Lara Croft (Angelina Jolie), a wealthy adventurer who seeks after lost artifacts for the sheer thrill finds a mysterious clock hidden in her family home that activates at the same time as an upcoming alignment of the nine planets. Lara discovers the clock hides a special key that will lead whoever holds it to the lost artifact the Pyramid of Light which is said to have the ability to control the flow of time. Meanwhile, the Illuminati is also seeking the Pyramid of Light with Manfred Powell (Iain Glen) and Lara's rival tomb raider Alex West (Daniel Craig) trying to stay one step ahead of Lara.
Released in 1996, Tomb Raider developed by Toby Gard and Core Design became one of the defining video game franchises of the 3D era of video games with the series laying the foundation for other third person platforming games with influences seen even to this day with the likes of Uncharted franchise. Of particular novelty for the series was in its central character Lara Croft who originally intended as a male character was changed as to not invite comparisons to the Indiana Jones franchise. Lara Croft's popularity remains strong to this day with the character's unique look recognized even outside the gaming community and serving as the cornerstone of a franchise that encompasses not only the games, but also comics, action figures, and an upcoming anime series. Development on a Tomb Raider movie had begun in fits and starts through the 90s with drafts by Mortal kombat: Annihilation's Brent V. Friedman and the Street Fighter movie's Steven E. De Souza rejected for one reason or another, and the casting of Angelina Jolie met with mixed responses among audiences. Despite this, the movie became the highest grossing movie based on a video game at the time as well as the highest grossing female fronted action film. While Critical reception tended to skew negative (with the exception of Roger Ebert) the movie received an "okay" response from audiences, and while not anything mind blowing Lara Croft: Tomb Raider does capture the essence of adventure and silliness that endear the games and character to audiences.
Simon West brings his visceral sense of style and intensity to the film that he brought to Con Air and that style is well complimented by the performance by Jolie as Croft who gives us a "devil may care" protagonist who lives for sheer thrills and danger. It's not the most deep of performances, but considering the source material Jolie manages to capture the character's core appeal to a "T" both in terms of personality and the action beats. While the opening "training scene" with Lara squaring off against a killer robot made by her home techie, Bryce, goes a bit further from reality than it should, the other major action sequences are well done with the siege of Lara's manor by Illuminati mercenaries done with some creative usage of bungee cables and household items and the two major tomb sequences in Cambodia and Siberia have strong production design and incorporate some strong "platforming" elements reminiscent of the games without feeling bogged down by them. Daniel Craig I also rather enjoyed as Lara's rival/love interest, Alex Wes, even if Craig adopting an American accent in place of his British one was a little eyebrow raising.
While the adventure elements work well with exotic locales and imposing tombs, other story beats don't feel as strong as they should. Iain Glen serves as our main villain Powell, and while he does okay in the role the villain really never rises above much more than an obstacle (even when it's revealed his connection to Lara's father) with him basically being the Illuminati's glorified errand boy who wants to sit in "the big chair". I feel like maybe if the characters of West and Powell were combined into a singular antagonist we'd probably have a much stronger villain. But the biggest element that doesn't work is Jolie's real life father, Jon Voight playing Lara's father Richard Croft. On paper this SHOULD work as a way of capturing that "father/daughter" dynamic the movie wants to evoke, but not only is Voight's performance as Richard rather underwhelming as he gives a very sleepy performance, but when Jolie and Voight do eventually appear together it plays very distant and awkward and not like a heartfelt family reunion. When you have your "big emotional moment" I shouldn't be noting that Voight had better chemistry with Nicolas Cage playing his son in National Treasure than he has with his real life daughter.
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider given the time this was made was probably the most faithful adaptation of the franchise and character we could expect. With tight direction, a large budget, and an enjoyable performance by Jolie as Croft, the movie is nonsense, but it's entertaining nonsense.
