ララ

Angelina Jolie, with Djimon Hounsou,does afine jobbringing thisglamcartoonbabe tolife.
Thoughshe's a video gameconstruct,she's still theclosestfemaleequivalent to Bond. Angelina Jolie's Lara Croft is never ruffled,frazzled orscared. She alwayslooks dazzling andmanages tovanquish all herfoes. Andshehas an easy way with a clever,seductive or withering quip. Thoughshe's not asinterested inromance as Bond (she'smore of aninnocentflirt),sheinspires asimilar admirationfrom the oppositesex. If a woman could be labeledsuave, it's Lara Croft, and Joliedoes afine jobbringing thisglamcartoonbabe tolife.

  Review of the movie
 
Lara Croft, Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life
( out of four)
Stars: Angelina Jolie, Gerard Butler, Noah Taylor,
Djimon Hounsou
Director: Jan De Bont
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Rating: PG-13
foractionviolence and somesensuality
Opens Fridaynationwide


Lara Croft, Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life ismorecapablydirected,betteredited andsharper-looking than the 2001 original, though thescript remains mediocre and banal. As the movieopens, a not-so-fat Greek wedding in Santorini isinterrupted by a violentquaketriggered by high-decibel music. Thanks to somegeologic shifts, an undersea world is unearthed. Lara investigates. Herdramatic entrance on ajetski is theantithesis of Johnny Depp's tattered sailing intrusion into the harbor in another summer seaadventure, Pirates of the Caribbean. Too bad the rest of the movie isn't quite asmuchfun.

Eluding a team ofdeep-sea divers andperforming alitany of physical feats,shefinds Pandora'sbox. It's quickly stolenfrom her by Chen Lo (Simon Yam), theleader of a Chinesecrimesyndicate,who's in league with the villainous Jonathan Reiss (Ciaran Hinds),whose plans for thepowerfulbox entail theannihilation ofthe world. For a moviebased on a video game, the story is as far-fetched and thecharactersas one-dimensionalas one might expect. Andeven though thespecialeffects andaction sequences are good, themonsters conjured up are rather humdrum. Cradle'salso a bit too long at just undertwo hours. A relatively mindlessaction movie such as this would bebetter at 90 minutes.