Movie Talks Archives

Posted by: Weapon X at December 8, 2002, 1:23 pm

Topic: Tomb Raider (7/10) Forum: JoBlo

Yeah, you read that right...I don't think this movie sucked. Far from it, in fact. Okay, first the good: Angelina Jolie, obviously. Let's face it; she OWNS Lara Croft. She plays the role with class and finesse, and while it's hardly award-worthy, it's still the same Angelina talent that I've fallen in love with...and people, it's more than just her physicality...even though there's more than enough of it to go around in this movie. Shower scene...grrrrrowl!! Jolie proves herself further by putting herself into the action scenes instead of a stunt double. And the action scenes themselves, while totally unbelieveable, are still intense and blood-pumping, especially the opening training bout with the S.I.M.O.N robot. The other acting in the film is more than adequate; Noah Taylor (Bryce) and Julian Rhind-Tutt (Pimms) play the comic relief well. Iain Glen (Powell) plays a great villian, dare I say it, even Bond-worthy. I wouldn't be at all surprised if we saw him duking it out with Pierce Brosnan one day. Daniel Craig's (Alex West) acting talent is perhaps a little questionable, but he sure does look good beside Jolie. And their brief banter throughout the movie does have its moments. Anyone else in the movie isn't around long enough for us to even notice. My big disappointment is in Jon Voight's here-one-second-gone-the-next role of Lara's father, Richard Croft. For a father/daughter duo, the chemistry was noticeably absent in their one scene together. (Of course given recent events between the two, it would seem family chemistry is something of a moot point.) Now the bad...Yes, the plot suffers in favor of glorifying Jolie's body. But since when is that a bad thing? I joke. But the script does give us exposition and action in lieu of character development. The only person you actually give a damn about is Lara, as she's got the most to gain or lose by completing her mission. But in that, we don't see nearly enough of Powell or his employers the Illuminati, so we don't really see what their stake in this whole mess is outside of the old "we're takin' over the world" motif that we've already seen how many gazillions of times now? And as the script falters, so does the dialogue, which is at several key moments just short of cringe-worthy, especially the "time-storm" remark toward the end of the film. Directing: This is the first Simon West film I've seen, so I can't compare his efforts to anything of his previous. For the quiter moments, he's competent enough to keep your attention, but when the action scenes arrive, he actually makes things TOO kinetic to the point that you're wondering, "Wait, what just happened...ooh, that's cool...hey, wait a sec, what was that!?" How's about toning it down a little, bub! Special effects: They said early on that SFX would play a relatively small role in the movie. This both true and false. There are obvious FX shots, and a good number of them too; the stone monkeys, the giant Buddha, the time-storms, and other stuff that couldn't be anything but computer generated. However, the S.I.M.O.N robot had me fooled a few times, which only added to its coolness. SUMMARY: It's got problems, I'll admit that. It tries to be Indiana Jones and James Bond, and oftentimes fails at both. But for those looking for a hot bod (Jolie), some decent-enough acting, and some sweet action, you've found it. It's an hour and a half of just plain fun...that is, if you're willing to accept it as just that. But I must ask...why oh why oh why...did they cut this exchange: POWELL: We could be partners. LARA: You might try to kill me. POWELL: I'm not going to kill you. LARA: I said you'd try. That could have been hands-down the best line in the film, and we only get it off the cutting room floor. Stupid editors. FINAL SCORE: (7/10) Now can you dig that...sucka!?

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