Living the Hard Way

Once upon a time, Hollywood shied away from producing a scenario that wasn't of literary pedigree. When Irving Thalberg tried to enter 1920s Hollywood with an original screenplay, studio after studio turned him down. So Thalberg novelized his scenario and had it published. He then advertised the same screenplay as a literary adaptation and his cunning paid off: The Trap was optioned and later produced. It is thus with latter-day irony that Hollywood's most entertaining blockbusters for the summer of 2003 are not adaptations of Alexander Dumas or Philip K. Dick, but adaptations of a comic book (Hulk), a theme park ride (Pirates of the Caribbean) and now, a video game.

If there were ever a creation of the adolescent male imagination, it is Lara Croft. Smart, feisty, adventurous and with a body that's just plain unfair, she's like the product of an overheated boy's mind. As played by Angelina Jolie, Croft is part Indiana Jones, part James Bond and pure glacial pinup. "Do you ever do anything the easy way?" one of her protégés asks in Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life. "And risk disappointing you?" she winningly replies. The film's producers must have taken this as their mantra.

The Cradle of Life sends Croft in search of Pandora's Box, the mythical receptacle of a deadly plague that, in a twist upon the Hellenic original, has been periodically discovered and opened by curious men (an Egyptian pharaoh, Alexander the Great). Now the nefarious Dr. Jonathan Reiss (a terrific Ciarán Hinds) wants to use this plague to control the world and Croft, with the aid of fellow tomb raider Terry Sheridan (Gerard Butler), hopes to foil his plans. This mission will take her from submerged temples in the Aegean Sea to remote mountain hideaways in northern China. She will jump in a squirrel suit off the top of a Hong Kong skyscraper, battle ancient shadow warriors on the savannas of West Africa, and, during a rest at her country manor, sidesaddle a galloping stallion while dressed in an imperious black leather duster.

The Tomb Raider franchise revolves around the cheerful exploitation of two key resources: exotic countries and Jolie. Like the first film, The Cradle of Life features outstanding locations and inventive set direction. This film's version of the Flower Pagoda in Shanghai, brimming with red lattice and neon lights, is especially stunning. Furthermore, under the skilled action direction of Jan de Bont, Jolie delivers a wry performance built upon the twin pedestals of superb presence and physicality.

A curious theme runs throughout the film: the clash between traditional civilizations and modern global technology. The film opens with a Greek wedding dance in which folk music transitions into urban rock. We see Chinese peasants living in rickety houseboats, watching American programming on satellite television. A climactic battle occurs between African tribesmen, armed with spears, and European mercenaries, armed with machine guns. All the while, our heroine insouciantly globe-trots from continent to continent like a cultural imperialist: parachuting in, tomb-raiding, then getting air-lifted back out. The natives Croft uses on her missions frequently wind up dead and I couldn't tell if this nascent political consciousness was a genuine critique of the genre or yet another cultural artifact that this film willingly exploits in its bid to not disappoint.

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life is currently playing nationwide.