Raiding The “Tomb” Yet Again
Posted: Wednesday December 20th 2006 1:24am
Source: EuroGamer
Author: Garth Franklin

I’m a big fan of globe-hopping, spy-themed action blockbusters, even the camp ones, which explains why I don’t mind sitting through the “Tomb Raider” films.

Why put myself through the torture? Because even on the level of ridiculousness they operateat, they’re a better diversion than some of the other films that have been granted franchises in recent years (“Scooby-Doo”, “The Santa Clause”, “XXX”, various slasher films, any Ice Cube or Martin Lawrence comedy, etc.).

The other reason is that there is a viable franchise in there, a real chance at doing a female Indiana Jones counterpart, but no-one seems to be actually investing any care in it. For every scant clever moment, there’s a dozen stupid ones to counter-balance it.

Even with the second one being a slight improvement on the first, where they fall down hasn’t been the locations, or the casting (Jolie, Daniel Craig, Iain Glen, Gerard Butler, Djimon Hounsou, etc.). No, the failure has been the most basic elements of the films – the direction and more importantly the script.

Now, talking with EuroGamer, Eidos game-master Ian Livingstone expressed much enthusiasm for the fact that Paramount recently “assigned” a screenwriter to a third Tomb Raider flick. The move comes as a surprise, especially considering the last film was such a box-office disappointment.

Maybe if they did a “Casino Royale”/”Batman Begins” style reinvention, ditching all the camp and silliness in favour of a gritty, back to basics, well-written adventure film I’d be onboard. As its sounds, chalk up yet another mark on the “why, Hollywood why?” scoreboard.