Never
Come What May
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2000
- Posts
- 23,234
Tomb Raider: Further proof that you don't need a plot or realistic characters to make a good movie.
The price of admission is $8.25 where I live, Tomb Raider was worth the price of admission.
TR went through eleven scriptwriters before it saw the big screen and it shows. The plot tenuous at best, substituting complication for complexity. While we get to know very little of Lady Lora Croft, the movie's heroine, as a person we do get to see her perform amazing stunts in fantastic locations.
While there are many comparisons being made between Tomb Raider, James Bond and Indiana Jones; Lady Croft has neither the wit or charm to favorably compare. This follows the computer game's concept quite well as Lora was designed to be a 'non-person' an empty slate on which the game's players could draw themselves. Angelina Jolie plays a heroine whose main joy in life seems to be flipping around while people try to kill her and driving as fast as humanly possible. She plays this better than most would and as a result the character almost seems real - as real as any thirteen year old's idea of what a really cool woman would do.
What Tomb Raider does have in common with Indiana Jones and James Bond are breathtaking visual effects, in one scene we are treated to an entire temple coming to life and trying to destroy Lara, and stunts galore. Many stunts are preformed by Jolie herself, the actress suffered from cracked ribs, bruised muscles (those short-shorts don't provide much padding) and left the days of the 'bungee rope' shot bleeding.
Naturally, in Tomb Raider the fate of the world is at stake. Whether Lara cares about this or no is suspect as in at least one crucial scene the villain has to force her to do the very thing she came there to do. Other inconsistencies creep into the story, such as why young girls keep on pestering Lara and then vanishing - a fact that's never explained.
While the film has many flaws it still excels in the most important area: it's entertaining. I was privileged to have a group of seventy or so thirteen year old behind me (in an otherwise empty theater) and they wooed and gasped at all the right parts. (Some parts more than others, Lara's hobbies seem to include showering and walking around naked which maybe a problem for younger audiences.) The film is really a giant romp, and a good one at that. It's all action and adventure, if a movie were food this one would have to be ice cream; not much substance but still satisfying.
The price of admission is $8.25 where I live, Tomb Raider was worth the price of admission.
TR went through eleven scriptwriters before it saw the big screen and it shows. The plot tenuous at best, substituting complication for complexity. While we get to know very little of Lady Lora Croft, the movie's heroine, as a person we do get to see her perform amazing stunts in fantastic locations.
While there are many comparisons being made between Tomb Raider, James Bond and Indiana Jones; Lady Croft has neither the wit or charm to favorably compare. This follows the computer game's concept quite well as Lora was designed to be a 'non-person' an empty slate on which the game's players could draw themselves. Angelina Jolie plays a heroine whose main joy in life seems to be flipping around while people try to kill her and driving as fast as humanly possible. She plays this better than most would and as a result the character almost seems real - as real as any thirteen year old's idea of what a really cool woman would do.
What Tomb Raider does have in common with Indiana Jones and James Bond are breathtaking visual effects, in one scene we are treated to an entire temple coming to life and trying to destroy Lara, and stunts galore. Many stunts are preformed by Jolie herself, the actress suffered from cracked ribs, bruised muscles (those short-shorts don't provide much padding) and left the days of the 'bungee rope' shot bleeding.
Naturally, in Tomb Raider the fate of the world is at stake. Whether Lara cares about this or no is suspect as in at least one crucial scene the villain has to force her to do the very thing she came there to do. Other inconsistencies creep into the story, such as why young girls keep on pestering Lara and then vanishing - a fact that's never explained.
While the film has many flaws it still excels in the most important area: it's entertaining. I was privileged to have a group of seventy or so thirteen year old behind me (in an otherwise empty theater) and they wooed and gasped at all the right parts. (Some parts more than others, Lara's hobbies seem to include showering and walking around naked which maybe a problem for younger audiences.) The film is really a giant romp, and a good one at that. It's all action and adventure, if a movie were food this one would have to be ice cream; not much substance but still satisfying.
