Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)

Note: This page includes review and revision entry.

Someone's to Blame for the Missing Thrills

So what was my main problem with this movie? Was it the fact that its script was so spare that you longed to hear just one conversation? No, I did not expect dialogue to be its strong suit. Was it the mostly flat humor aimed primarily at the heavenly proportions of main character Lara Croft's body? No, that wasn't quite it. So what was it?

It was the soundtrack. This movie simply had one of the least inspiring soundtracks I had ever heard. Is that a good enough reason? Well, let me explain the synopsis first and then explore that thought afterwards.

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is based off of Eidos' popular video game series "Tomb Raider." The main asset of the series is that the female character you use has some pretty main assets of her own. The themes of the games are exploration, puzzle solving, and action, and, admittedly, it seemed that the character and the world she occupies would have made pretty good material for a fun movie.

Angelina Jolie is perfect as Lara Croft. She has her looks down, and gives her the attitude one would imagine she has: cocky, self-assured, and strong-willed. Armed with her trademark dual semi-automatic pistols and her British accent, Croft sets out on an adventure to recover the two parts of an ancient artifact that, when brought together, can control time itself. She races against time (as measured by when the planets shift in to alignment) and, naturally, a team of bad guys, led by Manfred Powell (Iain Glen).

The ingredients are in place for a movie that could be a blast. Unfortunately, execution is important, and this is where the film falls flat. Let's start with that soundtrack. It's a very low-key and bland techno music that fails to excite. It seemed that every time the action was getting a chance to rev up, in came the dynamic-less music to make sure no one could get into it. Maybe I'm just to used to different versions of techno music which don't merely run indifferently along with the action but actually serve to enhance the action. Get a load of the Dust Brothers' work in Fight Club to see what I mean. Or check out the Run Lola Run soundtrack. I would've even preferred the cheesy techno from Mortal Kombat. Heck, the filmmakers could've tried traditional orchestral as well. Many times, I kept imagining how John Williams could've written something rousing in the form of orchestral accompaniment.

So the music wasn't doing it for me, but was that it? There had to be some reason why the action sequences just weren't that exciting. So instead of focusing on Graeme Revell's score, do I instead fault director Simon West (Con Air, The General's Daughter)? The action concentrates on blurring details so that one can't really tell what's going on. When there are moments where one could tell what's going on, I found myself not feeling my blood flowing. Something subtle was wrong. It could have been the awkward pace or the lack of tongue-in-cheek humor, or perhaps it was missing some semblance of warmth or glow. It was something. I can't put my finger on it. The overall result was a lot of action going on that didn't do a good job of thrilling me.

The action was the important part and the movie did a poor job of delivering there, so it's too bad the script and dialogue felt so limited as well. The characters were somewhat amusing but mostly corny, and none of them really get to do all that much. Jolie herself is doing her best to be the cool, sexy, and deadly heroine, and it was also nice to see her in a movie where her father is played by her real father, Jon Voight. However, the movie needed more. Lara Croft wasn't engaging enough; the actress was real but the character herself lacked empathy from me. Meanwhile, the other characters felt mostly like nobodies, given nothing but throwaway lines and goofy comments. The main bad guy was mean, but for apparently no reason other than he just was. And it's not too much to ask for that we get even just a little more development for these participants, because anything that would assist the audience in getting in to the story would've helped in propping up those action sequences.

The overall result was a weak movie. It could have been so much better. In a product with a lot of flaws and where the director, writers, and editors might share the blame, a scapegoat is needed. I won't blame Jolie and the other actors. I want to blame West and the screenwriters. But I'm feeling a bit lazy today. I'll just blame the soundtrack.

Rating: 4/10

©Jeffrey Chen, Jun. 17, 2001

REVISION

In my 2001 Hindsight article, I wrote about Lara Croft: Tomb Raider:

Here was a movie that lulled me to sleep so badly that I couldn't even come up with good reasons to dislike it. It took me a while to realize what its biggest weakness was -- the heroine is never really in any danger. I don't think there's more than one scene in the movie where we really feel Lara Croft has the chance of getting hurt, let alone killed. No wonder the action was so boring. There's plenty of other reasons to dislike this movie that I won't get into here. 3/10.

Revised Rating: 3/10

©Jeffrey Chen, Jan. 13, 2002

Home