Film

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)

Director: Simon West

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

This was not, director West insisted, a visualisation of the computer game that made the aristocratic adventurer into a virtual icon; it was a 21st century action movie based on the character of Lara, with a powerful heroine and a strong emotional undertow. So while Lara's globe-trotting adventure pits her against villain Manfred Powell (Glen) and a secret cult known as the Illuminati, her search for 'the clock of ages' is underpinned by an emotional quest - the mystery surrounding the death of her father, Lord Croft (Voight). Regrettably, precious little of this has reached the screen, and what has survived has been sliced into tiny, meaningless slivers by the staccato editing. Even so, Angelina Jolie is amazing as Lara Croft, launching herself into the action with reckless abandon and pushing beyond the sexist silliness of her projectile-breasted character into something credible and human. But not even her burning charisma can disguise the airlessness of a jerky, fragmented tale that jumps from one exotic location to the next without any explanation or flow.

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