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U.K. 2009
Director: Stephen Reynolds
Cast: Anna Tyrie, Peter Wear, Ava Hunt, Hugh Hemmings, Jamie Duncombe, Oliver Brooks, Philip Goldacre, Gabriella Higginbottom
Release Date: -
Rating: - (PG-13 probability)
Running Time: 58 minutes 27 seconds
The Movie Review
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TOMB RAIDER:
ASCENSION |
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Being a fan I just couldn't resist whenever Hollywood released a movie based on any video games that I like. Most of the time those movies were big disappointments for fans, although they might cater to general taste. And the first Tomb Raider really disappointed me as a fan who had expected it to be a true-to-the-game like. The sequel was much better though. And so when another movie of Tomb Raider was out, I just couldn't help to at least take a look, it's Tomb Raider Ascension! Another sequel of Angelina Jolie's Lara Croft? Not exactly, but for a fan of the game like I am, it's just mandatory for the sake of curiosity to watch this.
The movie tells not only about Lara's adventure, but it also shows us a brief history of her and what has happened to Lara's family. Lara's family is falling apart after a fatal accident happened in Himalayas when taking a trip. Afterwards, Lara (Anna Tyrie) left for the army and after several years she came back to her mansion knowing that her father (Philip Goldacre) has gone missing in Cambodia when looking for something very precious to him. Lara with the help of her friends, the American dude tech-savvy named Jax (Jamie Duncombe) and her loyal father-like butler Winston (Hugh Hemmings) try to solve the mystery behind this incident. And surprisingly good 'ol uncle Errol (Peter Wear) even arrives by chopper to inform Lara about something. Could Lara ever solve her father's last mission? Her adventure would not be so smooth with all the betrayal and the intrigue.
On the opening scene, it's clearly mentioned this movie is made by fans as a some kind of a token of appreciation. This fact made me almost feel bad for reviewing it with the regular standard guideline. Nevertheless, since Tomb Raider Ascension managed to find distribution, then all fans of Tomb Raider (and general moviegoers as well) deserve the right to know firsthand before they blind-buy or blind-rent this flick. Well, this film is definitely not a movie to be competed with the original Angelina Jolie's movies. That being said, it means if you expect it to be as good as (read: as high budget as) the originals, you'll get disappointed.
As far as the acting goes, Anna Tyrie along with the entire cast shows very decent performances. With the good accompanying score, if I may add. Anna Tyrie herself is a better actress than Angelina Jolie when it comes to mimicking Lara Croft's style. As you can see on the screenshots below, her shooting style is very Lara-like. Of course from the stunt-department, Jolie way tops Tyrie. But that doesn't mean that she's lame, on no she isn't. Anna Tyrie is excellent in doing the sparring/fighting scenes with Jax and with the mercs down at the cave. Even though the scene where Lara doing back flips, it's done by a stuntwoman (Michele Laine). There's not much action going on, but when it does, all the cast and crew seem tried very hard to make the best out of their limited sources, so it looks also pretty decent. Some of you might except to see some flesh of Lara since this is an independent film, but you're not gonna see it, Anna Tyrie only shows herself topless...from behind. And that's as far as it goes.
Tomb Raider: Ascension only runs for less than an hour (after 58 mins & 27 secs has passed, it goes black until the time clocks in at 1 hour and 6 seconds), which I think the filmmakers were wise enough not to cram their movie with unnecessary and confusing elements. Although the ending is a bit abrupt, but I could understand that, because if they had decided to continue the story, it would've been a very expensive motion picture. Curious enough, that several companies that involve in supplying the helicopter, the big mansion, fight choreographer, fight trainer, weapons trainer and hummer supplier would chip in to make this movie happen. Didn't they cost money? Why did I question that? Because at the final end credits, it says this is a non-profit work and created just for fun. Well, in that case what a bunch of good people they were to do so.
It was produced, written and directed all by the same person, Stephen Reynolds. And it only features a handful of actors. This all would be a regular condition from most Indie movies, but one thing differs Tomb Raider: Ascension from the rest is, again, in the statement mentioned above. However, I insisted myself on giving this action movie star-rating just in case this movie find proper distribution and no-longer non-profit, since all moviegoers have the right to know what's in it for them in each movie. So if you're a fan and could find a way to see this movie for cheap bucks, you should see it but with very modest expectation.
© iwan pranowo of Movielogy.com
posted: Oct 22nd 2009 11:10 pm
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