'Tomb Raider' not satisfying but not a total disaster either
'Tomb Raider' not satisfying but not a total disaster either
By Joko E.H. Anwar
Tomb Raider **1/2 out of four stars; Action/Adventure,
100 minutes; Starring Angelina Jolie, Noah Taylor, Iain Glen,
Daniel Craig, Christopher Barrie, and Jon Voight; Directed by
Simon West; A United International Pictures/Paramount
Pictures/Mutual Film Company Production
JAKARTA (JP): Every time those guys in Hollywood make a movie
based on a popular video game, people start to think, "Whom do
they think they are making the movie for?"
Let's face it, video game fans are usually disappointed by the
outcomes since the fate of the characters is no longer in their
hands. And those who are not familiar with the source material
find it less impressive to see a movie with a plot taken from a
game. Remember Mortal Kombat and Super Mario Bros?
All right, to some (mostly big studio execs) Tomb Raider
sounds like a perfect video game to turn into a movie. The game
has sold millions, and would probably have sold more if it had
not been pirated so massively here.
And who's never heard of Lara Croft anyway? The sexiest female
archeologist/photo journalist in the world. A woman with a
perfect combination of body and mind who can jump higher than
Jackie Chan does and at the same time fire guns from both hands.
Find a perfect actress to play the character, give her months
of training in the boxing ring to give her even more shape and
"Walla!", you have a big hit is on your hands.
"It won't be just a movie: it'll be a juggernaut," says John
Goldwyn, president of Paramount Motion Pictures as quoted by
Premiere.
Well, that's what they think.
The fact is, Tomb Raider does not yet prove that film based on
a video game can be a delightful treat. It lacks real thrills and
excitement.
Comic books have more luck. Some of them, such as The Crow and
The Mask, have made the transition into celluloid well.
The makers of Tomb Raider seem to have spent their time (and
money) in computer-generated effects which look good in the
theater. But they forget that everybody knows that great images
are not the only thing good movies are made of.
It's amazing how the film's plot can be so dull given that the
story is credited to three different people while the screenplay
is credited to two. Director Simon West himself is also credited
with adapting the story.
According to the July edition of Premiere, it actually took
eleven screenwriters to come up with the script that received the
green light from the studio execs.
The result is a film about an adrenaline junkie without the
adrenalin.
The story involves a secret, ancient group called the
Illuminati who vow to find the two mystical halves of The
Triangle of Light, the origins of which will remain unclear to
many in the audience.
If the halves are united, the holder will have the power to
control time, even change the past if they want to.
It took a long list of writers to come up with this story.
Probably because some of them cannot get their minds off the
truly exciting The Fifth Element.
Well anyway, the halves can only be reunited once every 5,000
years when a planetary alignment occurs.
Meanwhile, Lady Lara Croft is residing peacefully in her
mansion in Britain, seemingly taking a break in between
adventures.
She's got a butler (Chris Barrie) who provides her with good
cooking and keeps her house clean, and a computer nerd, Bryce
(Noah Taylor), who provides her with dangerous robots as her
sparring partners.
Lara discovers a clock containing the key to finding the
halves after being told by her late father, Lord Croft (Jolie's
real life father Jon Voight), all about it in a dream. Her father
also tells her to stop the Illuminati from finding the halves
first.
Oh by the way, the Illuminati is an evil group because ...
wait, I didn't quite get that one, really.
Meanwhile, the group have already hired a man named Manfred
Powell (Iain Glen) to find the stones. In his task, Powell is
helped by adventurer Alex West (Daniel Craig), with whom Lara
later develops a flirtatious relationship which does not really
work.
Please don't expect any clever twists in the plot from this
movie.
When we move Lara Croft through dark tunnels and ruins while
playing the video game, we can feel the presence of vicious
creatures lurking in the dark.
The film, however, has rapid editing which fails to give us
this feeling, the chilling atmosphere we get from the video game.
Plus, the film does not have the luxury of being able to
present images of Lara slaying vicious beasts, the part which
satisfies most of the video game's fans.
But, if the film dared to do so, animal groups would certainly
have tried to stop the production.
As substitutes, the film gives us computer-generated stone
men, some of whom have wings, chasing off the film's characters.
It is hard not to compare the film with The Mummy Returns. The
two films have many similarities including the ancient background
stories, European settings and CGI-generated mean creatures.
But the latter certainly provides more exciting scenes and
some chuckles that really work.
Tomb Raider's supposedly exotic locales in Angkor Wat in
Cambodia and Iceland are wasted and they should have just built
the sets in a studio.
Granted, Angelina Jolie is perfect as Lara Croft. In fact, she
is the only reason that the film was not completely trashed by
film critics. Besides, I cannot even begin to think of another
actress to play Lara Croft in her signature tight tops, hot pants
and shorts.
The action sequences involving her fighting off bad guys after
training on rubberized ropes dubbed "bungee bullets" are very
impressive. She seems to be physically fit to be able to do all
the action sequences, no doubt due to months of physical training
and her willingness to sustain injuries during filming.
Too bad the film tries to be realistic by not having Lara
bouncing off the walls.
In short, while the film never approaches the level of
satisfying entertainment, it is not a complete disaster either.