Director: Jan De Bont
Writers: Steven De Souza & James V. Hart; Dean Georgoris(sp)
Starring Cast: Angelina Jolie, Gerard Butler, Ciran Hinds
The previews of Lara Croft Tomb Raider: the Cradle of Life do not do the movie any justice. This is a well put together film with a script that makes sense. Jolie embodies Lara Croft, and she gives her role depth and dignity. Gerard Butler and the rest of the cast bury themselves in their parts, and Jan De Bont brings you into Lara's world to such an extent that you forget you are watching a movie.
Admittedly, the film starts out slow. Though it rivets your attention with a fantastic shot and a brilliant use of the widescreen format to give a sense of isolation and scope to the adventure. After we leave Croft manor, the action becomes breathless, the dialogue economical but important. The special effects people use CGI judiciously and plan stunts that excite. This is a movie about people and how they interact not nonsensical explosions or badly animated green giants. Because Lara is a person who seldom sits still, the story makes action a part of her character and never senseless.
Lara Croft has never really interested me. I do not play computer games. Lara herself seemed to be about boobs and bullets. Her personality in the comic books seemed less about heroics and more about opportunism. Angelina Jolie's Lara is a different incarnation. She bestows to Lara a sense of decency and humor that compliments her resourcefulness and intellect. She can be hurt physically and emotionally, and because of these attributes Cradle of Life becomes a grittier and more thoughtful exercise in action filmmaking.
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