Tomb Raider Ascension

First of all, let's all remember that this is a fan-made movie. It is not Tomb Raider 3 with Angelina Jolie.

Let's compare it to the Hollywood Tomb Raiders... Is the acting great? Not really (although it's really not that bad). Is the action choreography great? Not really (although it's really not that bad). Let's compare it to other fan-films... Is the acting great? Oh, yes. Is the action choreography great? Oh, yes.

I went into the original Tomb Raider with VERY low expectations. I am a huge fan of the Tomb Raider game series and I've seen many game-movie conversions that were terrible. I walked out of the theater pleasantly surprised. I watched the second one and didn't think it was quite as good, but still worthy of watching.

I found out about this (again I say) fan-made film, downloaded it, and watched it immediately. I was, once again, pleasantly surprised. This is not a big-budget film. It's some people that like the Tomb Raider universe and wanted to make a prequel. I think they did a fantastic job with it. I felt some level of care for the young Lara (something I can say I haven't experience with many Hollywood movies). I liked that she actually spoke with a British accent (what a concept). The fight scenes were well put together (while maybe lacking some realism). Honestly, the only part of the movie that I can expressly say that I didn't like was the special effects when she put the two artifacts together (the yellow light bit). Personally, I don't like things trying to be what they aren't. I have a set of speakers that have MDF enclosures, but they have a vinyl, wood-grained, wrap. I'd rather the MDF just be painted flat black.

Really, though, let's take this movie as what it is. It is a well-placed attempt to give fans something else to enjoy. I thank them and hope another will come, in the future.

After having watched two Tomb Raider films, I realized there was still one left and despite the low rating in the IMDb I decided to give it a try. So I was not surprised to see how bad it would be. Actually, I stopped in the first 2 minutes and quickly skimmed through the rest. So my review shall lack in its entirety but still here it goes.

The actress plays Lara in too different style from our stereotypical image of Lara Croft. I know the story is about Lara's youth and how she grew up to be a tomb raider and all that kind of stuff, but she looks like a typical teenager bored of anything around and consumed with TV games. Does that make Lara Croft familiar to you? Maybe, but certainly to me who was imagining her spending more adventurous life style, it spoiled her image badly. She hardly looks active.

Secondly, the camera-work is too unstable, just like an amateur documentary film. Suddenly it zooms up and down, moves left to right, and that doesn't help it look like an action film at all. This is exacerbated by small voices (or improper level of voice capture) which is again highly inappropriate for action films. I guess this was intended to make the film realistic but due to the shortage of action scenes such effect is adding more home-documentary touch instead.

Thirdly, the characters are not acting enough, or lack training in specific actions. For example, Lara doesn't look very confident in handling tools and guns. In one scene I saw her fighting with a big bloke without guns but both acting looked like cheap shots. To put it another way, their actions look somewhat too slow for action film, they would probably look good for comedy though.

In summary, I found this "action" film rather documentary with amateurish touch. For some people it might work, so I give 3 stars overall. Anyone interested should really check the trailer first and think if you still want to watch it.