The beautiful woman is, of course, Angelina Jolie, who plays Lara Croft in the upcoming “Tomb Raider” movie (adapted from the ridiculously popular series of video games). The beautiful scenery is Angkor Wat, a famous and truly stunning temple complex in Cambodia. Put ’em together and you get permission from the government of the latter to film the former.
Given the political climate of Cambodia, and the political hoops that were likely jumped through to make this happen, was it really worth it? Is this small touch of authenticity worth the money and time and political favours that were likely necessary?
Story Quality?
I must admit that I’ve never played the “Tomb Raider” games, but my understanding is that they are platform games with puzzles and an over-the-shoulder 3D view. How are the storylines in these games? The movies based on video games always seem to suffer from a lack of storyline. (“Mortal Kombat” was probably the best adaptation so far, because it didn’t pretend to have a story.)
I’m keeping my eye on this one, but the only video game-to-movie adaptation I’ve ever really been excited about is “Final Fantasy.” For once, the people involved with the game are involved with the movie, and they are starting with games that have some of the best writing (on video game scales) around.
So, how is the writing in the “Tomb Raider” games?
Tomb Raider…
What writing? Tomb Raider is all about a chesty Indiana Jones wannabe, running around all sorts of odd and esoteric places. She shoots, jumps, and drags boulders to climb around on, in search of the Big Prize (whatever it is that time). The End.
Seriously, if they’re sticking with the script that was leaked about a year ago, this movie is going to seriously tank– throwing every gawdawful cliche at a film does not make things better. This is going to be “Relic Hunter: The Movie”– and we all know what a cheesy POS that show is.
I’m looking forward to Final Fantasy simply because there’s no implied continuity with any of the games– it’s “simply” a CG movie, done by the crews behind the recent FF game cinematics. It isn’t dragging around anywhere near as much baggage as the TR movie will be– and I can guarantee that the writing’s going to be a heck of a lot better.
Tomb Raider script
I’ve seen two “leaked” scripts for Tomb Raider, and neither one had the name of any screenwriter actually connected to the project. The latest news (from AICN) is that they added a screen writer a few weeks before the shooting began. (The producers had a plotline, but no script. Not a good sign…)