Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)

Directed by: Simon West | 100 minutes | action, adventure, fantasy | Actors: Angelina Jolie, Jon Voight, Iain Glen, Noah Taylor, Daniel Craig, Richard Johnson, Chris Barrie, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Leslie Phillips, Robert Phillips, Rachel Appleton, Henry Wyndham, David Cheung, David KS Tse, Ozzie Yue

Video game adaptations have been extremely popular, especially since the turn of the millennium. It actually started in 1995 with the disastrous film adaptation of ‘Mortal Kombat’ with B-movie hero Christopher Lambert. After that it was quiet for a while, but soon the adolescent was treated to film adaptations of, for example, ‘Resident Evil’ and ‘Tomb Raider’.

The makers of these kinds of games are well aware that 90 percent of their target audience is young men and what better way to get the attention of a young man than with a beautiful woman? Lara Croft is every gamer’s wet dream: young, beautiful, invincible, dressed in tight hotpants and equipped with an absurdly large front. The games were not to be dragged on and a film adaptation could not be delayed and so it happened: in 2001 ‘Lara Croft: Tomb Raider’ was released starring Angelina Jolie.

Despite her young age, Angelina Jolie has been in the film world for quite a few years, in 1995 she broke through with ‘Hackers’ and in 2000 she received an Oscar for her supporting role in ‘Girl, Interrupted’. Despite her Oscar, which she really deserved, there are still doubts about her acting qualities. Her rambunctious life off set and her indescribable beauty ensure that there are always people who keep saying that she will never be taken seriously as an actress. The lead role in the film adaptation of a video game doesn’t help, but that shouldn’t spoil the fun: ‘Lara Croft: Tomb Raider’ is a great formula film and Angelina Jolie was perfectly cast and became an international superstar thanks to this film .

Then the story: Lara Croft accidentally stumbles upon a secret hiding place that contains a special clock. This clock is hidden there by her missing father and there is a separate key in the clock. This key should be used when all the planets are aligned and whoever owns the Triangle at that time has tremendous power. The Illuminati, a dark company, is out to get their hands on this key, and Lara Croft must do whatever it takes to stop them.

Lara is sort of a cross between James Bond, Indiana Jones and forward, Foxy Brown. As befits a good heroine, she is the best at everything: fighting, shooting, motorcycling, dog sledding and she speaks effortlessly to the locals in Cambodia and Siberia in their own language. She solves riddles without problems and rarely gets a scratch. She is almost insufferably flawless, but when you consider that the “real” Lara Croft is also like that, it is only understandable that the makers have portrayed her in this way. Angelina Jolie puts down an excellent Lara, at the expense of the studio she has had her breasts enlarged to a beautiful 90D and she ensures that these are often in the picture, dressed in tight clothing. With her English accent, she is convincing as the cool, calculating grave robber who shows touches of Bondian humor. There is more to James Bond, such as the opening scene for example. Every James Bond film starts with a rousing action scene and also in ‘Tombraider’ this first scene is particularly beautiful and leaves you wanting more.

In addition to Angelina Jolie, we also see Jon Voight as her father in a supporting role and the nice thing is that this man is also her father in real life (Angelina Jolie are her first names, Voight is her last name). In addition, Daniel Craig (James Bond) can still be seen as a fellow grave robber and the chemistry between the two adventurous archaeologists is good.

Despite the standard implausibility, ‘Lara Croft: Tomb Raider’ is a fine film with many spectacular action scenes, beautiful locations and a fantastic Lara Croft that could not have been portrayed better by anyone than Angelina Jolie.