)

This is a classic entertainment action flick. If you're expecting deep revelations to life, you won't get it. If you want great entertainment in what I'd say is what the majority of summer action flicks strive for - then Tomb Raider is just awesome.

I'm genuinely surprised that the rating for this movie is so low. Tomb Raider is one of the movies that I'll occasionally throw on when I just feel like watching a good action flick circa Mission Impossible. It's entertaining, it's pretty smart, and it's a clever adaptation of a video game.

I'm also a huge fan of the soundtrack to this movie. The compilation of songs is really great.

I don't play video games, so I don't know anything about the Tomb Raider game or anything like that, so it played no role in the formation of my opinion about the movie. I had very high expectations for the film, because I know how popular Tomb Raider (and, probably even more, Lara Croft) is, and because I know that a tremendous amount of preparation went into the making of the film. And besides that, Angelina Jolie stars as Lara Croft, and she pulls off the physical aspect of that role (face it, Lara Croft's body is even more well known than the game itself) with stunning closeness.

There is a mediocre story in the film involving Croft's search for an artifact that carries with it tremendous power, including the ability to control time, if I remember correctly. Fueling Croft's efforts to achieve the artifact is her determination to live up to the legacy of her late father, played with a little tongue in cheek by her real life father, John Voigt.

The story of Tomb Raider was not too impressive to begin with, and Angelina can barely pull off the fake accent (I shudder every time I anticipate Original Sin), but this is not what ultimately brings the movie down. Normally I try not to pick movies apart, but there was so much unnecessary stuff thrown in here that it makes you wonder what people were doing for all of the years that this movie was in production. It seems weird that no one noticed how weird it is to have Lara's father looking at the movie camera and talking, as though to her, while she reads a letter that her wrote her before he died. And also, whose idiot idea was it to have her do things like punch a guy in the head with the back tire of a motorcycle while she speeds by on the front wheel?! What a joke.

On the other hand, every scene in which Lara handles guns is incredibly well done. I think that, for the most part, this is because Angelina just looks good pointing two guns and firing them that fast. The beginning action scene was pretty impressive for this reason. The action in the film was mostly pretty good, but there were several instances where it went over the top, as in the above-mentioned motorcycle scene. This is the same problem that we saw in Mission: Impossible II, which could otherwise have been a good action movie, as Tomb Raider could also have been.

I don't know enough about the game to comment on how well it was translated to the screen, but I do know from pictures of Lara Croft that Angelina did an excellent job in the role. There can be no mistake that the movie is directed at a younger audience (which makes you wonder about that brief half-nude scene), which probably accounts for most of the goofy action sequences, so be advised of a certain inherent immaturity before you watch it. It's an entertaining enough movie, but be warned.

What a great actress she is! I love world culture so this movie lived up to that, unfortunately the dialog/plot was sticky and predictable- Angie is capable of so much more. She carried this movie on her back and pulled the stunts off with gusto and grace(I want a bungee exercise room!). She is a great heroine. I am inspired to raid tombs myself now, or perhaps help refugees as Angelina does in real life. I hope for a sequel. This movie made me a Jolie fan and I'll see her future films and rent her past ones. Overall, a beautiful film to look at, but doesnt allow the watcher to get completely immersed into Lara's world. I give it a 7...

I'll be honest with you here, I hadn't even heard of Angelina Jolie until my brother gave me his copy of this DVD having abandoned it during some of the early scenes.

By this time I was already playing and enjoying the early games - notably TR II before I played the original and progressed to TR III in that order.

TR II was a masterpiece in terms of gaming. It was vibrant and diverse, covering many locations - most notably Venice and China, locations that were covered in the two Jolie movies combined to my recollection, among others.

In order to play the heroine, Jolie had to gain muscle and play the games - in essence she had to BECOME Lara Croft. She had to absorb the quirky traits of this steadfast character in order to deliver an accurate portrayal to fans of the games ("Raiders" as we call ourselves). Jolie performed many of her own stunts to her credit and was on a high protein diet in order to bulk up to the athletic standard required.

The only thing that lets this movie down is arguably the dialogue in spite of a very touching scene between Jolie and Voight - her then real- life estranged father. It was the pain of their real-life situation that oozed through the screen with a sense of great sadness. Jolie's accent was flawless but I feel the dialogue could have been less twee in parts.

The reason my older brother abandoned the movie was due to a rather reality-suspending scene of an ambush in Croft Manor. Character Lara was engaged in some form of indoor bungee exercise wearing some sort of satin pyjama set yet, initially unarmed, managed to single-handedly take out an entire SWAT team with her cunning and athletic prowess, only managing to tool-up when she snatches a weapon from one of her bungee- captives.

If you are happy to suspend belief then your kids will enjoy it. The sequel is more Bond-like however and a more believable movie. Nice to see a younger Daniel Craig in this debut TR film though!

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.

When movies get made from other forms of media (i.e. video games, comics, books, etc), a clear goal should be established: Make a film that will appeal to both fans of the original source, and that will not completely alienate new viewers. This has been done with some consistencey in the past, "Tomb Raider" does not fall into this category.

If I took the time to list all the things that were wrong with the movie in relation to the video game, I would be sitting here three days, so I will try to summarize what was accurate. Her name was Lara Croft, she did some tomb raiding, she was british. That about covers it.

The plot was horendous, boring, predictable, and generally pointless. These phrases could also be used to describe most of the characters and their acting, I'm not sure whether to blame them or the director on that note. Though I have seen most of the actors give far better performances. I kept thinking to myself, why didn't they just use the plot from the first game, it would have translated well to the big screen, or at the very least found some writers who could, you know, write.

The action sequences were tolerable, I will give it that, though after a while they got a bit tiring and I lost count as to how many times Lara defies the laws of physics, I guess that's a bit consistant with the games, at any rate.

Lastly this movie pandered to the worst thing about the Tomb Raider franchise. Lara Croft's breasts. Yes, i know, she's attractive, she has breasts that defie gravity and a few other physical constants, but please, get over it, if this is the most interesting part of the Tomb Raider sage, just turn the game into a lame porno flick and get on with your lives, it's not worth wasting our time with bad writing and dialogue just so angelina jolie can flash her breasts to the camera some six hundred times in the span of two hours.

To conclude: As a Tomb Raider fan, this movie made me ill and I feel I wasted six bucks and a quarter on it. If you're interested in action, rent something with better acting, or play the games, if you're interested in boobs, the adult section is usually to the back of the video store.

The film talks upon Lara Croft (Angelina Jolie), an explosive and sexy British archaeologist and it results to be an adaptation from a successful and famous video game . Lara musts discover and destroy halves-objects of an old relic which can control time and a nasty (Iain Glen) also wants to obtain it with the aim to ruling the time . Lara Croft is helped by an adventurer (Daniel Craig , future James Bond) and by two sympathetic underlings (Noah Taylor and Christopher Barrie). Her dead father (John Voight, like on the real life) will give up clues to find it . She'll have to take on several risks , dangers and adventures until reach her aim.

The picture mingles suspense , tension , skydiving , action-packed , pursuits and a little bit of violence when the quarrel happen but it's a very amusing movie . It's a real and typical action film : Running men while are shooting , continuous struggles in bounds and leaps and interminable runs . It's a run-of-the-mill action picture , as from the beginning to the end , the unstopped action and the fast movement is varied . Besides , there are breathtaking outdoors from different countries around the world where the protagonists are traveling to resolve the issues . The final duel amongst the starring and contenders for the possession of the ancient relics is impressive and groundbreaking . The film is similar to the posterior :¨ the cradle of the life¨ , it has a likeness chum (Daniel Craig-Gerard Butler), equal performers (Noah Taylor and Chris Barrie ) with gorgeous as well as spectacular scenarios . However , the first part achieved a lot of box office and second part (directed by Jan De Bont) attained limited success because the storyline was basically a rehash of the original film . Peter Menzies cinematography is awesome like is marvelously reflected on the extraordinary outdoors and Graeme Revell musical score is jolly and lively . The picture was rightly directed by Simon West.

Lord God and all dieties of the universe, how could you let such a film exist? Is man truly without guidance and nothing more than a selfish and foolish creature? Surely no wise being responsible for this thing called humanity could let us sink so low as to create an abyss of wretchedness like "Tomb Raider." In this accursed summer of abuses, this dark age of cinema where the masses flock to see the next corporate manifested piece of garbage, "Tomb Raider" continues to prove audiences will take a big bite from a rotten, festering sandwich, and not only not complain, but say 'thank you' and ask for more.

So-called future star Angelina Jolie takes front stage in her first big-budget starring vehicle and promptly falls asleep on camera. Her faux British accent barely rises above a whisper. She's left shooting her pistols repeatedly, while yearning for her long lost Daddums and nothing more. Jon Voight appears as the Dad, apparently slumming, even for him.

The plot, use that term loosely, involves a magic triangle that controls time. Yes, it is as stupid as it sounds. This hookum acts as little more than a famework to hang actions scenes on. The film starts by introducing us to a large set, then promptly destroys it in a hail of gunfire and chaos. Repeat 4 times, fade out. The special effects in these sequences are largely obvious and bland, the set design familiar of other, better films, and the action itself boring and pointless. Making matters worse are the dullest villans imaginable. I kid you not, the main villan spends most of his screen time recieveing a massage. The rest of the cast is indistinguishable and forgettable.

Paramount is already threatening a sequel to this plague. If the theory holds true that sequels are unavoidably worse than the original, the sequel to "Tomb Raider" may cause internal bleeding, emotional distress and could concieveibly cause irreversable brain damage. Be warned.

When I first watches this movie, I'm not sure why I didn't enjoy it. It could be just that I was in the wrong mood. However, I did find the movie lacking a convincing villain challenging enough to make you root for the heroine. Indiana Jones had a good villain, Jackie Chan movies always pit him against the odds - that's what makes for good action. In Tomb Raider, not only is it clear to everyone that Lara Croft is greater than the villains by a long shot, worse still - she joins forces with them! This creates a confusing scenario where natural sympathies for the main character get thrown out the window.

However when I watched it the second time, this time without any preconceived notions and fully expecting the lack of exciting odds, I really enjoyed it for what it is - a visually appealing film with some thrilling stunts and action scenes. The fact that Angelina did her own stunts adds to the enjoyability of the key action scenes, all of which are artfully conceived and executed.

I realize many people toast this movie, but watch the movie for what it offers - some unique and stylish action. The heroine certainly does some nifty tricks that we've never seen on the big screen before, let alone from a female character.

The Tomb Raider games were a pop culture phenomenon in the late '90s/early 2000 and that obviously meant a film adaptation was made. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider was considered one of the better video game-to-film adaptation but considering the low bar that's not much of an achievement.

Angelina Jolie was brilliant as Lara Croft. She had the action credentials and she performed with a strong English accent. She was perfect casting at the time. There were some solid action sequences through the film, The highlight was the sequence in the Cambodian Temple since it had a combination of puzzle-solving, platforming, and action: just like the games at the time.

There were big issues as well. The humour at the beginning of the film was weak sauce and cutting Bryce and Hillary would have been for the better. The film could still have had a fun, light tone without the forced humour. The special effects have not aged well, especially the CGI.

It was amusing to see Iain Glen and Daniel Craig in roles before they became really famous. However, Craig did perform with a rubbish American accent.

In the movies there is good nonsense and bad nonsense. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is 100% good nonsense! It won't win any awards or bowl you over with textured and deep themes or performances, but what it will provide you with is a good looking well made slice of pure fun!

Angeline Jolie is wonderfully likeable as Lara, plus her English accent is flawless which further endears you to her. Red Dwarf's Chris Barrie pops up as Lara's butler and the two have genuine chemistry together when they are on screen. The film is very well directed by Simon West and it has a very polished sheen to it all plus the pacing is spot on, which for a game adaptation is rarer than hen's teeth.

Smashing good fun which is surprisingly well made and well performed too.

Highly recommended for a boozy Saturday in or a lazy Sunday on the couch.

Lara Croft (Angelina Jolie), a wealthy adventurer who seeks after lost artifacts for the sheer thrill finds a mysterious clock hidden in her family home that activates at the same time as an upcoming alignment of the nine planets. Lara discovers the clock hides a special key that will lead whoever holds it to the lost artifact the Pyramid of Light which is said to have the ability to control the flow of time. Meanwhile, the Illuminati is also seeking the Pyramid of Light with Manfred Powell (Iain Glen) and Lara's rival tomb raider Alex West (Daniel Craig) trying to stay one step ahead of Lara.

Released in 1996, Tomb Raider developed by Toby Gard and Core Design became one of the defining video game franchises of the 3D era of video games with the series laying the foundation for other third person platforming games with influences seen even to this day with the likes of Uncharted franchise. Of particular novelty for the series was in its central character Lara Croft who originally intended as a male character was changed as to not invite comparisons to the Indiana Jones franchise. Lara Croft's popularity remains strong to this day with the character's unique look recognized even outside the gaming community and serving as the cornerstone of a franchise that encompasses not only the games, but also comics, action figures, and an upcoming anime series. Development on a Tomb Raider movie had begun in fits and starts through the 90s with drafts by Mortal kombat: Annihilation's Brent V. Friedman and the Street Fighter movie's Steven E. De Souza rejected for one reason or another, and the casting of Angelina Jolie met with mixed responses among audiences. Despite this, the movie became the highest grossing movie based on a video game at the time as well as the highest grossing female fronted action film. While Critical reception tended to skew negative (with the exception of Roger Ebert) the movie received an "okay" response from audiences, and while not anything mind blowing Lara Croft: Tomb Raider does capture the essence of adventure and silliness that endear the games and character to audiences.

Simon West brings his visceral sense of style and intensity to the film that he brought to Con Air and that style is well complimented by the performance by Jolie as Croft who gives us a "devil may care" protagonist who lives for sheer thrills and danger. It's not the most deep of performances, but considering the source material Jolie manages to capture the character's core appeal to a "T" both in terms of personality and the action beats. While the opening "training scene" with Lara squaring off against a killer robot made by her home techie, Bryce, goes a bit further from reality than it should, the other major action sequences are well done with the siege of Lara's manor by Illuminati mercenaries done with some creative usage of bungee cables and household items and the two major tomb sequences in Cambodia and Siberia have strong production design and incorporate some strong "platforming" elements reminiscent of the games without feeling bogged down by them. Daniel Craig I also rather enjoyed as Lara's rival/love interest, Alex Wes, even if Craig adopting an American accent in place of his British one was a little eyebrow raising.

While the adventure elements work well with exotic locales and imposing tombs, other story beats don't feel as strong as they should. Iain Glen serves as our main villain Powell, and while he does okay in the role the villain really never rises above much more than an obstacle (even when it's revealed his connection to Lara's father) with him basically being the Illuminati's glorified errand boy who wants to sit in "the big chair". I feel like maybe if the characters of West and Powell were combined into a singular antagonist we'd probably have a much stronger villain. But the biggest element that doesn't work is Jolie's real life father, Jon Voight playing Lara's father Richard Croft. On paper this SHOULD work as a way of capturing that "father/daughter" dynamic the movie wants to evoke, but not only is Voight's performance as Richard rather underwhelming as he gives a very sleepy performance, but when Jolie and Voight do eventually appear together it plays very distant and awkward and not like a heartfelt family reunion. When you have your "big emotional moment" I shouldn't be noting that Voight had better chemistry with Nicolas Cage playing his son in National Treasure than he has with his real life daughter.

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider given the time this was made was probably the most faithful adaptation of the franchise and character we could expect. With tight direction, a large budget, and an enjoyable performance by Jolie as Croft, the movie is nonsense, but it's entertaining nonsense.

I don't play videogames, so I'm probably not as familiar with Croft as many others. That said, in my opinion, this movie clearly would've had potential. Big busted heroine taking what she wants with two guns blazing. Sounds hot, ay? The finished product is far from that.

Biggest problem with Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is the editing. It's just simply appalling. Nobody goes to see this s**t for Lara's relationship with her dad. They pay the price for the action. Sadly, it doesn't work. Every time you think "this is it, now she's gonna come from there, fling by the camera and boom! Awesome!" they cut to some stupid angle that totally ruins the momentum. Such a shame.

There are three good things here, though. The training fight with the robot is some what cool in the beginning of the picture. Plus the songs "Where's your head at?" by Basement Jaxx and "Elevation" by U2. And that's about it.

*** / *****