Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)

Video game adventurer Lara Croft comes to life in a movie where she races against time and villains to recover powerful ancient artifacts.

Director:

Simon West

Writers:

Sara B. Cooper (story), Mike Werb (story)

Stars:

Angelina Jolie, Jon Voight, Iain Glen

4 wins & 21 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Angelina Jolie	...	Lara Croft
Jon Voight	...	Lord Richard Croft
Iain Glen	...	Manfred Powell
Noah Taylor	...	Bryce
Daniel Craig	...	Alex West
Richard Johnson	...	Distinguished Gentleman
Chris Barrie	...	Hillary (as Christopher Barrie)
Julian Rhind-Tutt	...	Mr. Pimms
Leslie Phillips	...	Wilson
Robert Phillips	...	Julius, Assault Team Leader
Rachel Appleton	...	Young Lara
Henry Wyndham	...	Boothby's Auctioneer
David Cheung	...	Head Laborer (as David Y. Cheung)
David Tse	...	Head Laborer (as David K.S. Tse)
Ozzie Yue	...	Aged Buddhist Monk

Storyline

The orphaned heiress and intrepid archaeologist, Lara Croft, embarks on a dangerous quest to retrieve the two halves of an ancient artefact which controls time before it falls into the wrong hands. As an extremely rare planetary alignment is about to occur for the first time in 5,000 years, the fearless tomb raider will have to team up with rival adventurers and sworn enemies to collect the pieces, while time is running out. But, in the end, who can harness the archaic talisman's unlimited power?

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Plot Keywords:

lara croft character | tomb | illuminati | planetary alignment | time | 

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Taglines:

The Biggest Adventure Begins 2001

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Fantasy | Thriller

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Certificate:

PG

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the video game, Lara Croft is a 36DD. Angelina Jolie is naturally a 36C, and was padded to a 36D for the movie, as it was felt that padding to the original character size would be too unrealistic.

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Goofs

When they're in the Cambodian ancient ruins, Lara places the clock mechanism in the eye of the statue. In one of the wide shots, however, the clock is missing.

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Quotes

[first lines]
[after an extended action sequence with a training robot which then attempts to revive itself and sneak up on her]
Lara Croft: Stop!

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Crazy Credits

There are no opening credits after the title has been shown.

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Alternate Versions

The R1 DVD includes four deleted scenes:

• Wilson meets Powell and Pimms in a construction area, where he gives them all his notes about the clock. Then Powell beheads Wilson and asks Pimms to bag the head...
• After Julius, the assault team leader, has deliverd the clock, Powell says to Pimms that Croft is still in the game and that they might even need to hire her.
• While talking to Croft in Venice, Powell explains to her what the Illuminati are and what they do. He suggests they could be partners, to which Croft replys "You might try to kill me." Powell answers "I'm not gonna kill you." Crofts response is "No. I said "try"."
• Still in Venice, Lara visits Alex while he is playing cards with some other guys, who leave right away. Lara tells Alex that he is working for some very bad people, and that the problem about him is that he can't be trusted. She then says "I know what you are", throws a card which spins around his head back into her hand (boomerang-like): it's the Joker. Then she grabs the triangle which he has hidden under the table and leaves.
• The documentary "Crafting Lara Croft" features a slightly longer version of Powell's Death. After Laras punch, he hits the floor and is then wrapped up in light.

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Connections

Referenced in Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: Episode #7.66 (2008)

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Soundtracks

The Revolution
By BT (as Brian Transeau)
Performed by BT
Vocals by BT and Rasco
BT is a recording artist of Nettwerk Productions

User Reviews

I was entertained.

"Tomb Raider" is a harmless diversion that should please its core audience. I loved the performance of Angelina Jolie, who brings the computer game heroine Lara Croft to life. I watched an interview with Jolie in which she said that she really "became Lara Croft".

With her mock British accent, Jolie is a lot of fun as the adventurer-archaeologist who is equal parts Bruce Wayne and Indiana Jones, but with a much better body.

Taking its cue from the video game, the film's screenplay is more of a puzzle than a plot. The script is a patchwork of ideas that plays like a Greatest Hits collection of other films. It deals with end of the world stuff, but it never feels apocalyptic. It's controlled chaos, utterly lacking in surprise. The script jumps from one expected moment to the next, never apologizing for its lack of originality.

At least Jolie understands the limitations of the script. There's enough conviction in her performance to make you want to believe in Lara Croft, the spunky heiress is who is equally at home in her spacious mansion or within the catacombs of a lost tomb. She's guided by the spirit (both literally and figuratively) of her late adventurer father, Lord Croft (Jon Voight), and assisted by an archaeologist Alex West (Daniel Craig) and cyber-geek creator Bryce (Noah Taylor).

The film opens like "Raiders of the Lost Ark," with Lara Croft deep inside one of those musty, dusty tombs. Instead of outrunning a giant boulder, Croft squares off against a mechanical monster, a robotic menace that seems to come out of nowhere. It doesn't. We learn that it's a creation of Bryce, used to keep Croft on her toes.

Angelina Jolie made the perfect Lara Croft; her facial expressions and sly smirks added a personality to the flick that I can only imagine the video game is missing. She seemed smart, brave, and composed as well as full of emotion. Okay, maybe the parts with her father (real-life papa Jon Voight) were a little over the top, but since the whole movie is just eye-candy anyway they seemed to fit.

The fight scenes among ruins got me. How can you not love Lara Croft jumping onto a swinging obelisk to smash a glass eye that holds the key to time, or sledding thru an ice cave being pulled by dogs? Or the scene where the villains jump through her castle windows as she rappels around the walls, smashing chandeliers and pistol-whipping bad guys? What's a girl to do but hop on her motorbike, take a guy out sideways, and race off at 100 miles an hour? Excellent.

Details

Country:

USA UK Japan Germany

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 June 2001 (Canada)

Also Known As:

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider

Filming Locations:

Trinity Square, London, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$115,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$47,735,743, 17 June 2001

Gross USA:

$131,168,070

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$274,703,340

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, Mutual Film Company, BBC Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby SDDS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1