Lara Croft: Tomb Raider(2001)

Plot Summary

• Croft (Angelina Jolie) in an Egyptian tomb, seeking a diamond at one end of a chamber. As she approaches, she is attacked by a large robot. After an intense chase and battle, she disables it by ripping out its motivational circuits. She takes the diamond, which is revealed to be a memory card labeled 'Lara's Party Mix,' and inserts it into a laptop computer inside the robot, whereupon it plays music. Now it is revealed that the scene took place in a practice arena in Croft's home, and that her assistant, Bryce (Noah Taylor), programmed the robot to challenge her in combat.It is the day of the first phase of a planetary alignment, culminating in a solar eclipse on the Earth, which happens once every 5,000 years. In Venice, the Illuminati search for a key to rejoin the halves of "the triangle," which must be done by the final phase of the alignment. Mr. Powell (Iain Glen), an Illuminati member, makes assurances that they are almost ready, but in reality, he has no idea where to find the key.Croft's butler, Hillary (Chris Barrie), tries to interest her in several projects, but she ignores them. 15 May, as Hillary is aware, is the day that Croft's father (Jon Voight) disappeared many years earlier. She has not recovered from his loss. Later that night, Croft has a dream reminding her of what her father said about the alignment, and an object linked to it called the Triangle of Light. Waking, she is aware of a clock ticking. Searching for it, she discovers a secret chamber in her house with a carriage clock that had spontaneously begun ticking. Bryce probes it and discovers a strange device hidden inside the clock.Since the device resembles a clock, Croft consults a clock expert friend of her father's, Mr. Wilson (Leslie Phillips). She believes it is connected to the "Triangle of Light," but Wilson disavows knowledge of the clock or the Triangle. Croft encounters Alex West (Daniel Craig), a fellow tomb raider with unscrupulous methods. They are attracted to each other, but Croft cannot abide by his for-profit attitude. That night, Croft is contacted by Wilson, who tells her that he gave her name to a man named Manfred Powell in regards of the clock. In reality, Wilson is also a member of the Illuminati. The next day, Croft sees Powell in his home and shows him photographs of the clock. Later, while discussing it with Bryce, she points out that Powell was lying about his knowledge. That night, armed commandos invade the house and steal the clock despite Croft's attempts to fend them off.The next morning, Croft receives a letter from her father, arranged to arrive after the beginning of the alignment, where he explains that the clock is the key to retrieve two halves of the mystic Triangle of Light, which is revealed to be an object of phenomenal destructive power that granted its wielder power over time and space. Initially housed in a city built by those who worshiped the object, misuse of the Triangle's power destroyed the city, and so it was split into two halves; one was hidden in a tomb in Cambodia, the other half in the ruined city itself, in modern-day Siberia. Her father urges her to find and destroy both halves before the Illuminati can find it.In Cambodia, West figures out part of the puzzle on how to retrieve the triangle half, but Croft manages to successfully grab the piece and escape the temple after fighting off and destroying a huge six-armed guardian statue.She and Powell arrange to meet in Venice, since each of them has what the other needs to finish the Triangle. Powell proposes a partnership to find the Triangle and informs Lara that her father was a member of the Illuminati, which she vehemently denies. Though hesitant at first, she, along with Bryce, meets with Powell for the trip to Siberia. Inside the tomb, there is a giant model of the solar system, which activates as the alignment nears completion. Croft retrieves the last half of the Triangle, but when Powell tries to complete it, the halves will not fuse. He realizes that Croft knows the solution to the puzzle and kills West in order to persuade her to complete the Triangle to save both West's life and her father's. Croft reluctantly complies & completes the triangle with a single grain of sand that was hidden inside the clock. As the triangle is completed, the source of power is revealed & they then struggle for control of the Triangle, with Croft prevailing.Croft then finds herself in a strange alternate existence facing her father. He explains that it is a "crossing" of time and space and urges her to destroy the Triangle instead of using it to save his life. She leaves her father and returns to the chamber, where time is slowly running backwards from the point where Powell killed West. Croft takes the knife he threw into West's chest and reverses it, then destroys the Triangle, which returns time to its normal flow and directs the knife into Powell's shoulder. The chamber begins to self-destruct, everyone turns to leave, but Powell tells Croft that he killed her father and retrieved his pocket watch with a picture of Lara's mother inside. Croft fights him to retrieve it, killing him and escaping as the chamber comes down around her.At the mansion, Hillary and Bryce are shocked to see Croft wearing a dress. She goes into the garden to her father's memorial, then returns inside, where Bryce has a reprogrammed SIMON, ready to challenge Croft once again. Hillary reveals a silver tray holding Croft's pistols, which she takes with a smile.

Storyline

• The orphaned heiress and intrepid archaeologist, Lara Croft, embarks on a dangerous quest to retrieve the two halves of an ancient artefact which controls time before it falls into the wrong hands. As an extremely rare planetary alignment is about to occur for the first time in 5,000 years, the fearless tomb raider will have to team up with rival adventurers and sworn enemies to collect the pieces, while time is running out. But, in the end, who can harness the archaic talisman's unlimited power? — Nick Riganas A member of a rich British aristocratic family, Lara Croft is a "tomb raider" who enjoys collecting ancient artifacts from ruins of temples, cities, etc. worldwide, and doesn't mind going through death-defying dangers to get them. She is skilled in hand-to-hand combat, weapons training, and foreign languages - and does them all in tight outfits. Well, the planets of the solar system are going into planetary alignment (Which occurs every 5,000 years), and a secret society called the Illuminati is seeking an ancient talisman that gives its possessor the ability to control time. However, they need a certain clock/key to help them in their search, and they have to find the talisman in one week or wait until the next planetary alignment to find it again. Lara happens to find that key hidden in a wall of her mansion. The Illuminati steal it, and Lara gets an old letter from her deceased father telling her about the society's agenda (Her father was also the one who hid the key). Now, she must retrieve the key and find and destroy the talisman before the Illuminati can get their hands on it. — Vampirok Based on the popular video game series, Tomb Raider features the adventures of Lara Croft an antiquities hunter-for-hire. She travels to exotic locales in search of treasures and artifacts in the catacombs of ancient tombs and ruins remaining from age-old empires. A female Indiana Jones, Croft's expeditions are always chock full of action, danger, intrigue, suspense and her omnipresent knack for defying death in tight outfits. — Sujit R. Varma Lara Croft is a wealthy, British archeologist/tomb raider who tries to thwart a secret society/doomesday cult seeking two pieces of a mysterious device hidden in two different places of the world in order to use it during a rare planetary alignment to bring them unlimited power to control or destroy the world. — Matthew Patay