Wanting an evening of light, fun entertainment, we decided to have a Tomb Raider “marathon” yesterday. I had seen both of them before (a few times, actually) but I still really like the films.

In the first one, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Lara (Angelina Jolie) finds a mysterious clock that was hidden for her by her now dead father. When she finds out that the clock can control time once placed together with two pieces of a broken triangle at a certain time on a certain day at a certain place when all nine planets align (which only happens every five thousand years), she just has to go and find this hidden temple. She is not the only one looking for a way to control time, as the sect the Illuminati also want to have the device.

Best scene: It has to be the scene where she is doing some sort of relaxation workout on bungee-cords in her house, which suddenly gets invaded by the Illuminati. She is up against hundreds of men who really don’t stand the chance against her.

In the second film, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, there is even more at stake. Here, Lara is looking for Pandora’s Box, which was supposed to have created life itself. She is working together with the British Intelligence and her ex-lover Terry Sheridan (Gerard Butler) to find the box before a scientist finds it who wants to sell it to the highest bidders to release a plague onto the world to rid it of, in his eyes, unwanted people.

Best scene: Lara needs to get to the surface of the ocean, so she cuts her arm to attract a shark, then punches the shark and holds onto the shark’s fin. Very impressive!

Both films are action-packed and full of mystery and intrigues. I have only ever played the game once, at my godfather’s place, a really long time ago, but I think the films do the game justice. I love the character of Lara Croft. She is so rich that she doesn’t have to work and archeology is her main hobby. She is a tomb raider, not because she needs money or anything like that. It just seems to give her a kick. She is living in a huge mansion with her butler and a geek who takes care of the electrical equipment. As far as action films go, these are two of my favorites. It is really nice to have a woman as the main character of an action film. And she is a lot cooler, tougher and better looking than most of her male counterparts. Somehow the stories in action films are never as important to me as the main characters. But I do like intrigues, so the stories of the Tomb Raider films suit me just fine .

Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft: I personally think she is perfect for the role. Angelina can really pull off the female Indiana Jones. She looks exactly like the computer game version and I can easily believe that she can do all those crazy things she is doing in the film (well, if anyone could do them, I think it would be her). She also has a certain arrogance in her appearance that fits perfectly for this rich, spoiled British woman who is risking her life just for a bit of fun. It is quite sad what is happening to Angelina Jolie lately…she used to be so cool and rock’n'roll (especially in Gina, Girl Interrupted and Gone in Sixty Seconds) and now she has become boringly mainstream. What a pity. But in Tomb Raider she definitely kicks ass!

A few weeks ago, I read an interview with Clint Eastwood where he was saying that Angelina Jolie is such a talented actress and that she is often overlooked for serious roles because she is so stunningly beautiful. At the time I thought that he has to say these kinds of things to promote his film and so on. But yesterday I saw that he was right. She is absolutely amazing in this film. I am still rooting for Kate Winslet to get the Oscar, but I guess I wouldn’t be too upset if Angelina got it.

The film, based on a true story, tells the tale of Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie) who comes home from work one day to discover that her son is missing. After five months, the police find a child who claims he is Walter Collins, but Christine knows immediately that this child is not her son. A long battle between her and the LAPD follows which results in her being interned in a mental asylum. The only help she gets is from a minister (John Malkovich), who manages to get her out of the asylum and helps her continue her fight against the police and in the search for her son.

Changeling is a very dramatic and emotional story. It is extremely well made and fully deserves to be nominated for an Academy Award (although, strangely enough, it is not). It is beautifully shot, and the costumes and sets really make the film. Apparently Eastwood wanted to shoot some of the scenes at the actual house where the real Christine Collins used to live, but the area had become too modernized. They ended up using a house and neighbourhood nearby. But most of the credit for this film should go to the impressive main actress Angelina Jolie. Her not too over-the-top performance really transports the anger and grief of this woman to the audience.

Changeling gets awarded the MovieCat award as an outstandingly well-made drama.