Lara Croft: Tomb Raider

Perhaps it could have been better, but it also might have been a lot worse. Angelina Jolie is perfectly cast as the video-game vixen with the two big guns (and an adequate pair of firearms as well) on a quest to save the world from some kind of global conspiracy by finding a supernatural object that can manipulate time. Based upon scenes from the preview that didn't make the final cut, there's every indication that an underlying sexual tension between Lara Croft and the dastardly villain (Iain Glen) was deleted from the film (other loose ends hint at hasty last-minute editing), leaving Lara to stare instead at the villain's lightweight associate (Daniel Craig). Still and all, at its best the movie captures the feel of a good video game expertly, as in sequences in which a jump, a duck and a climb have to be split-second timed just right, or when a supernatural villain has to be lured into a deathtrap, or when dippy spirit guides materialize to offer maddeningly oblique clues. Chris Barrie, best known as "Rimmer" on the cult TV series Red Dwarf, does his usual shtick as Lara's butler, and Noah Taylor, looking as if he's aged 20 years since Shine, plays Q to Lara's Bond. Lara's motivation (Daddy's dead, waah!) is silly and overdone, but the action is solid, and a sequence with living statue monsters should please fans of old-school Harryhausen. Though not flawless, Tomb Raider delivers a rollicking good time, and doesn't aspire to more. Bring on the sequels!