Um. Wow. Let's take a step back, take a nice, deep breath, and relax. I was thinking of the second movie, so pardon my ignorance. Also, lots of bad movies set records, just so you know. I've just never, ever heard anyone go on about (apparently) either of them like they were good. And for the record, I never said the games were bad. They're not my cup of tea, mostly because of the preposterous situations a half-nude woman is placed in. I thought the movies, however, were terrible. Edit — I seem to have contradicted myself. Regarding the flop, I was thinking of the second movie. But I still hated both movies. Also, Tomb Raider was critically panned, so while it didn't flop in the "financial" sense, it was a flop. I could see you going on the defensive over me insulting the games (which I won't), but over the movies? C'mon, you know movies are never as good as what they're based on, if they're based on anything at all.
But you said the first, which is why I had to scratch my head because I could've sworn it did well in theaters. The second however, as you said...tanked. And no, they weren't works of art in the slightest. This wasn't so much because of the game they were based around however, but more due to the fact that the director of both movies is a tool and someone who (by his own admission) never played the games in his life. How anybody can accurately portray a franchise that they have never even done moderate research into is beyond me. It's no surprise the films weren't fantastic (which I'll admit), because the director had no clue what he was talking about. Put Kate Beckinsale in TR though, with a good script and talented director and the movies may actually be half decent. The thing about Tomb Raider is that it was never the storylines or Lara herself that were bad. The scripts are usually really good (they've been nominated for video game awards), and Lara herself is an engaging intelligent character....it's just the way she was presented over the years made people lose respect for the games as a whole. Too many people took a well rounded (no sexual pun intended) character and tried to make her a sex object, and that's where they failed. The recent games have tried to make her like the old days again (tough, independent and wise) but it's gonna take a lot more than just a few well scored games to get Lara accepted again. That's why the new movies have to be good.
When I said "first," I was counting the new movie as the "second," completely forgetting about the actual second movie. But I think I ended up confusing the hell out of myself.
That's fine. Truth be told I'm kinda angry at how the Lara Croft character has been handled over the past decade. They took a character that was an inspiration to many women (first time a woman was a lead in a video game, apart from Metroid which people didn't know till later was a woman) and made her something 13 year boys could jerk off over. I think if they kept her modest and respectful, Tomb Raider would still be as relevant now as it was then.
Lara has been something 13 year boys could jerk off over from her very beginning. Among other things of course And I loved both movies. Of course they didn't win any Oscars but they were fun to watch. I'm looking forward to the next one, and hoping Jolie would be playing Lara again.
Looks like they did better than we both thought. By the way, very quick photoshopping (under 10 mins):
That's about how long her neck was in the source image. Remember, I said it was a quick photoshop. Literally all I did was cut and paste and erase. Source image: http://www.1pstart.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/tombraiderwii01.jpg