MORIARTY SCORES
TOMB RAIDER FOOTAGE
Copyright 2001 www.aicn.com
[ May 23rd 2001 ]
Aint
It Cool News scores an exclusive report from Moriarty
who recently witnessed cutting room footage from
Paramount Pictures upcoming Tomb Raider movie:
One of
the big question marks for many film fans is TOMB
RAIDER, and when I was first asked if I wanted
to take a look at some of the film, albeit in
very rough form, I readily agreed. I was a big
fan of the shooting script for the movie, surprised
at how strong the character material between Lara
and her father was, impressed by the casting of
Noah Taylor and Chris Barrie as Lara's support
team, positively thrilled with the idea of Jon
Voight actually playing Lord Croft. As the trailers
started being released, I remember liking much
of the footage, but not really caring for the
way the trailer was cut. To me, it was that same
kind of slam-bang post-Bruckheimer hummingbird
on crack rubbish that makes so much of what passes
as "action" right now seem... well... dull.
I thought
Angelina looked great, and there's been artwork
like the billboard we first put up last weekend
that I think captures the spirit of Lara Croft
perfectly. I didn't really have any reason to
trust Simon West, not being the biggest fan of
his first few major films, but I knew he'd been
a big part of the last draft of the script, that
he really believed in this film. Bottom line...
I was nervous as I greeted Lloyd, who I've had
the pleasure of meeting several times in the past.
He's a compact, remarkably calm presence, even
when under the intense pressure of a production
like TOMB RAIDER, still working to coordinate
the finishing dates on material from six different
FX houses, even when working to finish the recording
of a new score by Graeme Revell to replace an
old score by Michael Kamen, a process that's taken
more than the ten days that was recently rumored
on a number of sites. Lloyd seems unfazed by it
all, as friendly as ever, and as we headed upstairs
to one of the Avid bays where the film is being
cut, we chatted back and forth about a number
of films, both in release and coming soon. It's
fun to see someone actually excited about other
summer movies even as he preps one of his own.
Lloyd's
got such a simple enthusiasm when you talk to
him about the projects he's working on that you
want to believe the best. You want to believe
that this is going to be a monster hit, a great
ride. That's what made me nervous. I knew I'd
be honest with Lloyd, and no one ever likes to
be the bearer of bad news. In that upstairs office,
I saw a rough version of reel one of the film,
the first fifteen or twenty minutes. The title
sequence I saw, a CG fly-through similar to the
opening to 1989's BATMAN, has been scrapped, and
Lloyd tells me something totally different will
be in place for the final film. I hope so. There's
so many great images and designs and details in
this film that the opening titles could be rich
with texture, setting the stage. If I'm not mistaken,
Richard Greenberg is working on the titles, and
that's good news.
Like
Maurice Binder or Saul Bass, Greenberg has made
a career of creating vivid graphic sequences that
encapsulate a film or that have an effect on an
audience, like ALTERED STATES or THE WORLD ACCORDING
TO GARP, also creating memorable visual effects
for films like PREDATOR, where he created the
creature's distinctive POV. Most famously, he
was the man who created those great opening credits
for SUPERMAN - THE MOVIE. At any rate, it was
"R/Greenberg Associates" that was watermarked
on the footage at the tail end of the credit sequence,
starting in tight on that shot of Angelina hanging
upside down. She's waiting for something. When
she's ready, she drops from her spot, twisting
and flipping on the way down, landing perfectly,
poised, ready for trouble. Right away, I noticed
that it wasn't cut the same as it was in the trailer.
Little things, but there was a refinement to it
that made a difference. Lara's got her eye on
a prize, and as she moves through this seemingly-ancient
room, she stays focused. So focused, in fact,
that she almost lets SIMON sneak up on her.
You've
seen SIMON in the ads. He's the robot, one half
of Lara's Kato in this film. Remember in the PINK
PANTHER films when Inspector Clouseau would be
randomly attacked by his henchman Kato? Well,
SIMON is the physical half of the team that keeps
Lara trained and ready, and in this fun opening
sequence, SIMON does his stone-cold best to kill
Lara, and she has to do about eight types of damage
just to slow SIMON down. And watching the way
the film was cut, I started to smile. Because
it wasn't cut the way I expected at all. In fact,
there's not a hint of that fast-cutting, ADD-friendly
spastic style I was so worried about. Instead,
TOMB RAIDER has an almost classic action-movie
rhythm to it, and by the end of that first scene,
we know quite a bit about this hard-bodied, hard-boiled
beauty with the twin automatics. We know she does
this because she wants to, not because she has
to. We know that she is inventive in a tight spot
and doesn't just rely on firepower to solve something.
On the other hand, we learn that she's comfortable
letting firepower solve as much as necessary.
We learn
that Bryce (Taylor) is the other half of Lara's
Kato, her tech guy, the brain behind the various
high-tech gadgetry she employs. We also meet Hillary
(Barrie), her butler and conscience, the only
one who pushes Lara in any way. All of this is
done quickly, with wit and flair, and her near-nudity
during some of the sequence made me flash on BARBARELLA's
memorable opening. It's done with a wink, and
then we're off and running. This film doesn't
waste any time. Wilson presents Lara with a number
of options for her next job, but she's in a funk.
It's almost May 15th, the anniversary of the day
her father died. Even worse, it's a week before
a major astronomical event that's directly related
to the work Lord Croft was doing, meaning Lara's
missing him more than ever. This is one of the
most important sequences in the film, because
if we're going to give a shit about Lara Croft
on any level, it's going to have to be through
her relationship with her father.
One of
the things I like about the script is that there
are no Indiana Joneses in this film. Everyone's
a Belloq, even Lara. This is a film populated
by people living in shades of grey. Because she's
not a traditional hero, our sympathy has to be
engaged by Lara on some other level. Rachel Appleton
plays Young Lara in the flashbacks we see to her
childhood, to that moment when Lord Croft was
still alive. That moment is so important to Lara
because it was after the loss of her mother, but
there was still order to the world. She still
had a father explaining the mysteries of things
to her, and Voight's just right in the footage
I saw, part teacher, part father, warm but not
cloying. Lara's even erected the tent from that
moment on her estate, over a plaque in memory
of her father. Then, finally, we meet the film's
primary antagonists. Even here, though, we're
not given someone who is overtly evil. Instead,
the Illuminati are faceless old white men, anonymous
and ashen as they address Powell (Ian Glenn) and
his assistant Pimms (Julian Rhind-Tutt), asking
if they will be ready for a special event that
we quickly learn is that same astronomical event
Lord Croft was working on.
In the
script, this scene has to cover a lot of ground
expositionally, but it's been shot and cut in
such a way that it does it all deftly, quickly,
far more visual than verbal. Then we're back to
Lara and the one sequence out of what I saw that
just didn't work. Lara's dreaming of her father,
dreaming of the upcoming event, and suddenly wakes
up and goes prowling in her house, somehow drawn
to the ticking of a clock hidden in a secret room
several floors away. Right now, this moment is
awkward, a leap of faith on the part of any viewer,
and it comes at what is a pretty crucial moment.
This is Lara's call to adventure, if we're following
the Joseph Campbell model. This is where she's
set off on her quest to find an ancient artifact
that has the power, if used at the right place
and the right time, to give her control over time
and possibly even life and death itself. Little
does she know, this is the same artifact that
Powell has promised to deliver within the week.
And the reason it's started ticking is because
it wants someone... anyone... to use it. Just
as I was really getting into it, just as the film
was really getting started, reel one ended, and
Lloyd and I headed back down, back to the Henry
Mancini stages, to watch the work being done on
reel 4.
By now,
you may have seen the Pepsi commercials featuring
the Stone Monkeys trying to stop Lara on her motorcycle.
If you are looking at that ad and trying to gauge
the quality of the FX in the film, let me save
you a little trouble: can't be done. The commercial
is clever in terms of the way it's staged, but
it isn't anywhere near what you'll actually see
in the theater. The Mill, the English FX house
started by Ridley and Tony Scott, already a major
player thanks to GLADIATOR, has done some remarkable
character work here. There were several shots
that I was sure had to be actual practical FX,
but in each case I was wrong. The Stone Monkeys
are a credible threat, and they're just the first
level of menace in the scene. More impressive
are the huge stone gryphons, lions with massive
eagle wings, who rip into the entire group of
adventurers unlucky enough to be there as the
temple comes to life. Here again, there was a
noticeable charm to the FX that gave the sequence
a great sense of build. It wasn't just gag, gag,
gag, gag, gag, gag.
Instead,
the geography of the action was clear, sharp,
and the gags seemed to build with some actual
subtlety, even in the midst of chaos and noise.
I got my first glimpse of Daniel Craig as Alex,
a sometimes-associate of Lara's who is even more
morally slippery than she is, and as Lloyd spoke
of Craig, his genuine admiration for Craig's work
was evident, calling him "an amazing actor." And
there in the center of it all is Angelina Jolie.
Lara Croft herself. And how is she? She's totally
believable. She is the video game heroine come
to life. In the opening SIMON sequence and again
here, she's never just portrayed as a dumb action
hero or a girl with a gun. Instead, she's genuinely
tough, and you can see her giving it everything
she's got. Every move, every run, every flip,
every volley of gunfire, Angelina believes in
this stuff. When the gryphons charge, you can't
help but flash back to her training with SIMON
thanks to the size and shape of the things, and
we see those early training sequences pay off.
|