Film Challenge Week 17: A film based on a video game
Film: Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)
Genre: Action/Adventure
Watched on: Pluto TV
Lara Croft is one of the most unrealistic fictional characters built firmly for the male gaze. Not only is she outrageously intelligent, with the ability to speak multiple languages, but she is also athletic and hot. There's an unnecessary shower scene in this that confirms my suspicions.
She spends her time training with robots in a fight simulation and rides exclusively on a motorcycle around London. Her family's wealth affords her the luxury of free time, a collection of lavish cars, and a mansion where she can bungee around.
I thought this would be more of a nature survival film because of the words Tomb Raider in the title, but it was more like a spy film where she travels to multiple locations to find the missing pieces of a puzzle, while fighting random enemies in between, only to face the Final Boss at the end. It was more James Bond, less The Mummy.
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is one of the highest-grossing video game adaptations at $274.7 million worldwide. I attribute at least 90% of that to Angelina Jolie, because the plot wasn't it.
Due to a vague planetary alignment shifting, the Illuminati is looking for the pieces to unlock a mysterious artifact known as the Triangle (where's the creativity here??). Essentially, the Triangle allows whoever possesses it the power to control time. Lara's father, Lord Richard Croft, who has long been missing and is presumed dead, was involved in the Illuminati and left clues for her in their mansion to locate the pieces of the Triangle. In a dream, Lord Croft appears to her and guides her to a strange clock.
After discovering the clock and consulting a friend of my father's, he puts her in touch with Powell. Despite claiming not to know anything about the clock, Powell hires armed henchmen to invade her house and steal the clock, disturbing her valuable bungee time (reference video above). They successfully steal the clock after damaging her property and cars. I'm surprised the Croft residence didn't have any strong security measures other than metal bars over her laboratory and guns.
With divine timing, Lara receives a letter from her father the morning after explaining how the clock serves as a key to retrieve the halves of the Triangle. She learns that one-half was hidden in Angkor Wat, and the other in Siberia. Her father's parting words are to find and destroy both pieces so that no one can ever misuse the Triangle's powers, which previously destroyed an entire city.
Lara jets off to Cambodia, which was a huge moment for Jolie personally. It's where she saw firsthand the humanitarian crisis in Cambodia and started her journey of visiting refugee camps around the world. When she returned to the country after filming, she adopted her first child, Maddox Chivan.
In Cambodia, we discover that Powell has recruited Daniel Craig's character, Alex West, to help him. (Side note: It's pretty hilarious to hear Angelina Jolie's British accent with Daniel Craig's American accent.) We finally get some tomb raiding action. Lara solves the puzzle, secures one half of the Triangle, and fights off the statues that come to life in the temple. Angkor Wat is absolutely gorgeous in this movie. I can see why it has stayed in so many people's minds and is a key landmark in Southeast Asia. When I visited the temples, the tour guide made sure to point out where the scenes were shot. However, I believe the temple is magnificent regardless of its proximity to Hollywood.
Lara escapes with the first piece and recovers at a Buddhist monastery, very Eat Pray Love of her. She speaks Khmer, and a monk heals her with some magical concoction. It's all very magical realism.
The beautiful Cambodian landscape transitions into Venice, where Powell spills the tea to Lara about her father's involvement in the Illuminati. She reluctantly agrees to team up with him, and they travel to Siberia.
This is where things get so corny, there's even a Matrix-esque scene here that aged like milk. I'm not even going to attempt to describe it because everyone should experience it for themselves. There's time travel, self-sacrifice, and a fight scene. It's outlandish in the funniest way. The ending is predictable in that Lara saves the day in classic video game fashion.
I don't think I've played the video game before, but I know Lara Croft as a cultural icon in the 2000s. I'm glad that I watched this, because it gave me a sense of nostalgia with the bad CGI and graininess reminiscent of boxed television. It reminded me of a time when movies came on and you just had to catch them on time. A time when I would reference TV guides to plan my viewing for the week.
It's not a work of art, more so something you put on to watch mindlessly after a long day at work. Maybe something to ogle at Angelina Jolie, too.
Video game adaptations are very hit-or-miss, mainly because they're meant to tap into an existing audience that is highly enthusiastic and loyal to the franchise. The IP can sour in the hands of the wrong people, especially if you're a fan of the video game with high expectations. I'm still salty about the casting for The Hunger Games to this day.
I've heard great things about The Last of Us and Fallout, which are TV shows adapted from video games. So maybe there's hope? I gave Lara Croft: Tomb Raider 2 stars.
