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bullets, great special effects (which owe a nod to The Matrix in places) and a pretty cool soundtrack.

There are only two flaws in my opinion: in one gesture to equality there is a completely unnecessary shower scene with Lara, but later there is also a shower scene with one of the men- also unnecessary though. The more tired and bothersome problem is a story sub-plot involving Lara's dead father (played by Angelina Jolie's real-life father, Jon Voight, in flashback mode), and his role substitute, her wise/smug and superior manservant (Chris Barrie, ex- of Red Dwarf) which is sad and hackneyed, based on an overt bit of Freudian paternalistic nonsense- this could have been done differently, and better. Those apart, plus a few very trite one-liners it's a great entertaining film, no Citizen Kane, but no turkey either.

I resisted playing the game for years, partly for political reasons, and when I did was not any good at it anyway (lack of co-ordination mostly); however you need to know nothing about the game to enjoy the film; which I did. Jolie as Croft gives a splendid show of it, although many feminists are particularly aggrieved at how such an unrealistic character gives men an unachievable template of what a woman should be.

We need to believe that blokes, especially adolescent ones, can tell the difference between Lara Croft in a game or on a movie, and what real women on earth are going to be like. How true that is remains debatable, but suspend disbelief and enjoy the film for what it is.

Lara Croft websites abound; try Google when I searched for Lara Croft Tomb Raider' I got over 150,000 hits

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