fludd.org - Movie Review

As we all know, adapting video games for the big screen has never been a success. Like all the movies that have been adapted from video games, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is really a great disappointment, because of its extremely thin script. The only positive point with this movie is definitely its action scenes, but it’s really not enough to give you the envy to watch this movie, because of their very noticeable lack of originality (hopefully, it doesn’t apply to certain action scenes, mind you). Lara Croft might be very successful in its video game format, but as a movie, it terribly fails just like most movies adapted from video games.

Since Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is adapted from a video games, don’t even expect to see a good script. In fact, the script is so thin that the movie really looks like a video diary of a trip around the world filled with amazing action scenes. Obviously, at the beginning, we can tell very quickly that the movie is not so exciting to watch, since the story is so predictable, although the pace is strangely quick. In fact, the pace is so quick that you don’t have to wonder when Lara Croft: Tomb Raider will end, because the movie itself is so uninteresting that the trailer does a better job than the movie. Besides being really uninteresting, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is filled, from the beginning to the end, with annoying clichés and noticeable contrivances that are used to push the narrative forward. I don’t have to name all the movie’s clichés, because they are so easy to find. I should also tell you that the movie also relies on a very ineffective ending, but that’s it, that’s all.

As a commercial movie churned out by Hollywood, one shouldn’t really expect to see great acting from the whole cast, because they just seem to take their role with a grain of salt and it should give you an idea how the cast’s performance looks like. Despite being a femme fatale, Angelina Jolie doesn’t really make the movie more interesting, even though she imitates very well the British accent. The leading actress is quite interesting to look at, but Lara Croft, the character played by Angelina Jolie, is totally uninteresting because of Croft’s lack of nuance, thanks to the work of the scriptwriters. The only moment when Lara Croft gets interesting, is the moment when she runs, fires with guns and kicks the villain’s ass. Iain Glen, as Manfred Powell, the main villain, is really the most uninteresting villain I have seen in my whole life, because his character is too funny (although the actor himself tries hard to give us the opposite impression) and not very threatening. For instance, when Manfred Powell does threaten Lara Croft with a gun, you almost want to laugh. As Alex West, one can really wonder what Daniel Craig is doing in this movie, just like Angelina Jolie, the script writers don’t even bother to give him a good margin of manoeuvre to showcase his real talent.

If you are looking for exciting action scenes and amazing special effects rendered with computer assistance, then I am deeply convinced that Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is definitely a movie for you. The gunfight scenes look pretty spectacular, but if you pay attention, you will notice that the movie director has been trying to copy Chinese gunfight movies. Despite the lack of originality in the action scenes, one might be astounded by the special effects that are a little bit weak, but pretty original, at the same time.

Finally, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is a pretty worthless movie that doesn’t really need your consideration, even though you might be entertained by the action scenes, despite their lack of originality. After all, the only action scene that I liked is the scene in which a group of men wearing black suits and night vision goggles invade Lara Croft’s mansion. Unfortunately, don’t expect too much from this flick, since it is the usual kind of mindless commercial movie that Hollywood enjoy churning out for your own pleasure, whether you want it or not. In short, an extremely thin plot and few acting really kill the movie and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider can certainly make a curling tournament look like a cinematographic masterpiece.

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