Really Surprised!

Absolutely Fantastic

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

I made the mistake of being lazy and watching this movie. It ends exactly where it started and was useless in between... Nothing made sense except Angelina's wardrobe. Nice bait for the 14-year-old hormoners. From the stealthy motorcycle ride on the GREAT WALL to the super secret transfer of the 'box by helicopter in the middle of a city neighborhood, nothing even made sense. I was actually angry and continued to watch just to hope for a clever moment of this crapfest...

Adventurer Lara Croft goes on a quest to save the mythical Pandora's Box, before an evil scientist finds it, and recruits a former Marine turned mercenary to assist her. Angelina Jolie is brilliant casted as Tomb Raider and owns every single scene she is in from punching a shark to riding a motorcycle. Gerard Butler, Til Schweiger and Ciarán Hinds are also great in their parts. The action is dazzling and it does feel like being inside a videogame at times, the effects are alright for their time and even tho it's not as great as the first film it's still a good videogame film in a Franchise that gets alot of hate for nothing and i hope that the Remake is at least decent or even as good as this film or the one before it. (9/10)

Adaptation is one of the hardest things to do, regardless of the mediums that you are dealing with. Trying to make a book into a movie is hard, trying to make a remake of a movie already done (especially when done well) is terribly difficult, and so far making a video game into a movie has been nearly impossible.When I saw the first TOMB RAIDER movie, I enjoyed the popcorn, but fell off the train, so to speak, once we reached the scene involving the stone statues. Because up until that point, all we had was very entertaining action fare. Angelina was amusing, her comrades were entertaining, the threat against her was legitimate (as long as we're talking about the actual gunmen. If we're talking about the heavy, Manfred Powell, rotten soup noodles are more intimidating). But once you start throwing living statues that have no reason to be alive, you know you've crossed over into video game territory, and getting back from there is a shaky prospect indeed.So I didn't love the original TOMB RAIDER. Fun popcorn, good soundtrack. Terribly weak bad-guy. Meh.I've heard that those that loved the video games were quite pleased with it, said that the movie followed the games well. Can't speak to it, myself, because I haven't played any Tomb Raider game. Not yet, anyway.All that aside, I LOVED this movie. Angelina's portrayal of Lara got boosted several notches, in performance, accent, charm, and character. Gerard Butler adds to the plot as Terry Sheridan, giving Jolie something to play with as she goes about her business. Ciaran Hinds plays Jonathan Reiss, a cold and cruel disease-wielder who happily dispatches as he pleases with his nasty little bugs, complete with a superiority complex to match. The butler and computer expert are back (sadly not in as much of the scenery as before, but nobody's perfect).We've got top-notch action, we have lethality in the combat this time, we have the strange side-game of cat-and-mouse between Terry and Lara, and we have a heavy that Lara deserves. The cheesiness is left for the final act, with hulking black creatures made of not terribly bad CGI trying to guard the treasure they seek. Not bad, all in all.It's amazing to me that certain movies can have deal-breakers so large that it crashes the entire movie for a general audience, and in other cases terribly impossible action can pass without anyone caring. In FAST AND THE FURIOUS movies, no action is impossible. Anything goes. Nothing is a deal-breaker.In this movie, everybody flipped out because Lara punches a shark. Silly, yes. Over-the-top, perhaps. A deal-breaker? NO. I've seen worse. Living statues that come to life to kill everyone in the chamber AFTER you've already lifted the final treasure comes to mind. I mean seriously, after the battle, are they supposed to REPLACE the fragment somehow? Or does it just sit on the floor in the middle of the room as their partially damaged bodies go back to sitting in the corners, waiting for the next sucker to come on in and pick up a broken triangle? Seriously, guys, LET THE SHARK THING GO. Swallow it, and move on.But finally, the thing that really gets me surrounding all of the hate of this movie is something that has stuck with me for years. The first Tomb Raider movie was a success. Enough of one for Hollywood to make this film. The first movie was passable as a theatrical experience. It felt like the reenactment of a video game, which is, I guess, what it was supposed to do.THIS movie, however, felt like a movie. An Indiana Jones-type deal, complete with heroic protagonist, silly setup, great villain, awesome music, and overall fun ride. No video game-related material ANYWHERE.And that, apparently, was the problem for everyone that didn't like it.So the first movie is a pass, where it's essentially medium-rate popcorn that felt like a video game. The second is an actual solid movie that felt nothing like a video game. What the public wants, apparently, is to watch a movie about a video game they've already played. They do not want original stories involving the characters of those video games. They want to go from an interactive experience where they feel like they are shooting the guns, killing the bad-guys, and finding the treasure to… Watching somebody re-do it all on a giant screen.I think this is why we may never, ever see a successful hit movie based on a video game that actually satisfies on every level. People want things that aren't real. It's like criticizing THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy because it didn't cover enough of the book.Jesus, guys. What the hell do you really want, anyway?

Adventuress Lara Croft (Angelina Jolie) is diving the lost Luna Temple of Alexander the Great in Greece and discovers a glowing orb. They are attacked by Chen Lo and his men. Lara barely escapes. Meanwhile, mad scientist Jonathan Reiss (Ciarán Hinds) is searching for the mythical Pandora's Box which the glowing orb is the key to. MI6 needs Lara's help to go after Chen Lo who plans to sell the orb to Reiss. Lara gets Terry Sheridan (Gerard Butler) released to go on the hunt with her.Lara explains that in 2300BC, an Egytian Pharoah located the Cradle of Life and Pandora's Box which contains a plague or anti-life. The Box destroyed the Pharoah's army and he sent it away to India to be hidden. Alexander the Great rediscovered the Box, returned it back to Cradle of Life, and its location on the Orb.The story is way more complicated than it needs to be. There is so much exposition to get through at the start. It may work for a video game, but it doesn't work well for a story. This is basically a female James Bond but only more ridiculous. At least, the first one had the fun of something new and shinny. This one repeats the same formula but it feels old. The outrageous action feels tired. The exotic locations aren't quite so exotic since most of it takes place out in the wilderness or on an obvious sound stage. Even wing gliding over Hong Kong feels slow and boring. Lara is as cold as ever and Gerard Butler doesn't add enough heat. In a sophomore movie of a franchise, they need to go bigger or go home. They didn't go big enough.