I just watched Tomb Raider, the movie, on opening night at the Imax Theater down the road. Since I know most of you didn't get and/or take the chance to watch this film tonight, I'll refrain from discussing the "plot," but I feel I must say a few things about this movie.
First, I've seen almost everything Angelina Jolie has acted in that's hit the big screen or video stores. I have always thought that she's great, no matter what my friends say. Even her awful English aacent was tolerable.
So. There were about 20 amazing minutes in Tomb Raider...or 15. Ok, maybe 12. The early action scenes were some of the best, most-inventive scenes I have ever seen. Ever. The wire fights are incredible. I'm honestly willing to buy the DVD just to watch those few scenes over and over. Not just for the shower scene...honest.
But, there are some things that bothered me about this movie. The camera work, especially early on, seemed to be like the way a sleazy guy would watch a beautiful women. It lingered on the cleavage way too long. It became distracting. I know they are trying to say, "Hey, fanboys. Angelina is Lara Croft. Just look at her huge breasts." But, damn, the movie could have been shortened by 10 minutes just by taking half of the breast shots out.
Oh, I was about to start talking about the plot. But since I can't, I'll mention the other movies that Tomb Raider stole plot from. Think of these things when you watch Tomb Raider -- then my ramblings will make sense.
There's the Dark Crystal. Remember the whole drama of taking the broken crystal and reuniting the pieces to bring light to the universe again. Remember when the Gelfling meets Augra and has to climb on the model of the universe to escape danger...you see that here, but on a much grander (cgi created) scale.
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Remember what happens after the knight says, "You have chosen...wisely"? You see a lot of that. Hell, there's all sorts of similarities to the whole Indiana Jones trilogy. Even some action is lifted from the Goonies.
Ever see the Hunted with Cristopher Lambert? Remember the train scene's final battle? "No guns!!!" We see that in Tomb Raider.
Oh, yeah. The Long Kiss Goonight. The underwater scene with the dead guy and the water wheel. We see part of that redone here.
More -- elements of father stuff from Star Wars. ET's finger (unless you are uppity and think the scene is a reference to the Sistine Chapel). Can't give you more details there.
Ok. I'll quit ripping the scenes apart. So what if most of the movie isn't original? It's based on a video game. It has some visually stunning moments. By the way, much of the dialogue is poorly written. But, the acting is pretty decent, despite the poor writing.
Wow. I almost forgot to mention this. The Illuminati play an important role in this movie. Beware the eye.
I can't heartily recommend Tomb Raider. I don't feel like I completely wasted my (not quite) two hours. But, certainly some of that time was lost to the cosmos. Hmm...
Pleasant surprise: Angelina's butler is played by Rimmer from Red Dwarf. Her father in the movie is actually her real father.
Most interesting moment of the night: Near the beginning of the movie a loud girl yelled, "Jessica. JESSICA!!!!" To which the audience yelled, "SHUT UP!!" Then, the girl yelled, "My best friend was just kidnapped! Shut up, bitch!" Then she left.
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