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LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated Lara Croft - Tomb Raider (2001) in Movies

Aug 11, 2019 (Updated Aug 14, 2019)

I remember very clearly going to see this in the cinema when it came out (I was but a starry eyed 11 year old full of hopes and dreams back then), and I absolutely loved it. It was loud, obnoxious, and it had Lara Croft in it (again - I was an 11 year old boy...)
I also grew up playing the original Tomb Raider trilogy, so this was an exciting event in my pre adolescent life.

As as I've gotten older, it has become apparent that I don't have a lot of love for Lara Croft: Tomb Raider after all. It's just another shoddy video game adaption that doesn't have a lot of meat to it.
It's a film firmly stuck in the early 00s, with leather jackets, shades, and cringey breakbeat dance music in the background (thanks a lot Matrix).

One thing that is a huge positive, and why it still deserves at least 4/10 from me is Angelina Jolie. The script is just awful, but she is the embodiment of the original Lara Croft. It's honestly like watching the original game hero come to life.
The rest of the cast are pretty so-so. An early appearance from Daniel Craig (with a super dodgy American accent) is largely forgettable.
Iain Glen plays a pretty vanilla villain (although I really find it hard to dislike good old Iain), and Lara's assistants (played by Noah Taylor and Chris Barrie) are mostly enjoyable comic relief.

The action scenes aren't too bad (apart from the aforementioned music choices), and it's good to see some actual Tomb Raiding, but unfortunately Jolie alone isn't enough to elevate Tomb Raider above the ever growing pile of underwhelming video game movies.

I would like to finish this review with an apology to my girlfriend (who is also on Smashbomb and who will read this) who absolutely f***ing loves these movies - please don't hate me!

Kudos

Lee KM Pallatina (951 KP) Aug 11, 2019

I enjoyed the 1st when I was younger and still appreciate the effort today, it's still fun to watch but amidst all the 90s pop culture cliches try to Remember...the Cradle of Light....there is no need for it to exist, it started of promising and quickly went south and became its own downfall that just dragged on.
We now have another Tomb raider movie which is clearly heavily based on the Tomb raider videogame reboot but where the game seems to have nailed it - the movie seems to have just missed the mark. Chris barrie was brilliant personally, besides- who doesn't wanna run around in their pj's shooting bad guy's haha.

Kudos

Versusyours (757 KP) rated Joker (2019) in Movies

Dec 14, 2019

Joker (2019)

2019 | Crime, Drama

8.5

(147 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

The slow paced deterioration of mental health (2 more)

Some terrific portrayals

Cgi sparse

Will it hold up on repeat viewings? (0 more)

Not your usual type of clowning around

After waiting longer than I should have I finally watched Joker and the delay left me with lots of other opinions and views of the impact it has generated.

It is no secret that this film takes a different approach to the comic book genre with no superpowers being gained and focuses more on loss and the power that grows from becoming mentally unstable and damaged by an unforgiving society. It also focused on the ability to become involved in the fame game not for being talented but as a source of ridicule and fun for others, thso is reflected in wider society and is a stark warning about encouraging those that are not near the level of the talented. Take note the Xfactor and other programmes that have advertising funded freak shows and gather round televisions to judge and mock. There are many factors that contribute to the descent into chaos and they are the socioeconomic factors of heriditary mental health, illegitimacy, funding cuts, street violence and the fear of the future.

The climax scenes are hard hitting but not unexpected, the impact at the time was shocking and left a lasting sense of my own unease at the future. My only thoughts on the negative side where the ability for this ending to have the lasting impact on repeat viewings and it's place in film history will be won or lost on how its seen in the upcoming years. Phoenix inhabited the role as Joker and his overall attention to detail allowed the character to form on deeper and emotion levels.

If there are others out there still waiting to see this do it before Xmas as it might be too much to take during the January blues

Kudos

Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated Red 2 (2013) in Movies

Aug 6, 2019

Red 2 (2013)

2013 | Action, Drama

7.2

(11 Ratings)

Movie Rating

RED was such a great movie that it was inevitable a sequel would be made. And here we have it, RED 2. In this follow up to the 2010 film, we find Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) and Sarah Ross (Mary-Louise Parker) trying to adjust to life in a relationship. Only this is not your typical relationship. Frank’s goal is to keep Sarah safe, while Sarah just wants to get into the thick of things, which quickly happens as Frank and Marvin Boggs (John Malkovich) are being hunted due to their involvement in an old operation only known as Nightshade.
The humor is quick to come from Malkovich, Parker and Willis who have an incredible chemistry together on screen. We then add in some notables such as the returning characters of Victoria (Helen Mirren) and Ivan Simonov (Brian Cox), and more with new characters such as Katja (Catherine ZetaJones), Bailey (Anthony Hopkins) and the brilliant performance of Byung-hun Lee as Han Cho Bai. This movie is cooking from start to finish.
There is a lot that is recycled from the first movie, including a new twist on the famous scene where Willis steps out of the moving car smooth as butter. But the great thing about this movie is it doesn’t take itself too seriously. The film makers did a great job of not trying to make the film a hardcore action flick or a cut-up comedy, but rather a great blend of the two. The comic timing combined with the action scenes is fantastic, and the cast of characters interact remarkably well with each other.
Is this movie going to be something everyone can enjoy? Probably not. But if you were a fan of the first movie, and you do not mind when film makers take a proven formula and apply it again, then you will enjoy the film. I would recommend it, and hope that we see another one. It was definitely left that way.