Rating of
1/4
Indiana Jolie and the Turkey of 2001
Indyfreak - wrote on 07/25/14
Who was not embarrassed leaving the movie theater in the summer of 2001 after watching this movie? Lara Croft: Tomb Raider had a lot going for it. Aside from Angelina Jolie's premarital attractiveness and physical fitness perfectly matching the character, the movie seemed like the female equivalent of Indiana Jones. It didn't have to reinvent the wheel but I'll be damned if the movie didn't end up appearing as though it could barely walk.
The action choreography is atrocious, the editing is messy, the characters are all one-dimensional pieces of cardboard, and the story makes no sense whatsoever. Perhaps this should not be surprising since video game movies were as dangerous a gamble back in 2001 as they are today. Why so risky? Well because they tended to suck whether it be Super Mario Bros. or the Mortal Kombat films or that stupid 80s movie bout the kids going to California.
What makes Tomb Raider especially bad is its lack of style. Video game movies might usually be terrible but they each had a style of their own to distinguish their mediocrity from one another. Tomb Raider's style if there has to be one is its laziness. Its script is so lazy it does not even bother with cliches. It just lumbers from one ill-conceived action scene to another poorly realized action scene.
This movie has a cast including Angelina Jolie, Daniel Craig, Ian Glein, and Jon Voight so what went wrong? Who cares? I certainly don't at this point.
