'Tomb Raider' is for game junkies only

By BILLY NORRIS

© St. Petersburg Times,
published June 25, 2001

Movie: Lara Croft: Tomb Raider

Rating: PG-13

Summary: This movie was very confusing, and I completely did not understand the plot, so here is what I was able to pull from it: Lara Croft (Angelina Jolie) is a tomb raider who lost her father as a young child. She finds a strange clocklike object that, with the help of a note from her father, leads her to an ancient triangle. This triangle supposedly allows its beholder to control time. Her father says in his letter that she needs to use the object to find the two halves of the triangle and destroy them at the exact moment the planets align. She goes on a journey around the world to search for the two halves and encounters some bad guys and large stone creatures along the way. (Weird, huh?)

My View: This movie will make absolutely no sense to you unless you've played the Tomb Raider video games and you've actually understood them. Anyone else will probably be lost. I didn't enjoy sitting through this movie because the plot went in one ear and out the other, and the three friends I went to see this movie with had no understanding of it, either. The acting was satisfactory, and the action scenes were a little bit exciting, but otherwise, this one isn't worth it.

Favorite part: None whatsoever.

Least favorite part: The entire thing was terrible.

Recommendations: Tomb Raider junkies only! Anyone else will be squirming 10 minutes into the film.

Grade: D

Billy Norris, 13, will be in the eighth grade at Seminole Middle School, and is a former member of the Times X-Team.

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