Angelina Jolie plays Lara Croft, the millionaire daughter of an English lord who is also a tomb raider - namely, an Indiana-Jones-style "archaeologist" who goes treasure-hunting while destroying everything in her path - but always in the name of saving the world, of course.

This time the threat is in the form of an ancient artifact called the Triangle of Light, which gives the wielder godlike powers. Since such power inevitably leads to corruption, thousands of years ago the Triangle was broken in two and hidden on opposite sides of the world. Now the planets are coming to a once-in-5000-years conjunction, the only time when the Triangle can be freed, and the Illuminati are after it. So, of course, is Lara.

I have a lot of respect for Jolie as an actress (if you doubt me, go see Girl, Interrupted). Tomb Raider definitely doesn't use her acting ability to the fullest, but what is there she does flawlessly, with a devilish glint in her eye and an irrepressible self-confidence. Her physical beauty certainly doesn't hurt, and will doubtless make this a favorite movie for teenage boys everywhere.

There are the inevitable flaws: a complete lack of character development, plot holes a mile across, scientific inaccuracies, and every cliched plot device you can think of. These problems balanced against Jolie herself, some cool fight scenes, and nifty-looking temples would hardly seem like a fight in which the good guys would win, save that that was pretty much what I was expecting, and so I had a good time.

Tomb Raider is what it is - a video game movie. It could very easily be split into 30-second segments and spliced into the next Tomb Raider game as FMV sequences. To its credit, it doesn't try to be anything more, and so you can just sit back and enjoy a forgettable and predictable, yet pretty, summer popcorn movie.


Recommended:
Yes

Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12