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Tomb Raider
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picture to order this DVD
The Film:
Tomb Raider was the typical summer
film of 2001, with one big problem: HYPE. If there is someone who missed
the overdone publicity
campaign that preceded it --including all of the TV spots, theater trailers, Taco Bell commercials, jeep commercials, or
Pepsi commercials-- they're probably trapped in a time capsule themselves. This film had previews
for its previews, or so it would seem. While this often leads to a major Achilles'
heel --overly-high expectations-- it often leads to an even bigger
problem... The bigger dilemma
arises, when pre-publicity blitz annoys most of the lower-quality,
"professional" critics. Such movies they deem
"untouchable," and the desire arises to be the David to defeat
the cinema Goliath. Nothing is a bigger ego trip
than to flame such a film, to the point where a critic will even claim to not liking it, even if they really
did like it.
I admit, to be fair, Tomb Raider is not a 5-star blockbuster, though it's
hardly "This year's Battlefield Earth" (as one
critic so wittily called it), nor does it deserve a 85% "rotten"
rating, from rottentomatoes.com.
I think I stopped reading other critics' "reviews" of this film
entirely, when USA Today's Susan Wloszczyna said, "If only the story that surrounds this watchable heroine were as well-stacked."
If such predictable, cliché banter is so popular with the critics, why didn't they love
this film? That isn't to say that this film
has a great script. However, let's be honest here; it's not like a film based on a
video game is going to have Shakespearean scriptwriting. If anything, the
"story" is only there to explain the action scenes, in an
easy-breezy summer flick such as this. The planets are aligning! An
ancient power is at hand! Bad guys wish to take this power! In comes the
hero to save the day! Oops, I'm sorry; in comes the heroine to save
the day. What's better, she's played by Angelina Jolie. Forget what you've
possibly read elsewhere; anyone who'd claim the Oscar-winning Jolie was a bad choice for the
lead role is not only a bad critic...they're wrong. Regardless,
it's fair to note that this film has its flaws. Most films have a
story, where this film has little to none. Most films have an emotional
resonance (or so they wish to claim), while this film is just campy,
harmless fun. As with most action films, action is the key ingredient, and
very little is used to fill in the gaps in between. However, that isn't to
say that the action scenes are not gripping enough to be worth it to
action film buffs. To the "This year's Battlefield Earth" claimers, come
on, guys; that film was horrid because John Travolta with Snidely Whiplash
make-up is not appealing to look at, in any scene he is in. Thanks to
Jolie, such cannot be
said for Tomb Raider, in any scene she is in. Admittedly,
with an $80 million budget, the U.S. gross of (approximately) 131 million
is nothing to brag about. Even so, compared to most video game movies,
this is a major success. Such failures of the genre include Super Mario
Brothers, Wing Commander, and even the recent Dungeons
& Dragons (did you even know it was released...?). Not to be outdone, the successes of a film made into
a video game are few as well (remember E.T. on
the Atari 2600?). Most
recently, Final
Fantasy: The Spirits Within cost $137 million to make yet led
to approximately 61 million total, worldwide! Could the
mistake there, have been a film that was too video-game savvy for its own
good? Tomb Raider
tried for the live-action route, and no matter what you thought of the
script...well, at least Jolie makes a cool
Lara Croft! The DVD:
Here's a no-brainer sales tactic that is actually quite humble and
brilliant; one of the bonus features on this DVD --for owners of DVD-savvy
computers, anyway-- is a batch of missions from the actual game. No more
people asking why the game series warranted a film; rent the disc, install
the "demo levels" included free on the disc, and have a lot
of fun. There may be a small grumbling that the missions chosen are from the
latest game, and not the original,
though it's still a welcome addition. I guess it's pretty telling, though,
that the time you enjoy playing these levels is a lot longer than the
enjoyment from the film. I will make
one small grumbling here; navigation through all the extras on this DVD
--and there are many of them-- is almost as challenging as looking for
rare artifacts in the actual game. This isn't even getting into the
"hidden item" within the disc, which is actually the easiest to
reach! Go to the special features menu, and notice the flashing
water-waves symbol below the main menu option. Click down to it, and press
enter, and see an amusing 2-minute interview with Jon Voight and daughter
Angelina Jolie, about working together in this film. Cute addition! As
for the bonus material itself, there is a lot of it. There is of course
the obligatory music video from the film's song by U2,
"Elevation." As for featurettes, "Digging into Tomb
Raider" is a roughly 25 minute behind the scenes video, that was
probably originally shown on UPN as a half-hour special. "Crafting
Lara Croft" is a shorter, nearly-7-minute look at Jolie's physical
training for the role. "Stunts" is obviously about its namesake,
which is given an over 9 minute featurette all its own. "Visual
Effects" allows for an individual look at 8 separate scenes that
required that little something extra from the FX department, from concept
to wire-frame computer model, right up to the final product. My favorite
featurette, though, would have to be "Are You Game?" which
provides an 8-minute musing of the phenomenon Lara has become in gaming
itself. Then there are the deleted
scenes; 5 of them, if you include the alternate opening sequence. The
alternate opening involves a Myst-type flyby of a gently lit tomb, where
the interior pillars zoom out into the 3D movie title itself, "Lara
Croft: Tomb Raider." This is a much snazzier opening than the
movie's, which basically just jumps right into the story with no major
build-up; in short, I'm surprised they didn't use it. I
wish I could give similar praise for the 4 other deletions, which include
such deleted-for-a-reason moments as "Powell Kills Wilson,"
where the arch villain (off camera) beheads an elderly friend of Lara's.
At least this is slightly less dragging than "Powell and Pimms,"
where, quite simply, they have a chat about the clock. "Lara and Alex
in Venice" is a similar conversation that seems deleted from the film
for a reason. Last of all, while "You Might Try To Kill Me"
sounds like an excitingly-titled deleted scene, it is actually just an
extended version of the scene already shown in the movie, when Lara
confronts Powell in the "secret" chamber of the Illuminati. This
scene is intriguing, though, in that it finally shows viewers the amusing
scene from the trailer (cut from the actual film!), when Lara muses that
Powell may try to kill her, emphasizing "...I said, try." Of
course, any DVD of a movie that began on the computer, would have to have
impressive bonuses for the PCs where the whole journey began. Insert the
DVD into any DVD drive, and you'll get to play those game levels I
mentioned, plus view a "timeline" of the evolution of Lara Croft
in gaming, see the fully animated movie website (without having to log
on: it's preserved for posterity on the DVD!), and more. How
much more...? Well, much like the way-cool Phantom
Menace DVD, there are special online features exclusive to
owners of the movie. A "DVD Challenge" uses video from the DVD
to make the action-moments of the film into a sort of poor-man's adventure
game, complete with med kits, flares, and gem stones to use as if you were
in the real game. An "extended IPIX gallery" includes four IPIX
interactive pictures (sort of a ripoff of Quicktime VR, if you ask me),
each downloadable from the internet. Last though not least, is a way-cool
sneak peek at the upcoming game, Tomb Raider: Next Generation.
Well, maybe that is last and least; as of this
review's latest (and last) update, on December 13th, 2001, this feature
leads to nothing more than a "check back soon" message. Regardless,
there's more than enough reason to check out the disc, and more than
enough reason to warrant even a purchase of the film. This is presuming,
of course, you liked the movie to begin with. I did, and Tomb Raider
is now on my DVD shelf.
Click
picture to order this DVD
| All text, Title
graphics, and pix not of reviewed products, are created by Techtite,
copyright 1999-2001; all rights reserved. Box office estimates are
provided via data from The
Internet Movie Database. Picture of DVD cover is used only for the purpose of review (and to make shopping for
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