Product Description

A MEMBER OF A RICH BRITISH ARISTOCRATIC FAMILY, LARA CROFT IS A TOMB RAIDER WHO ENJOYS COLLECTING ANCIENT ARTIFACTS FROM RUINS OF TEMPLES, CITIES, ETC. WORLDWIDE, AND DOESN'T MIND GOING THROUGH DEATH-DEFYING DANGERS TO GET THEM. SHE IS SKILLED IN HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT, WEAPONS TRAINING, AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5683 in DVD
• Brand: Paramount
• Released on: 2001-11-13
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 4.00 pounds
• Running time: 100 minutes

Amazon.com
Like the video game series it's based on, Tomb Raider is best enjoyed for its physical strategies, since even casual scrutiny of story details will induce a headache. It's more concerned with puzzles than plot, populated with characters that don't have personalities so much as attitudes. It's silly and somber at the same time, but as a franchise vehicle for Angelina Jolie in the title role of relic hunter Lara Croft, this is packaged entertainment at its most agreeable, ambitious in scope and scale, and filled with the kind of globetrotting adventure that could make Jolie the best thing that's happened to action movies since Indiana Jones. Could being the operative word here, because Tomb Raider can't match any of Steven Spielberg's celebrated joyrides, but the ingredients are there for an exquisitely cinematic meal.

Perhaps to distance himself from Lara Croft's video game origins, director Simon West takes things a bit too seriously; Tomb Raider handles its plot (involving a planetary alignment, the nefarious Illuminati, and coveted relics that hold the key to controlling the flow of time) with all the gravity of a championship chess match... minus the tension. If the movie had lightened up and been truly suspenseful (instead of being suffused with been-there, done-that familiarity), it would have been an instant popcorn classic. As it is, however, this is an elegantly mounted adventure featuring exotic locations (in Cambodia and Iceland) and an exotic star born for her role. Even without her padded bra, Jolie would be the living embodiment of Lara Croft, and that's enough to bode well for inevitable sequels. --Jeff Shannon

From The New Yorker
Guns strapped to her thighs, her lower lip as radically cleft as Kirk Douglas's chin, Angelina Jolie leaps and bungie-jumps her way through action sequences as Lara Croft, upper-class English adventuress. Jolie is cocksure and insinuating; she gets by just fine on pure attitude-acting isn't required. Unfortunately, the wit of the movie resides entirely in her face and body. Jolie is matched up with nonentities and left stranded on ugly sets (basically a single enormous soundstage dressed three different ways and repeatedly smashed apart). The movie is derived from a popular video game, and it's about bad guys assembling the pieces of an ancient stone triangle in order to control the world's supply of American cheese. No, that can't be right: in order to control all the power in the world. Yes, that's it. Simon West is the unimaginative, humorless director; the movie was "written" by Patrick Massett and John Zinman. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Not every movie is meant to be serious
Tomb Raider is an empire in the game playing world. Millions of teenaged boys have marveled at Laura Croft's all too unrealistic body (Jolie wore a padded bra to look more like the woman designed by horney computer guys.). For those of you that don't know the game, there is even a cheat that allows computer game players to play the game with a nude Laura... sad, but true. Guys, she is an animated character. But gaming aside, the movie is a lot of fun, and you don't need to play the game to get it. A few things, like the fact that the outside of the house is exactly as pictured in the game are amusing to those who have enjoyed the game, but again, you don't have to be a video-game junkie to like the movie. And in my humble opinion, many of the game players take themselves a little too seriously. Those that complain about departures from the game are the same playes who will probably complain that the stunning "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" has no chocobas. Really, guys... One of the best things about the film is that it doesn't intend to be serious, and it shows.

As one of the minority (female players of the game), I can honestly say that I would have seen the movie whether or not it was based on a game. Jolie has a strange appeal that draws both men and women to her. She's sexy, dangerous, and unabashedly herself. That's what we like about her. She was the perfect choice to play the role because she is a lot like Laura.

This movie will not win an Oscar (excluding, perhaps, one for special effects editing), but who cares? If I wanted to see a serious movie I would have rented "Sunshine" again. "Tomb Raider" is a hell of a lot of fun and should be appreciated as such. It's a great way to get away from yourself for a while and I, personally, cannot wait for the sequel.

Despite the fact that a lot of "professional" reviewers are complaining about the movie, it is, and will continue, to do well at the box office. Why? Because we all need a little escapism now and again... and summer is the perfect time to get it.

A Jolly Exciting Movie
Why is it, that we want more from a movie than is on offer? Come on chaps, "Lara Croft - Tomb Raider" isn't a film of any intellectual merit, it is merely an exciting adventure movie with a whole host of good special effects and lots of quality funny moments. I for one really enjoyed this film, I expected nothing from it other than a series of explosions and gun battles and that is what I got and I loved every single minute of it. The plot wasn't too complicated, with Lara piecing together a mystery about an ancient clock and two pieces of a mystical triangle that has the ability to fragment time and space and of course there are the obligatory bad guys trying to get their hands on it. There was a fine cast of characters from Iain Glenn playing the evil Mr. Powell (the main bad guy) to Chris Barrie of Red Dwarf fame coming across with great aplomb as the overtly English Butler Hillary who tries and fails to make his young employer into a regal young lady instead of a gun-toting maniac. One of my favorite moments is when Hillary realizes that the security in the Croft Mansion has been breeched and there is a battle going on downstairs. He calmly gets out of bed, dons a bullet proof vest taken from his wardrobe, locks and loads a massive double barreled shot gun without blinking an eye then carefully steps into his leather slippers before stepping out to join the melee. I cracked up laughing, it was SO funny! Angelina Jolie is well cast as Lara Croft, and she manages a pretty good English accent too as well as doing ALL her own stunts which impressed me big time. The special effects were superb, watch out for when a husky-dog jumps through a break in the fabric of time, it's awesome. All in all this is fun, fun film and that is the way it should be treated. The DVD is worth every cent and is stuffed full of extras that just add to the enjoyment of the film. So come on chaps, give it a chance, you never know, you just might enjoy yourselves!

Blu-ray version of Lara Croft Tomb Raider movie
I give the movie 5 stars as an exciting imaginitive adventure movie.
But there are issues with the Blu-ray version - which are:
The movie was not photographically focused with HD video in mind. Sometimes the details are clearly in focus, sometimes the details are only DVD clear. This is better than an ordinary DVD "upconverted" but is not consistently what I would expect from a true Blu-ray quality movie. If you already own the DVD it may not be worth upgrading - but if you don't I think it is worth it for adventure movie fans.

This is based on the original Blu-ray disk release.