“Lara Croft: Tomb Raider” is more “Mission Impossible” than it is “Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.”
Extras:
A rather nice set of value-added content is provided with "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider." Much of the bonus materials are of the typical talking-heads EPK variety, but they are nice additions that give a look at the making of the film. The film´s menus are nicely done and out of the initial three studios providing content for HD-DVD, I must admit that I so far enjoy Paramount´s offerings more than those from either Warner Bros. or Universal. The pop-up menu during the film allows you to select the commentary track, while the ´Home´ menu allows you to access the other supplemental materials. These are not as easily accessed as the other two studios´ offerings, but it certainly has a nicer organization and visual look to it.
The Commentary with Director Simon West is a decent enough commentary track. Listening to the commentary allows you to learn the trials and tribulations of covering Angelina Jolie´s two dozen tattoos. He continually talks about cutting back because of budget and you can learn quite a bit more about the film. I gained a lot of respect for Jolie´s performance after some recollections by West. Digging into Tomb Raider is the half-hour long making of feature that takes a look at the history of the "Tomb Raider" franchise as both a game and the film. This feature is actually quite entertaining and spends as much time looking at the character as it does the film.
The smaller features include Crafting Lara Croft and others. Jolie discusses how she was a scrawny and weak actress that had to go through a lot of training to be able to portray Lara Croft. The actress had to diet and train quite extensively for three months in order to bring the video game character to life. The Visual Effects of Tomb Raider is a collection of eight shorts that can be played individually or together. As a whole, they run for twenty minutes and looks at the droid in the opening, the stone monkeys and other visual effects in the film. For special effects buffs, this is good stuff. The Stunts of Tomb Raider is nine minutes of showing how Angelina Jolie did a lot of the stunt work. Too much time here is spent on ´bungie ballet,´ but director Simon West looks at that scene as his personal favorite. Are You Game? is an eight minute summary at Lara´s video game beginnings. "Women want to be her. Men want to be with her." This quote perfectly sums up the character.
After the EPK/making-of features, there are a few extras that I found to be quite enjoyable. Four deleted scenes add depth to the character of Powell and build on the relationship between Lara and Alex. These scenes only run for just over seven minutes, but I quite enjoyed them. I am a sucker for cut footage and these four short scenes provide more information on the film. Sadly, the film was to originally have a second tomb raid, but that was never filmed and not contained here. This footage would have made Powell more of a villain and would have made West a more important character, but the first scene would have pushed the PG-13 rating and the others would have slowed the pace of the film. A musical video is included for U2: Elevation. I do like U2 and "Elevation" is a good song. Too bad the video is hindered with quotes and sounds from the film. It is a nice looking video though. Alternate Main Title is a two-minute additional take on the opening titles to the film. Finally, a High Definition trailer and teaser trailer are provided.
Closing Comments:
I didn´t particularly enjoy "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider." I have spent a bit of time playing the games ranging from the original release on the Sony Playstation to the latest release on the Xbox 360. I know the history of the character and feel the film didn´t capture the true nature of the character and the adventures Lara Croft is known for. The film spends a whole three minutes of time where Lara is working solo to adventure through a tomb. Not counting the final scene in the room with the planetary machine, as that scene is more about special effects and activating the triangle than it is about tombs and adventure, "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" spends only a dozen minutes in dark and mossy tombs. The film spends much more time on gunfire, expensive mansions and Lara doing "bungie ballet." The story had a lot of potential, but that potential was lost when Simon West tried to make his film as expensive looking and possess as much over-the-top action as possible.
The HD-DVD release is a mixed bag. The picture ranges from being a highly-detailed transfer to be a hazy mess that barely rises above standard definition DVD. I tend to suspect the source materials and not the actual transfer. Sound is very dynamic and works well. There is nearly an hour and a half of bonus materials. These give a good look at the making of the film and show the hard work put in by Angelina Jolie in the making of the film. The commentary track is good and details a lot of hard decisions made in the making of the film. For fans of "Tomb Raider," this is certainly a good purchase. Now I said I didn´t particularly enjoy the film, but I didn´t dislike it either. The film just does not rise to the level it could have.
A rather nice set of value-added content is provided with "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider." Much of the bonus materials are of the typical talking-heads EPK variety, but they are nice additions that give a look at the making of the film. The film´s menus are nicely done and out of the initial three studios providing content for HD-DVD, I must admit that I so far enjoy Paramount´s offerings more than those from either Warner Bros. or Universal. The pop-up menu during the film allows you to select the commentary track, while the ´Home´ menu allows you to access the other supplemental materials. These are not as easily accessed as the other two studios´ offerings, but it certainly has a nicer organization and visual look to it.
The Commentary with Director Simon West is a decent enough commentary track. Listening to the commentary allows you to learn the trials and tribulations of covering Angelina Jolie´s two dozen tattoos. He continually talks about cutting back because of budget and you can learn quite a bit more about the film. I gained a lot of respect for Jolie´s performance after some recollections by West. Digging into Tomb Raider is the half-hour long making of feature that takes a look at the history of the "Tomb Raider" franchise as both a game and the film. This feature is actually quite entertaining and spends as much time looking at the character as it does the film.
The smaller features include Crafting Lara Croft and others. Jolie discusses how she was a scrawny and weak actress that had to go through a lot of training to be able to portray Lara Croft. The actress had to diet and train quite extensively for three months in order to bring the video game character to life. The Visual Effects of Tomb Raider is a collection of eight shorts that can be played individually or together. As a whole, they run for twenty minutes and looks at the droid in the opening, the stone monkeys and other visual effects in the film. For special effects buffs, this is good stuff. The Stunts of Tomb Raider is nine minutes of showing how Angelina Jolie did a lot of the stunt work. Too much time here is spent on ´bungie ballet,´ but director Simon West looks at that scene as his personal favorite. Are You Game? is an eight minute summary at Lara´s video game beginnings. "Women want to be her. Men want to be with her." This quote perfectly sums up the character.
After the EPK/making-of features, there are a few extras that I found to be quite enjoyable. Four deleted scenes add depth to the character of Powell and build on the relationship between Lara and Alex. These scenes only run for just over seven minutes, but I quite enjoyed them. I am a sucker for cut footage and these four short scenes provide more information on the film. Sadly, the film was to originally have a second tomb raid, but that was never filmed and not contained here. This footage would have made Powell more of a villain and would have made West a more important character, but the first scene would have pushed the PG-13 rating and the others would have slowed the pace of the film. A musical video is included for U2: Elevation. I do like U2 and "Elevation" is a good song. Too bad the video is hindered with quotes and sounds from the film. It is a nice looking video though. Alternate Main Title is a two-minute additional take on the opening titles to the film. Finally, a High Definition trailer and teaser trailer are provided.
Closing Comments:
I didn´t particularly enjoy "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider." I have spent a bit of time playing the games ranging from the original release on the Sony Playstation to the latest release on the Xbox 360. I know the history of the character and feel the film didn´t capture the true nature of the character and the adventures Lara Croft is known for. The film spends a whole three minutes of time where Lara is working solo to adventure through a tomb. Not counting the final scene in the room with the planetary machine, as that scene is more about special effects and activating the triangle than it is about tombs and adventure, "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" spends only a dozen minutes in dark and mossy tombs. The film spends much more time on gunfire, expensive mansions and Lara doing "bungie ballet." The story had a lot of potential, but that potential was lost when Simon West tried to make his film as expensive looking and possess as much over-the-top action as possible.
The HD-DVD release is a mixed bag. The picture ranges from being a highly-detailed transfer to be a hazy mess that barely rises above standard definition DVD. I tend to suspect the source materials and not the actual transfer. Sound is very dynamic and works well. There is nearly an hour and a half of bonus materials. These give a good look at the making of the film and show the hard work put in by Angelina Jolie in the making of the film. The commentary track is good and details a lot of hard decisions made in the making of the film. For fans of "Tomb Raider," this is certainly a good purchase. Now I said I didn´t particularly enjoy the film, but I didn´t dislike it either. The film just does not rise to the level it could have.
Average user rating (1-5):
[release]18832[/release]