Lara Croft: Tomb Raider

UK Release Date. 6 July 2001
Certification. 15
Running Time. 1 hour 40 mins
Director. Simon West
Cast. Daniel Craig, Iain Glen, Angelina Jolie, Jon Voight.
Rating. 10%

Review.

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) last week revealed that Lara Croft was voted the most iconic video game character of all time. 

In Paramount Pictures' Lara Croft: Tomb Raider Angelina Jolie turns out to be the perfect human embodiment of the cyberbabe first introduced in Eidos Interactive's seminal video game, Tomb Raider, released almost 30 years ago. The only problem is that Jolie can't outcompete a nonsensical storyline and a humdrum script. 

With so little to engage the audience on screen, the blatant over-sexualisation of the character becomes all too apparent; from an unnecessary and gratuitous shower scene to a wardrobe of skin-tight costumes, the default one of which consists of a skin-tight vest, maximum-impact bra, short-shorts and a pair of Heckler & Koch USP Match pistols housed in thigh-strapped holsters.

The casting of Angelina Jolie was pretty much the only plus point of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. If nothing else, the film at demonstrated that Jolie could carry a project single-handedly, no matter idiotic it was.

With such an absurd storyline and cast of one dimensional characters [Iain Glen's Manfred Powell is particularly vacuous and insipid] Lara Croft: Tomb Raider borders on unwatchable.