TORONTO SUN TOMB
RAIDER DVD REVIEW
Copyright 2001 Toronto Sun
[ November 12th 2001 ]
Angelina
Jolie empowered herself, physically and figuratively,
in the making of the summer action hit Lara Croft:
Tomb Raider, which is new to VHS and DVD tomorrow.
After
rigorous training sessions that gave her real
muscles to ripple under her 23 tattoos, the juiced-up
Jolie played the femme fatale of video games with
a fearless verve no one expected. Not even herself.
"I'm a bit of a dork - I'm clumsy," Jolie admits.
So she dedicated herself.
"I wanted
to be able to do as much as I could," Jolie says
of that transformation from L.A. girlie geek to
the female version of James Bond and Indiana Jones.
"I worked very hard to be able to jump in her
world and her skin," Jolie says.
With
her head slightly bowed, her bare shoulders back
and her padded breasts thrust forward, Jolie copped
an attitude. The extras-loaded DVD version of
the movie - in a widescreen Special Collector's
Edition from Paramount Home Entertainment - shows
you how she did it, with help.
Her
dad and co-star Jon Voight is as shocked as his
daughter. "Whoa!" he says in the DVD's featurette
Crafting Lara Croft. "Doesn't anyone realize how
unbelievable this is?"
In the
end, Simon West's movie is problematic but is
often fun, almost fantastic at times and always
flashy. Too bad about the story holes and some
clunky characters. There is no doubting Jolie's
presence, however. A sequel looms.
The DVD
is impressive, from the quick and cool computer-generated
menus, to West's useful commentary to the lineup
of behind-the-scenes documentaries. Brightest
is the history of Lara Croft in Are You Game?
Most insightful is the Visual Effects special,
breaking down eight sequences and showing how
the magic works. There are four wisely deleted
scenes, including traitor Wilson's beheading.
The effects in the U2 video of Elevation are both
amazing and amusing.
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