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Old 07-12-19, 17:30   #15291
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Tbh, I think that we're lucky that the quality of the AJ movies were even as high as they were . Video game movies still at 2001 were in their infancy (Super Mario Bros only came out 8 years beforehand!), and there was no clear-cut way on how to adapt a video game into a film (still isn't really...). That being said, for the movies to have stuck as close as they did to what the games portrayed, I think was a great step forward for video game based movies.
For the 2001 movie I have read countless review saying the film made no sence and the battle with the stones monkeys or the robot are ridiculous and some are even asking why thoses scenes are on it.. Well guess what ?

The robot scene does have an utility to the movie to show the athletic features of Lara and also why she need that kind of training ? Because it's not her first adventure and encounter with super strange things are in her daily life (as a videogame players we know why thoses scenes are in). Still this movie could have been much more with the original climax (in the script) and a great showcase of Lara's character.
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Old 07-12-19, 17:42   #15292
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Of course the film made sense... I don't see how people think it doesn't.
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Old 07-12-19, 20:09   #15293
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Of course the film made sense... I don't see how people think it doesn't.
It doesn't. The mythology doesn't make any sense. The evil plan doesn't make any sense. Richard's plan which basically needs Lara to become a great explorer 20 years in the future or so, and still live in the manor, AND be at home when the alignment starts so she can hear the clock, AND be at home when his letter arrives in the mail telling her to go to Cambodia doesn't make any sense. And let's not forget that Lara, our protagonist which is supposed to be this super intelligent person with vast knowledge on myths and ancient civilizations, needs to be told by someone else where to go so she can find the pieces of the triangle, instead of figuring out or researching it by herself.

The movie literally has no functional plot is the definition of "dumb action movie".



And I love it for that.
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Old 08-12-19, 00:53   #15294
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It doesn't. The mythology doesn't make any sense. The evil plan doesn't make any sense. Richard's plan which basically needs Lara to become a great explorer 20 years in the future or so, and still live in the manor, AND be at home when the alignment starts so she can hear the clock, AND be at home when his letter arrives in the mail telling her to go to Cambodia doesn't make any sense. And let's not forget that Lara, our protagonist which is supposed to be this super intelligent person with vast knowledge on myths and ancient civilizations, needs to be told by someone else where to go so she can find the pieces of the triangle, instead of figuring out or researching it by herself.

The movie literally has no functional plot is the definition of "dumb action movie".



And I love it for that.

That pretty much infected the entire TR canon as from then on it changed from her being the individual to more of a "Only the Crofts can stop the evil"
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Old 08-12-19, 01:13   #15295
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That pretty much infected the entire TR canon as from then on it changed from her being the individual to more of a "Only the Crofts can stop the evil"
Sure, but at least in TRU Richard left messages for Lara because he disappeared late enough in her life that he knew she was going to be an explorer, and were only relevant if Lara herself decided to go to that part on Thailand, she wasn't directed by him to go there; in the reboot trilogy Lara was the one who decided to go through his research and he never left her a secret "world saving" mission (though he did left a riddle to find Amelia's grave); and on the 2018 movie, Richard left a very easily solvable riddle so Lara could go and find his secret office just to burn everything about Himiko, and not to have her go find Yamatai and end his mission or whatever.

And of those three, the "only Crofts can stop evil" trope is only present on the 2018 movie as well, but again, Richard wanted Lara out of that life, so at least she was the one who decided to do it, not him.
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Old 08-12-19, 02:50   #15296
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It doesn't. The mythology doesn't make any sense. The evil plan doesn't make any sense. Richard's plan which basically needs Lara to become a great explorer 20 years in the future or so, and still live in the manor, AND be at home when the alignment starts so she can hear the clock, AND be at home when his letter arrives in the mail telling her to go to Cambodia doesn't make any sense. And let's not forget that Lara, our protagonist which is supposed to be this super intelligent person with vast knowledge on myths and ancient civilizations, needs to be told by someone else where to go so she can find the pieces of the triangle, instead of figuring out or researching it by herself.

The movie literally has no functional plot is the definition of "dumb action movie".



And I love it for that.
Plot Contrivances and not making sense aren't the same thing though. Yes, it's a dumb action movie plot- but it makes sense in the context of the world that the movie itself presents .
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Old 08-12-19, 05:09   #15297
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Sure, but at least in TRU Richard left messages for Lara because he disappeared late enough in her life that he knew she was going to be an explorer, and were only relevant if Lara herself decided to go to that part on Thailand, she wasn't directed by him to go there; in the reboot trilogy Lara was the one who decided to go through his research and he never left her a secret "world saving" mission (though he did left a riddle to find Amelia's grave); and on the 2018 movie, Richard left a very easily solvable riddle so Lara could go and find his secret office just to burn everything about Himiko, and not to have her go find Yamatai and end his mission or whatever.

And of those three, the "only Crofts can stop evil" trope is only present on the 2018 movie as well, but again, Richard wanted Lara out of that life, so at least she was the one who decided to do it, not him.
Oh god I was too young to connect the dots when TRU came out that he left that in Thailand for her. Oh video game plots...
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Old 08-12-19, 06:39   #15298
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It doesn't. The mythology doesn't make any sense. The evil plan doesn't make any sense. Richard's plan which basically needs Lara to become a great explorer 20 years in the future or so, and still live in the manor, AND be at home when the alignment starts so she can hear the clock, AND be at home when his letter arrives in the mail telling her to go to Cambodia doesn't make any sense. And let's not forget that Lara, our protagonist which is supposed to be this super intelligent person with vast knowledge on myths and ancient civilizations, needs to be told by someone else where to go so she can find the pieces of the triangle, instead of figuring out or researching it by herself.

The movie literally has no functional plot is the definition of "dumb action movie".



And I love it for that.
Trust me the original version aka the screenplay version is much more logical. There was several scenes when she actually search where is the triangle with Bryce but it was cut. Powel plan was to get rid of Lara's existance in the climax.

I still need to put this second version online...

Last edited by Ellioft; 08-12-19 at 06:41.
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Old 08-12-19, 13:24   #15299
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Trust me the original version aka the screenplay version is much more logical. There was several scenes when she actually search where is the triangle with Bryce but it was cut. Powel plan was to get rid of Lara's existance in the climax.

I still need to put this second version online...
While I haven't read the script, I do know that it was basically destroyed while filming and editing, and we ended up with something that makes no sense because of it.

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Plot Contrivances and not making sense aren't the same thing though. Yes, it's a dumb action movie plot- but it makes sense in the context of the world that the movie itself presents .
One or two plot contrivances I can overlook, because nothing is perfect. But when literally everything that happens in the movie results from plot contrivances and the plot's reason to exist or internal logic is merely "because yes", then said plot makes absolutely no sense.

Look, compare it to TRI and TRA, which in a way have a similar plot structure to the first movie:

Both plots have Lara being told where to start her adventurer but in TRI/TRA Natla only hires Lara for her status as a world famous Tomb Raider (and even if Richard was a factor in TRA for her hiring, Natla only does it when Lara becomes world famous for herself).

Even to go for Greece and Egypt, Lara goes to those places because she did her research (Greece, by infiltrating Natla's office) or because she already knew the answers on her own (Egypt, her own knowledge led her to decipher some pretty trippy visions).

And for Atlantis, no one tells Lara where to go, she is the one who decides to infiltrate Natla's yacht.

Both Atlantis and the Illuminati are weirdly advanced ancient civilizations, and the Scion and the Triangle weird, powerful artefacts that were splited and shipped to different parts of the world because reasons. But at least TRI and TRA have a sort of logic to the locations: the pieces went to places that years in the future would be the birthplaces of big civilizations, perhaps because of said weird powers of the Scion. And while the same could have been said for the first half of the triangle, the one in Siberia was just randomly there, no real justification that could be somehow plausible other than "because we said so".

Even Natla, on her "evil because evil" role, at least tried to fake an excuse of "I am just accelerating evolution, I'm not doing anything wrong", instead of going "yeah, I just want to rule the world" right from the get go. And if we add TRU to the mix, she also wants Lara to definitely suffer and die, which considering what happens in TRA it is very understandable and gives her some more human traits of actually justified vengeance. Powell is just there, on the other hand.

Last edited by Portugalraider; 08-12-19 at 14:16.
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Old 08-12-19, 13:51   #15300
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While I haven't read the script, I do know that it was basically destroyed while filming and editing, and we ended up with something that makes no sense because of it.
True ^^
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