Films have been based on novels, stage plays, true stories, operas, and even comic books. Now comes, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, based on a video game, with Simon West as director. The first Hollywood feature film shot in Cambodia since Lord Jim (1965), with a few scenes in England and Iceland, the movie mostly consists of sets of the Indiana Jones genre, with animations pasted onto the various scenes. China was the first choice for the film, but dealing with the bureaucracy proved so frustrating that Paramount Pictures decided to try the more agreeable atmosphere in Cambodia. The story is rather vague. Lady Lara Croft (played by a muscular, confident Angelina Jolie) is the daughter of a brilliant scientist, Lord Croft (played by Jon Voight), who died on May 15, 1985, while on an exploration in the Himalayas. Lara wants to find the cause of his death, so she keeps track of those who accompanied her dad, especially Manfred Powell (played by Iain Glenn), thanks to Bryce (played by Noah Taylor), a computer nerd who is on the lookout for her. Meanwhile, the Illuminati, a conspiratorial group of white male graybeards in Venice (where the film is not shot), seek to dominate the universe with the Triangle of Light, so they engage lawyer Powell. The deadline is when all the sun’s planets will be in alignment for the first time in 5,000 years, supposedly unlocking the object from otherwise dormant strongboxes. Half of the Triangle of Light is uncovered at an underground tomb below the ninth century temple Angkor Wat (which, of course, has no underground tomb) in order to fit into the other half at the North Pole (for which Iceland provides some of the set). There is a lot of shooting at monsters, including statues in the tomb that come to life, and ultimately nothing much happens of consequence, but Lara the fighter moves her body as if she were a ballet star in black tights. The emotional high point of the film comes when Lara meets her father in a time warp, because she gets possession of the Triangle of Light that the Illuminati were seeking. (In real life Angelina is Jon’s daughter.) All the beauty of Angkor may bring tourists to Cambodia, but they will be disappointed to find that the temple has not been taken over by the jungle, that there is nothing underground, and that there is no floating market in front. Cambodians were paid $20 each for four days as extras, while Jolie basked in a hotel suite at $1,900 per night. Tasteless Hollywoodisms included plans to provide fireworks at the temple, but the scene was dropped when Cambodian authorities objected that they have already heard enough explosions in their lifetime. Film reviews are not supposed to give away the ending, but filmviewers are more likely to remember the special effects and the scenery (which also includes the temples of Bakheng and Bayon) than the ending. In any case Angelina Jolie has already returned to Cambodia for the filming of Oliver Stone’s Beyond Borders, and Matt Dillon has picked Cambodia for his Beneath the Banyan Tree. For Leung Choun, the abbot of the monastery near Angkor, the recent films (including the last scene of the recent In the Mood for Love) fulfill a Buddhist prediction that peace will return to Cambodia when Angkor Wat will again become recognized as great. Maybe prosperity, too? MH