Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is a 2001 action adventure film directed by Simon West, starring Angelina Jolie, Iain Glen, Jon Voight, Noah Taylor, and Daniel Craig.  The story revolves around Lara Croft trying to obtain ancient artifacts from the enemy, the Illuminati.

Positives:

• Good cast and performances
• Good set pieces
• Interesting story
• Good score
• Good humor and dialogue
• Great action

Negatives:

• Too much action
• No memorable characters
• Generic plot
• Writing is bad
• CGI could’ve been better
• Slow paced

Plot: The plot follows Lara Croft after the disappearance of her father, Richard Croft.  She finds a mysterious clock during an upcoming planetary alignment which she learns is being sought after by a mysterious organization called the Illuminati.  Croft must use the clock to find the Triangle of Light and stop the Illuminati from world domination.  The story is pretty damn generic and predictable.  Lara has to stop the baddies from getting the treasure and ruling the world.  The whole thing subplot of Lara/Alex is totally underutilized.  It’s still an enjoyable story. (3 out of 5)

Characters: Of course, like the title suggest, Lara Croft is the main protagonist of the film.  She is a brilliant archaeologist and tomb raider who’s dealing with the death of her father and trying to uncover the mysteries surrounding an upcoming planetary alignment.  She’s a likable character; sharp, witty, and highly skilled.  Even though she’s a beast with her weapons and isn’t afraid to kick butt, we do see depth to the character through the loss of her father, Richard.

Supporting Lara are Bryce Turing (Taylor), Lara’s technical assistant, and Hillary (Barrie), Lara’s butler.  I’m on the fence about these two characters.  They were fun and added some humor to the movie but ultimately they felt unnecessary.  Neither did anything of any significance for me to say they had some interesting moment nor did they really provide some insight that Lara was searching for.

There’s also Alex West (Craig), a fellow tomb raider who Lara distrust due to his for-profit attitude.  Alex is likable character but he’s just not given much to do.  There’s obviously some attraction between the two but it’s never elaborated on.  He’s working with the bad guys and although there should be some defining moment of is he loyal to Lara or to the bad guys, it never presents itself.  Any actual backstory on the character is summed up in one sentence.  And he never actually has a standout moment.

On the other side of the coin we have Manfred Powell as the main antagonist, a self assured, charismatic, smart, and ruthless member of the mysterious Illuminati.  Powell is one of those villains that’s too cool not to like him.  He’s suave, and I like the exchanges between him and Lara.  Even with sequences you see him engaging in meditation or getting massages he has a certain arrogance to his character that slightly alleviates him from being just the typical bad guy trope.  I would’ve liked to have seen more about the character.  What motivates him, his position with the Illuminati, etc. (3 out of 5)

Cast: First, Angelina Jolie does a fantastic job as Lara Croft.  She definitely owns the role and manages to keep herself from overshadowing the character.  She has the wit, sex appeal, and physique that makes the character believable.  Iain Glen is just as fantastic, stealing all of his scenes, delivering his lines with that charisma he’s known for.  Loved the scenes that these two characters share together.  Daniel Craig is good and has some good scenes with Jolie but he really isn’t given much to do. The supporting cast are good and manage to keep the performances well-rounded. The supporting cast include Jon Voight, Noah Taylor, Chris Barrie, Richard Johnson, Julian Rhind-Tutt, and Leslie Phillips. (4 out of 5)

Visuals: Visually the film has that Hollywood flare to it with some good camera-angles, good set pieces, and some pretty diverse shots.  The action sequences are well done and are pretty damn entertaining. Angelina is no stranger to action films and in this regard she excels. The look of Lara Croft is spot on, and definitely allows the sex appeal without affecting her strength. However, I would say that the theatrics do take away from core story, which is about Tomb Raider.

Most of the film is outside of any temples or ruins and when we do see it, it feels generic in its design.  The whole planetary alignment machine in the film’s climax looks lazy. We get some slow mo and it’s off and on.  The best times are when Lara has done something badass.  But there is this weird blurry slow motion effect that’s prominent in the film that should’ve been left out because it just looks ridiculous.  But the biggest problem the film has is the CGI.  The CGI is just horrible.  During the fight with the statues in the temple, the statues honestly look like shit.  They’re fake, look like cartoons and honestly were easily destroyed (completely killing the tension when they could be destroyed with a kick). (3 out of 5)

Score: The music is actually pretty good.  Graeme Revell does a great job of keeping the action fast paced while maintaining a great tone for some of the more touching moments. (3 out of 5)

Writing: The writing and direction are probably where the movie suffers the most.  Simon West does do a decent job of adapting Lara Croft in a more realistic light but there is so much that could’ve done better.  One of the biggest complaints about the writing is that it has elements of Tomb Raider but doesn’t feel like a Tomb Raider film.  It feels more like an Angelina Jolie action film.

First, there should’ve been less action and more adventuring.  The longer the action went on the more Lara Croft turned into Angelina Jolie.  There should’ve been more adventuring through the various tombs to find the triangle.  Eighty-five to ninety percent of this film should’ve been her exploring ruins with Lara trying to stop the Illumanti from getting their treasure.

Second, there is the simple convenience that’s written into the script.  Everything seems convenient for Lara and she has everything under control and she knows the right people for nearly every situation.  Also, she never seems to take much of the situation seriously or if she does it has much to do with her father who everyone seems to know (wearing plot armor much?).

Third, there is hardly any exposition given about the Illuminati, their members, their influence, their history, or their motivations.  That’s a problem in film like this because our antagonists are suppose to be important and their influence has shaped our hero’s choices.

Didn’t really mind the dialogue and the movie does go at a good pace. (2 out of 5)

The Writing:  In the end, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider isn’t a perfect film but it is an exciting one.  As far as video game movies this has been ranked as one of the better ones and it’s easy to see how.  There is a ton of problems with the pacing, writing and the direction as well as some CGI. But there’s great action, good performances, a good cast, a good score, and an interesting story (though generic). Lara Croft: Tomb Raider gets 3 out of 5.