'Tomb Raider' provides great, escapist entertainment

"Lara Croft: Tomb Raider"

Directed by: Simon West

Starring: Angelina Jolie, Chris Barrie, Iain Glen, Daniel Craig

Rated: PG-13

Sometimes first impressions aren't al-ways correct. Such is the case with the action/adventure/special-effects movie "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider."

It was a definite "chip on the shoulder" day as I queued up to see the film. Having just read the borderline psychotic interview with Angelina Jolie and her equally strange husband, Billy Bob Thornton, in "Rolling Stone" and remembering the last film I saw based on a video game I was not a happy moviegoer.

Sure, Jolie won an Oscar for playing a mental patient in "Girl, Interrupted" (talk about type casting), but she and Billy Bob who get married quite often, sometimes twice a week carry vials of each other's blood around with them. They even pricked their fingers and sucked each other's blood during one of their marriage ceremonies.

And as for movies based on video games, three words should suffice: "Super Mario Brothers."

Not that I knew anything about Lady Lara Croft or her action adventure game. Tomb Raider? I imagined the rabid teenage technoids who had just graduated from their Dungeons and Dragons phase, sleepless the previous night in anticipation of seeing Lara Croft come to life in the persona of bloodsucking Jolie and her form-fitting outfits.

As the film opened, my worst suspicions seemed to be coming true. Jolie spent the first 10 minutes uttering nothing but the occasional grunt or moan as she leapt, lurched and lunged inside a tomb of course while battling robots and other technological terrors. Oh, this was going to be a long couple of hours.

But by the end of "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider," I was having a good time and enjoyed the film in the same way I enjoyed "The Matrix." And the plot of "Tomb Raider," weird as it is, is still more comprehensible than "The Matrix."

Lady Lara Croft, the daughter of a famous archaeologist who died mysteriously on an expedition, has taken over his practice.

The plot kicks in as the solar system is on the verge of lining up in a way that only occurs every 5,000 years. An evil group of fanatics, The Illuminati, engage the services of another archaeologist to engage in a mission that will result in the ability to control time.

The last time the planets lined up, a meteor struck the Earth. The locals melted it down and made a triangle which controlled time. It became clear all too quickly that power, indeed, does corrupt, so the wise folks around at the time split the triangle in two and hid the halves far and wide. One wonders why they just didn't smash it into a million pieces, but then I suppose there would be no movie.

Lara's dad left Lara a piece of the whole puzzle. When the boys from the big "I" figure this out, they send a SWAT team to stately Croft manor and took the object they sought.

This sets up the second half of the film.

As a science fiction/fantasy fan I overlooked the absurdities of the plot and actually thought a lot of it was pretty inventive. The set design and art direction are incredible as well, and the special effects work is state-of-the-art and, all in all, pretty much fun. It's a safe bet if you liked "The Matrix," films in the "Die Hard" or "Raiders of the Lost Ark" vein, are an archaeology freak or a teenage boy, you'll find a thing or two to like about "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider."

It's dumb, high tech fun; a great summertime movie escape.

(Jim Wunderle works at Associated Video Producers and is a Springfield free-lance writer and musician.)