Lara Croft Tomb Raider

Ellen Ripley, Sarah Conner, Furiosa....these are some of the toughest fictional females in movie history. Now, you can add Lara Croft to that list. A popular video game character going to the big screen makes sense, right? Well, let's find out in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider!

The Plot:
The Illuminati (don't worry this is not a conspiracy theory movie) are searching for an artifact that grants the user to control time. For reasons unexplained, they must find it before time (haha) runs out until the next 5000 years. Lara Croft (Angeline Joline) gets thrown into the hunt by finding her father's clue and must destroy the artifact, again for unexplained reasons. Croft is sent via clue to a temple to obtain the first piece of the artifact and is forced to work with the baddie, Manfred Powell, an Illuminati member in search for the artifact as well. After Lara gains the first piece, she goes into hiding and works out a deal with Powell. He gets the piece, she lives and they can work to get the second piece where it becomes a free for all. Powell and Croft head to The City of Light in Siberia and they find the second piece. After solving a puzzle, Lara gets the artifact and has a heart to heart with her departed father, before going back in time and saving James B- I mean, Alex West (Daniel Craig). Powell and Croft fight as the City crumbles around them, again, for unexplained reasons. Lara wins and heads back to safety. The movie ends in a classic freeze frame of happiness.

The Good:
Did you enjoy that scene above? If not, well, you apparently don't like fun. This movie is full of scenes like that and it's enjoyable to watch. There's also a few nods to the video games: Lara's mansion is similar to the game's layout for one. And towards the end of the movie as Lara is making her escape, she makes an "Aha.." Like this:

  Nice little nod there.
You can tell the actors are clearly enjoying themselves in the film and it makes you enjoy it more, regardless of the plot. Also, a good thing, Daniel Craig's "American" accent. It's so bad it's good and at times you can hear his British accent.

The Bad:
Daniel Craig's "American" accent. It's bad. Like he can't decide which region of America so he throws in a hybrid of Western/ Boston. It's bizarre. The plot is all over the place. For example, in Daddy Croft's clue, he mentions that the artifact was broken into two pieces and sent to opposite ends of the earth. Clearly he was lying, because one piece apparently stayed behind in the City of Light for giggles. No explanation as to why it was still there. There's also alot of unexplained stuff going on and it gets a bit frustrating as to how certain things are going on. Again, example: In the first tomb Lara raids....Haha get it? Anyways. Lara figures out the puzzle and suddenly the statues come to life. How? There's bit a pieces like that and it gets a little frustrating. It's like the writers came up with this stuff and no one proof read the script.

Overall:
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is no where near a perfect movie. The plot flops around and lots of things don't make sense. But, it is a fun movie to watch. Angeline Joline was having a great time as Lara Croft and you see that on the screen. Sure, there are some cheesy lines and silly action sequences, but it's still fun to watch.

Rating: 4 tombs raided out of 5.