Lara Croft Tomb Raider

REVIEW
Have they yet to make a good film based on a video game? No doubt the filmmakers of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider thought they could break the jinx by making this a female Indiana Jones for the post-adolescence set. They just forgot a few things: like story, character and thrills. Looking the best she's ever been on-screen, Jolie flies, somersaults, kicks, punches and teases her way through the role of Lara Croft, ace adventuress/archeologist/orphan. Still mourning the death of her father (Angelina's real-life father Voight, seen in flashbacks), Lara soon finds herself in a complex web of intrigue when an ancient sect vies for an artifact left to her by her father. It's a convoluted race when they steal it from her and she sets out to retrieve it -- and to stop them from using it for nothing less than world domination. The series of fights and action scenes, though well staged, lack an energy and originality to set it apart from countless other action films. Jolie tries her best, though, and is game for anything the screenwriters can imagine for her. It's just they didn't come up with a whole helluva lot.