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They say to copy someone is the highest form of flattery.
The screenwriter of this film must be looking to pay high compliments to Steven Spielberg
and Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Not only is Croft (played by Angelina
Jolie) an archeologist, but she also sports that cool British accent and works with MI-6,
which ties into the fact that Spielberg wanted to do a Bond film prior to creating
Raiders of the Lost Ark. The film also plays on the legend of a myth. (Okay, the
Ark of the Covenant is based on a real artifact, but the film makes it seem
mythical.)
The initial set-up takes place on the coast of Greece (rather
than the Amazon jungle), but the similarity picks up again when Croft is ambushed by a
band of thugs who steal her loot and kill her team. A cool part of this scene is how she
uses acrobatic maneuvers to avoid being killed herself.
The death of her
comrades has made it personal, and when Croft gets home, she taps her resources to find
out what exactly would cause someone to kill over a spherical artifact. After researching
the matter, Croft discovers that it holds the key to finding the mythical Pandora’s Box,
which is said to hold the power to destroy civilizations.
It seems that
the thugs work for an evil scientist who wants to find Pandora’s Box to sell to the
highest bidder. From MI-6, Croft finds out that the man usually sells biological weapons
of terror, and they certainly want to catch him before he possesses the worst weapon of
all. (Does this sound familiar to a certain plea made about a certain
chest?)
Of course Croft knows that she needs help with this type of
mission. With Chinese mafia connections involved, Croft does not trust Her Majesty’s
Secret Service to get her where she needs to be. That means she pulls some strings to get
her ex-partner, Terry Sheridan (Gerard Butler), out of a prison
sentence.
From there, it becomes a sequence of exotic chases through
England, China, Hong Kong, and Africa in a winner-take-all race to track down the
location of the coveted Pandora’s Box.
The bonus materials provide a load
of treasure for the viewer. The DVD has deleted scenes, five featurettes, two music
videos, and more.
Grade: B (movie) A (disc)
Ed. Note: For more on Lara Croft, see the review of Lara Croft: Tomb
Raider.
