![]() The Lara Croft movies have plenty of gun-blazing action. She only needed two guns for shooting and two hands for climbing through ancient ruins (and for holding the guns). She alone could handle any enemies and obstacles that stood in her way from uncovering hidden treasures. But the Lara Croft we know never needed a man to help her find artifacts. And to be fair, the casting of Daniel Craig and Gerard Butler as each movie’s charming and sarcastic hunk of man meat were both apt. We get it, it’s Hollywood, so there are bound to be some love interests thrown our way. Action movies were (and largely still are) a male-dominated genre, but she harnessed her inner Lara Croft and showed early on that any person with two guns can kick some serious ass. ![]() The same can be said for movies when Jolie first stepped into Croft’s shoes for 2001’s Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. Even with her, uh, disproportionate dimensions, video games had scarcely seen any strong female lead characters before she came along. When Lara Croft was first introduced in 1996’s Tomb Raider, she was catapulted towards the top of the very short list of female video game protagonists, including names like Samus Aran and Ms. ![]() Right – Female Protagonists in Male-Dominated Mediums Granted, the Lara Croft in the games is encouraged to smash ancient pots to find collectibles, but at least she had more respect for the artifacts she’d pursue. ![]() So, what does a self-respecting archaeologist do when such a hunch arises? Simple! Smash it with a hammer. She has a hunch that the real artifact is within the casing that Bryce, her tech engineer, is meticulously taking apart. Wrong – Lara Croft: Archaeologist/Hammer Smasherĭuring one scene in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Lara recovers an artifact and brings it back to her mansion for further study. Jolie as Lara Croft may go down as the best casting for a video game character in a movie. You’d be hard pressed to find anyone else who better represented what we thought the pixelated heroine would look like in real life. You can debate whether or not the Lara Croft movies are any good, but there is no arguing that Angelina Jolie had the Lara Croft look nailed down. To help prepare us for Tomb Raider, we looked back at Jolie’s take on Lara Croft to see how they lived up to one of gaming’s most famous characters. Angelina Jolie assumed the role in 2001’s Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and its 2003 sequel Lara Croft: The Cradle of Life, which still stand as the first and sixth highest-grossing video game adaptations, respectively. However, this isn’t the first time that Lara Croft has come to the big screen. Popping with a post-90s ecstasy-inspired dance soundtrack, and with a script from the scribes of the great Face/Off, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider's balmier moments actually work with the action too.Ī tomb where the statues awaken to defend against their human invaders stands out, even including its own "boss level" in a gigantic Shiva stone statue that feels at home and closer to the fantasy of The Mummy than the knee-jerk, out of place aliens of Crystal Skull.Tomb Raider is set to hit theaters on March 16 and aims to portray Lara Croft with a similar survivalist style that we’ve seen in the most recent Tomb Raider games. With scenes like the raid on Lara's mansion in the dead of night, sprawling from her bungee jumping great halls to their lab, and the garage sequence with multiple high-priced cars, these kinds of action scenes come as second nature to the steady hand of West. Related: Best Angelina Jolie Action Movies, Ranked These characters believe that this is life and death, and you go with it. Its inevitable video game easter eggs aren't front and center for diehard fans to point out in the cinema, but the film has enough self-awareness to have fun with its collectibles plot that feels straight out of the games. This is a fun movie for sure, but its characters aren't mugging and winking to camera. After its main star, Tomb Raider's biggest strength is its decision to play it straight.
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