reviewed by Charity Bishop
        

Angelina Jolie spent months prepping herself for her role as Lady Lara Croft from the popular video game Tomb Raider... and it shows. With explosive personality and passion, she brings the tough archeologist vividly to life. Oh, yeah, and the scenery around her isn't that bad either. Overall its a fun, action-packed film with a few flaws but that will appeal to any Charlie's Angels fan.

Wealthy Lady Lara, with her extensive mansion and snooty house staff, is actually a fearless tomb raider. This isn't a girl who'll run for cover when the action starts... in fact, she usually inundates combat. Her time is spent riding like the wind on a Hog, kicking major robot duff in her own personal "training tomb," exchanging smart remarks with her butler, and engaging in bungee ballet... when she's not raiding tombs for archeological finds in the footsteps of her dearly departed father. Every 5,000 years the planets align to create a full eclipse of the sun. Like any lover of science and constellations, Lara is looking forward to witnessing this rare alignment during her lifetime... five days hence. As the planets fall into place, she hears a ticking from somewhere in the house. Demolishing the wooden paneling under the staircase, she discovers an old clock. Rousing her personal toy maker out of bed, she sets him to find out what it's all about... and what they learn is that the clock is actually encasing an odd compass with a triangular sign on it. She goes to the experts for help but they cannot learn the origin of this eerie little machine.

But Lara isn't about to give up... with a little help from her father's files, she learns the truth... that this clock will reveal with the alignment of the constellations the hiding place of the Triangle of Light, which is an ancient power that can be used to control time. With this great and terrible power, the owner of the triangle, once put back together, could easily rule the world. She must find and destroy this power before it falls into the wrong hands. Along the way she'll bust heads, kick duff, find a little romance, and attempt to reunite with her beloved father.  With the usual host of bad guys, tunnels, tombs, and hand-to-hand combat, it's Indiana Jones meets Mission: Impossible with a little bit of The Mummy thrown in for good measure. The director makes no bare bones about who this film is aged toward -- teenage boys, but actually girls like myself will also find this a fun ride... and I would encourage them to steer their boyfriends away. There's a little too much skin involved to make it a guy fare.

The appearance and star-drawing power of Angelina Jolie doesn't hurt much either. It's obvious what draws them in... and it's not the video game, but a tight-clad Indiana Jones girl that lives in a sinister world and battles monsters and humans alike. Lara Croft is a bold, brave, and almost believable heroine in unbelievable, video game surroundings. Lara relies on herself rather than gunpowder to out play her opponents, which ranges from stone figures in an ancient tomb coming to life to real flesh and blood enemies. The CGI effects here are masterfully done, using real-life action with animation to make some very realistic settings. It's not totally out of this world, either, since they strive to keep it as realistic as possible, including some character development... but not quite enough. We're still left in the dark at the end in reference to Lara's romantic relationship with a character, and ultimately whether or not they'll get together again. I have to admit that the ending left a smile on my face.

The smile reappeared and disappeared many times during the film but overall I think this film is okay if you're into Indiana Jones-type adventures without the gore. Only instead of dealing with Jewish holy relics like the former does, this one never identifies the source of religion, although one has to speculate that it involves Buddhism in some form. The whole idea of aligning the planets to claim power comes dangerously near to astrology; one character boasts that he will become "God" when he has the power to control time. These ancient powers obviously evoke realistic demon monsters (live statues) to attack Lara in the tomb. Violence is high but thankfully not graphic or gory, although there's a disturbing climatic street fight between Lara and her enemy in which she gets the worse end of it for a time. Several people are knifed, shot down, hit by iron spears, and two are smashed between machinery (only implied).

Thieves break into Lara's mansion in the middle of the night and completely destroy the surroundings. There's an eerie visual of a dog passing through a time frame that briefly shows its muscle and bone before it returns to normal. Language is minor with a few casual profanities and some cute British slang. Nudity is brief. Lara is seen in a shoulders and head shot showering, then drops her towel while walking into the closet; we briefly see her back and part of the side of her bare breast.  Another time, a man is presumed nude, but his crotch is always covered by key parts of furniture. This scene is unnecessary, since it has very little bearing on the plot... and Lara is present. She makes no snide comments, simply says what she came to say and leaves... but not before glancing him over and smiling. On the up side, this film manages to be funny without being corny... particularly on the part of the butler, although Lara herself comes up with some good jokes. For instance, after the UPS man comes with a package and finds her house in ruins. "I woke up this morning," she tells him in earnest, "and hated absolutely everything." It's a nice try, and actually a pretty clean film with a soundtrack that rocks and an actress that actually manages to pull off a smashing British accent. But girls should bear in mind as they watch Lara Croft that it doesn't matter what you look like or what you do for a living that counts in all eternity. All that counts is your heart.