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The Movie: The dawn of video games can be traced back to the mid 1980s when a then small company by the name of Nintendo launched a system called the NES or Nintendo Entertainment System. This system was a console based system that you hooked up to your TV and for which you bought different cartridges or 'games'. These games when inserted into the system would give the owner an interactive experience. The flagship game would be called Super Mario Brothers which would involve two plumber brothers trying to rescue a princess from an evil dinosaur/monster hybrid villain by the name of Bowser. Over the years with the advances in computer technology the video game world would be taken by storm with new better systems. The major ones being the Super Nintendo and Sony's two entries the Playstation and Playstation 2 the later of which runs off a DVD-Rom enabled drive which can be used not only for game playback but DVD playback as well. With the technology behind the systems getting more and more impressive, the games that came out kept getting more and more realistic as well. The industry also caused tidal waves in Hollywood by taking a big chunk of teenagers spare money that was previously going to movies. So Hollywood decided to adapt video games to the big screen. However they haven't been very successful in doing this thus far with the big screen versions of Super Mario, Double Dragon, Street Fighter and Wing Commander doing poorly at the box office. Only one video game movie has gone on to spawn a sequel and that was the moderately successful Mortal Kombat. It's not for lack of trying, even the biggest selling video games haven't equalled big business at the theaters. Now Tomb Raider, the first of two movies based on video games to hit theaters this summer tries it's hand at box office success with Angelina Jolie as the female adventurer Lara Croft. Tomb Raider is the story of Lara Croft (Angelina Jolie), daughter of the deceased Sir Richard Croft (Jolie's real life father John Voight) who had been a famous adventurer in his time. She now lives at Croft Manor, a beautiful house with her butler and a scientist friend who develops robots for her to practice combat. One day when a UPS truck pulls up to the manor with a mysterious note for Lara, the events of the movie become set in stone. The message is from her father which leads her to a book in his immense library which in turn contains a longer note. The note explains the existence of a secret society of the light called the Iluminati which covet an ancient triangle. Which when used at the exact moment of time this ancient triangle gives it's possessor the power to shift time and space. The triangle had been split into two pieces and hidden at the ends of the earth to prevent them from being put back together to avoid causing evil to be unleashed upon the world. Lara holds the key that will unlock the location where the pieces are stored. Meanwhile Manfred Powell (Iain Glen) is hired by the Iluminati to gather the pieces so that they can once again have the power of the light. However he lacks the key to unlock the secrets. As time begins to run out the search for the two halves of the triangle take our hero and her rival to the ends of the earth. One of the biggest concerns of fans of the video game was the portrayal of heroine Lara Croft. To some there was no human actress who could accurately capture Lara's qualities. Some fans even went to the extreme of saying that the movie would be better off if it was done with CGI. While I'm not a fan of the game I think Angelina Jolie truly captures what Lara Croft is about. She's a strong role model who uses her strengths for good not evil. She is not only strong physically but mentally as well. Angelina Jolie manages to capture most aspects of Lara's personality well, although her attempts at humour seemed a bit forced. When looking down the list of Hollywood's top "A" actresses, I can't see any other star filling this role quite as well. Will the fans be happy? I can't answer that question. The top choices from the fans for the role of Lara were the models who inspired the look of Lara. Including Rhona Mitra who had a cameo in Hollow Man. Would Rhona have been a better choice for the role? She might have been but with a movie of this nature an a-list star with big box office drawing power was needed and so Jolie was cast. I hope the game fans are happy with Jolie because it could have been a lot worse. Tomb Raider is primarily a one women show with the majority of screen time being devoted to Angelina's Lara. In fact there are very few scenes without Lara. In his supporting performance Scottish actor Iain Glen plays a one dimensional villain in Manfred Powell. His character like most of the supporting ones isn't very well defined though he gives it his best shot. This film could have used a more dastardly villain perhaps played by someone like Christopher Walken or Rufus Sewell. The only other performance worth noting is what amounts to be little more then a cameo by Angelina's real life father John Voight (currently appearing in Micheal Bay's Pearl Harbor). In his cameo John plays Lara's father Sir Richard Croft, not much of a stretch for him though still noteworthy for this reviewer. Make no mistake about it this is really all Angelina's show. In the final month leading up to it's release there was a lot of controversy surrounding some major changes with the film. The first major change was that score composer Micheal Kamen (X-Men, Event Horizon) was replaced with Graeme Revell (Blow, Titan AE, Strange Days) and was given just over a week to complete his final score. The second major change was that Paramount was unhappy with director Simon West's (Con Air, The General's Daughter) cut of the film and decided to bring in editor Stuart Baird (Mission: Impossible 2, Maverick, Die Hard 2 ) to re-cut the film. Director Simon West who wasn't originally interested in the project due to what he felt were problems with the adaptation finally agreed to do the project after he was allowed some creative input remains credited as the director of this film. Though I'm not sure how much of the final cut is his. For someone who had problems at the beginning of the project I'm beginning to think he wasn't the right guy for the job. His previous films Con Air (for Jerry Bruckheimer) and The Generals Daughter were both good movies that I enjoyed a fair bit. They were different from each other. Con Air was a popcorn movie in the purest sense of the word. Whereas The Generals Daughter was an intriguing mystery that unravelled before your eyes. With Tomb Raider he tries to return to the style he used in Con Air and doesn't quite succeed. He seems to have been influenced by the flashy quick cut style of Micheal Bay and Baz Lurhmann and it doesn't quite work for him or this film. He keeps the movie fast paced and it doesn't drag on at any point. At 98 minutes the movie is too short for it's own good. A movie of this nature should run closer to 2 hours then 90 minutes. West should be applauded for keeping me interested for the duration unlike Steven Sommers similar themed film The Mummy Returns which at 2 hrs and 8 minutes seemed like an eternity. Tomb Raider is a throwback to the days of Indiana Jones with a leaner, trimmer and more attractive hero. While it's not rocket science and it's not the best summer movie ever released it's certainty a step in the right direction for movies based on games. If your in the mood for a fast paced, beautifully shot, interesting quest picture with some cool action then be sure to see Tomb Raider. It's not exceptional but it's not terrible either. Reviewed by Mark McLeod on June 16th 2001 |