Susan Granger’s review of “LARA CROFT: TOMB RAIDER” (Paramount Pictures)
(Note: In March, my son, Don Granger, was named President of Mutual Pictures, which co-partnered this film with Paramount. For my own integrity, I feel this personal disclosure is necessary.) There are video-gamers and non-gamers. I fall into the latter category. I knew nothing about this brave, bold, buff female hero clad in black hotpants and a tight T-shirt. Intrepid, acrobatic British heiress/archeologist Lara Croft has been described as a cross between James Bond and Indiana Jones. So when she discovers a ticking clock hidden under the stairs, she soon realizes it’s the first clue to complete her late father’s quest to find and destroy both halves of a mystical, ancient triangle, an artifact whose owner can control time. Opposing her is a power-crazed consortium, the Illuminati, and their death-defying race takes them to Ankor Wat in Cambodia, battling massive Stone Monkey Warriors in the ancient Tomb of the Dancing Light, and frozen Siberia, where terror lurks deep in the icy Temple of Ten Thousand Shadows. As Lara, long, lanky Angelina Jolie is perfect, lending a wicked playfulness and dangerous darkness to the cyberspace figure while Jon Voight, Jolie’s real-life dad who plays her father, embodies Lord Croft. Iain Glen proves a worthy adversary, along with Daniel Craig as Alex West, who has a past personal relationship with Lara. Despite the somewhat murky script, director Simon West creates an exciting action-adventure, a summer popcorn picture. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Tomb Raider” is a fast-paced 8. Like Wonder Woman, Lara Croft is an icon to girls and a sexy, female fantasy to guys. But where can I get an orange fluorescent stick like Lara’s?
