Lara Croft: Tomb Raider Buy Lara Croft: Tomb Raider from my web shop

(- 2001 -)

Original Title Lara Croft: Tomb Raider Director Simon West Genre Action, Fantasy, Adventure Released 2001-06-11 MPAA Rating Rated PG-13 for action violence and some sensuality. Rated 5.2

Plot Summary

A member of a rich British aristocratic family, Lara Croft is a "tomb raider" who enjoys collecting ancient artifacts from ruins of temples, cities, etc. worldwide, and doesn't mind going through death-defying dangers to get them. She is skilled in hand-to-hand combat, weapons training, and foreign languages - and does them all in tight outfits. Well, the planets of the solar system are going into planetary alignment (Which occurs every 5,000 years), and a secret society called the Illuminati is seeking an ancient talisman that gives its possessor the ability to control time. However, they need a certain clock/key to help them in their search, and they have to find the talisman in one week or wait until the next planetary alignment to find it again. Lara happens to find that key hidden in a wall of her mansion. The Illuminati steal it, and Lara gets an old letter from her deceased father telling her about the society's agenda (Her father was also the one who hid the key). Now, she must retrieve the key and find and destroy the talisman before the Illuminati can get their hands on it.

Images

Actors / Character

Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft , Jon Voight as Richard Croft , Iain Glen as Manfred Powell , Noah Taylor as Bryce , Daniel Craig as Alex West , Richard Johnson as Distinguished Gentleman , Chris Barrie as Hillary (as Christopher Barrie) , Julian Rhind-Tutt as Mr. Pimms , Leslie Phillips as Wilson , Robert Phillips as Julius, Assault Team Leader , Rachel Appleton as Young Lara , Olegar Fedoro as Russian Commander , Henry Wyndham as Boothby's Auctioneer , David Cheung as Head Laborer (as David Y. Cheung) , David K.S. Tse as Head Laborer

IMDB User Comments

Bits and bytes, no booty Welcome to the new media age: following Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter, this is yet another movie based on, made with and hyped through cyber technology. The main difference with these former sources is that the heroine of `Tomb Raider' has practically been canonised as both a sex object and a symbol for post-modern female liberation. Lara Croft (Angelina Jolie), amateur archeologist and wealthy heir to a British nobleman, has set her sights on the lost `clock of ages', a magical device able to freeze time. A rival expedition led by crooked Manfred Powell (Iain Glen) has already left for the Cambodian jungle, trying to claim the clock for a secret brotherhood called the Illuminati. To Lara's dismay, her former lover Alex West (Daniel Craig) has signed up with the Powell expedition. The writers have cooked up a sub-par Raiders of the Lost Ark story for Lara, injected with a deadline (Lara must retrieve the clock before planetary alignment occurs) that rivals a lot of earlier fantasy flicks for sheer far-fetched silliness. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider was sumptuously lensed in the European cities London and Venice, the jungle of Cambodia and the frozen wastelands of Iceland, making for appetizing travelogue viewing. Director Simon West (Con Air) emphasizes Lara's coolness and laconic bravery, showing her in all sorts of combat and performing crazy stunts. West's directorial style has all the dynamics of the computer game, but it is ultimately just as flat - locations and sequences are reduced to mere game levels. The director uses CGI effects to full advantage, showing that nothing is impossible anymore with digital effects, but that's exactly why all the `jaw-dropping' spectacle fails to impress: in a few years time, CGI has been so quantitatively overused and qualitatively underused, that the crisp visuals have become run-of-the-mill. Sometimes they manage to be effective though, as in a scene where Lara is attacked by warrior statues come to life, a notion probably picked up from The Golden Voyage of Sindbad. Lara's sexuality is consistently downplayed by West, perhaps wisely. It is reduced to Lara's crouching on top of an enormous phallic obelisque, and a stylized shower scene - but the character of Alex has a shower scene as well, in a daft nod to equality. Both scenes look like something out of a shampoo commercial. There is also a contrived post-Oedipal subplot featuring Lara's late father (Jon Voight), but this part of the story never takes off either. There's nothing angelic about the lead actress, but she is très jolie nonetheless; Jolie is so unusual looking and acts in such a highly controlled manner, that she almost comes across as extra-terrestrial. But this is probably an advantage for the part, since Lara never becomes a flesh-and-blood creation, but remains a body made up of bits and bytes - a computer nerd's wet dream. For the sequel, a digital simulation will do.

CD Label