'Tomb Raider' disappointing,
better off as video game
By
Morgan Conklin
Summer Reporter
"Lara Croft: Tomb Raider," a video
game turned movie, would have been better if it never left the PlayStation.
Lara Croft, (Angelina Jolie) the daring, quick-witted
lead actor, clad in tight clothing, played her role the best she could
with the plot given.
The story line consists of Lara, a British aristocrat,
who finds a clock left behind by her missing father. It is her duty
to discover the mystery that lurks behind the clock’s façade.
Her father had left a series of hidden clues
for Lara to follow to solve the clock’s puzzle. The clock is
one piece, and there are two other pieces that Lara needs to find
and place together. Upon completion of this task, Lara would gain
unimaginable power and be able to control time.
However, there are two glitches to this seemingly
easy mission. She is under pressure to solve the mystery before the
planets form an unusual alignment, one that only occurs once every
5,000 years. And in doing so, she is forced to face a series of easily
defeated villains who also hope to solve the mystery.
Lara spends the entire movie engaged in bland
action scenes. The intensity of the action is never developed, and
it leaves the audience wondering when the movie will end, and better
yet, why they wasted their time seeing it in the first place.
At one point, Lara is fighting off a slew of
villains that break into her mansion to steal the sacred clock. The
scene would have been believable, except for the fact that the villains,
armed with machine guns, were defeated by Lara, who used, for the
most part, her body to fend off the intruders.
Scenes such as that, provided comical relief
to the audience as they laughed in disbelief for what was happening
in front of them.
The best part of the movie, however, was seeing
the brief reunion between Lara and her missing father, who was played
by Jolie’s real-life dad, Jon Voight. The two shared an emotional
scene, and then it was back to business as Lara finished the movie
with one more dull action scene.
Overall the movie consisted of a series of poorly
constructed action scenes, and the only thing that somewhat kept the
audience’s attention was Lara’s image. If it had not been
for the way she effortlessly fought off attackers or the clothing
she wore, the movie could have possibly been worse than it already
was.
"Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" was the millennium’s
answer to the successful Indiana Jones’ movies; however, there
was one difference. The Indiana Jones’ movies were suspenseful,
action-packed and entertaining, "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider,"
was not.
