Ga-adapted movies have always been a tricky business, trying to satisfy both gars and moviegoers at the sa ti is nearly impossible, leaning too much toward either side would bring discontent from the other. However, overall, gars are harder to please, especially the purists who adhere strictly to the ga settings and can’t accept even minor differences, while there are many more moviegoers than gars. Therefore, even though the movie version of "Resident Evil" was basically developed according to the ga, the plot still leaned more towards moviegoers.
Despite great efforts by the production team to balance, the movie version of "Resident Evil" saw decent box office results but still faced a lot of criticism. Luckily, "Tomb Raider" had relatively more freedom, the puzzle gas are sophisticated, but Laura’s image is the most eye-catching aspect, so sticking to minimal correlation between the story and the gas was viable.
Female Indiana Jones—that was one of the slogans when the ga was first released and a key reason for its success. What are the characteristics of Dr. Jones’ adventures then? Simple, although the "Indiana Jones" trilogy ended with so surreal elents like the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail, Dr. Jones’ entire adventure journey closely connected with reality and involved real-life dangers and chanisms.
"There’s no need for too much magic, the treasure is just an embellishnt, it can show so power at the end, but the focus isn’t on it, it’s on Laura’s skills, Laura’s equipnt, Laura’s intelligence—that’s what the movie’s about!" Adrian had emphasized repeatedly to the crew.
In his view, the original so-called Golden Triangle was nonsensical; the ga indeed was the female version of Indiana Jones, but the movie was a separate matter. In a film selling on action and characters, too much mysticism would easily affect the viewing experience.
Thus, the movie began with Laura searching for treasures in the mountains of Peru—since it was the female Indiana Jones, might as well pay tribute outright. Additionally, Adrian invited Sean Connery for a cao as Laura’s father, appearing only in a few flashback scenes, but this gimmick was enough to attract a large audience.
Then, after fully showcasing her skills using equipnt in the forest, and proving her knowledge in archeology, Laura finally found the treasure, only to be robbed by villains who were a step behind. Combat was inevitable, Laura’s signature dual pistols made their debut, with quick cuts showing Kate’s agile movents perfectly. Nonetheless, the item was still stolen by despicable ans, and the villain loudly taunted her as they left.
"I’ve failed again, that annoying guy, I’ll catch him soday," Laura complained to her butler upon returning ho, revealing her character from a different angle.
"A little failure is good sotis," the butler consoled her.
Next was a comprehensive display of Laura’s life, the manor, archeology, auctions, showcasing her knowledge, interlaced with mories of her father, Connery’s face even caused a few low gasps in the theater. The film purposely contrasted Laura by adjusting the cara angles and lighting at the scene; she looked scholarly with glasses and loosened hair, but beca efficient again with glasses off and hair in a ponytail. Oh, and quite eye-catching was a bungee jumping scene.
Then she accepted a commission from the Royal Library to investigate a relic at Angkor Wat in Cambodia, where she encountered her nesis, hired by an organization to investigate the site. Naturally, another action scene ensued, not only confronting each other but also guarding against local stealth attacks, and classic ga chanisms also appeared one after another. The director’s pacing was quite good, and Adrian personally supervised the editing of this action sequence.
In the end, Laura won this round and brought back to the United Kingdom a half Buddha head that seed to be made of gold. Adrian himself didn’t know exactly what it was, these were primarily props to drive the plot, as the scriptwriters needed to link the treasure in Peru with the hidden relics in Cambodia and the information about a millennium-old valuable artifact in Tunisia.
With so many scriptwriters working hard, it wasn’t too difficult, but if one were to study in detail... better not.
Finally, another battle ensued. For an action movie, three intense fights were enough, each with its own flavor. The first mainly utilized Laura’s variety of equipnt, with her dual pistols particularly impressive. The second showcased Lara’s close-combat, for which Adrian specifically hired Yuan Heping as the action director.
There’s no denying, Eighth Master Yuan was quite skilled, under his guidance, Laura and her nesis’ fight focusing on technique and strength was very impressive. However, from another perspective, he was still sowhat stingy, although the action directing was spot on, he always kept so techniques to himself, sotis preferring his disciples to repetitively approximate movents rather than providing clear instructions, afraid of teaching away his skills.
Unfortunately, what he didn’t understand was that people had already been analyzing the movents he directed fra by fra, and had gleaned quite a lot from them. When it ca to profitable ventures, Hollywood’s efficiency was always very high. So, no matter how much he tried to hide, perhaps the conclusions he drew himself weren’t as exquisite as his personal direction, but they were definitely more suitable for Hollywood action films. It was truly a pity, the decline of Hong Kong cinema and such malpractices were probably not unrelated.
Well, to leave that aside, in the final fight, each side employed cunning strategies. The organization opposing Lara also found clues in Tunisia and sought the legendary artifact of priceless value that was said to date back to ancient tis. They had much more resources than Lara, not only getting ahead at every step but also managing to capture Lara.
"Why go through the trouble, why not just kill her? I heard she’s given you quite a bit of trouble, or have you gone soft?" the employer was very displeased with Lara’s rival’s decision to imprison her.
"We’ve fought often, I know what kind of woman she is. She definitely has sothing up her sleeve," her rival said calmly. "Besides, her intuition in treasure hunting is extraordinary. We need to use her to find the target; I’ll have soone watch her closely and kill her imdiately if anything goes amiss."
Almost every action film has such a scenario. Why should "Tomb Raider" be any different? Her rival’s judgnt seed correct; Lara indeed led them to the treasure and then suddenly turned the tables, using so tricks to incapacitate those inside the ruins and cut off communication with the main force, and then defeated the remaining people one by one.
"Just as you know , Paris, I understand you too. So, I just made a little use of that," Lara said mockingly during the gunfire, letting them get ahead and all the unfavorable situations were part of her plan.
A grand turn-around that was completely under control would definitely delight the audience, not to ntion the brilliantly handled explosive special effects scenes—flying debris, hand-to-hand combat, and finally triggering the chanism, sinking everyone but Lara and her rival Paris along with the treasure into the ground. One should know, mixing strategy, action, and gunfight scenes could appear sloppy and lack tension if not well managed by the director, but the film did not feel that way; it could be said to be a success, as audible from the applause at the end.
"They like you as Lara, my dear," Adrian said affectionately as they were returning to the hotel in their motorho, having sent the troubleso little one in another vehicle.
"So should I say thank you?" Kate slightly lifted her chin, she was indeed pleased, especially since many had congratulated her on the good film after it concluded, but she was accustod to dealing with Adrian this way, back when in London.
"Of course not, I’ve been waiting for this day for nearly ten years," Adrian said with a smile.
Kate paused for a mont, involuntarily turning her head towards the window. Although London hadn’t changed much in the decade, it now had the Millennium Footbridge and the London Eye. But she still rembered, in a small inn in the suburbs, Adrian’s excitent when he first conceived the idea for "Tomb Raider", an image that was permanently etched in her mind.
And then, ten years had passed, that idea had successfully turned into a novel, then a ga, and then a film, starring herself, and that initial man who conceived the idea had beco a fad dia mogul, and she, one of his many won, had even had a child...
"What’s wrong?" Adrian asked softly, noticing her shift in emotion.
"It’s nothing, just... rembering so things from the past," Kate sighed.
Adrian chuckled softly, pulling her closer, and looked at her earnestly, "Do you know what the luckiest thing that has happened to so far is? It was eting you when I directed my first film!"
Though it was just a sentence, it conveyed a lot of aning, which Kate clearly understood. She did not speak for a while and finally let out a long sigh, "You bastard..."
With her eyes closed, she snuggled completely into his arms without saying a word. Adrian too sighed deeply and closed his eyes, savoring the indescribable affection and warmth of the mont.
After the premiere of "Tomb Raider," many British dia outlets gave it high ratings. Since both the ga and the characters, as well as the actors, were British, and even though Lara might not have been the first virtual character to appear on a magazine cover, she was definitely the most popular at the mont, naturally garnering much affection from the British people.
"This is an outstanding action movie that perfectly recreates certain settings from the ga without being cliché," wrote an entertainnt section article in The Guardian. "Kate Beckinsale may not look the most like Lara Croft, but overall, she almost mirrors Lara Croft, and watching her fight in the movie is a pleasure."
Other major newspapers were similar; although The Tis pointed out a few faults, it still acknowledged that Kate’s portrayal was very close to Lara and highly praised her for being nominated for an Oscar while still being able to perform in action movies, declaring her as one of the finest British actresses. The British indeed have an advantage on their own turf.
But what they said was also true; this was a plan Adrian had customized for Kate. Although it was a comrcial action route, it could still accommodate art, and it wasn’t unusual for actresses to succeed this way. Perhaps the ti to earn awards might be slightly longer. That was okay; she was British and a woman, and winning an Oscar is not easy. Although Adrian could have achieved this for Kate through public relations, that would seem sowhat undeserved. Surely letting her beco the worst ever Best Actress Oscar winner in her lifeti would be too much?
Anyway, there was plenty of ti, and no shortage of suitable movies; Adrian could definitely give her an undeniable Best Actress title, so why worry?
As for The Sun, it stuck to its usual focus on gossip and scandals, and indeed, they found a breakthrough.
"The Real First ’Miracle Girl’?" This was the headline The Sun ran three days after the movie’s premiere, detailing Kate’s roles in "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" and "nto" quite extensively.
"Everyone knows that ’Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels,’ the debut work of Miracle Director Adrian Cowell, is a cult film laden with British black humor. This movie not only made Adrian an overnight sensation but also bolstered the career of Dennis Knight with his excellent performance. Most people, when watching this movie, entertained by its black humor, fail to notice the only female character who gets so high that she picks up a machine gun and goes on a rampage. Yes, that girl was none other than Ms. Kate Beckinsale, who recently played Lara Croft in ’Tomb Raider’!
Then, Adrian produced his second movie, ’nto,’ which also shined at the Berlin Film Festival, further centing the status of the Miracle Director with Dennis also acting as the lead and delivering even more impressive performances, with the important female supporting role again played by Miss Beckinsale.
Following that, Miss Beckinsale played the younger sister Helen in ’Howards End,’ completely overshadowed by Emma Thompson. Afterward, although she never played a role in any film directly directed by the Miracle Director, she continued taking lead roles in films like ’Twisters’ and ’Serendipity,’ all of which had scripts conceived by the Miracle Director and investnt from Bossworth Film. The current ’Tomb Raider’ was no exception.
Most importantly, Adrian recently attended the premiere of ’Tomb Raider’ in London. Although he didn’t enter with Miss Beckinsale, insiders revealed that the two shared an intimately close conversation inside the cinema. Clearly, the first Miracle Girl is neither Julia Roberts nor Monica Bellucci, but should be Kate Beckinsale."
The entire report had only one insider revelation, the rest were all facts, bluntly laid out along with the term ’Miracle Girl,’ which insinuated sothing known all too well by any reputable tabloid.
Adrian wasn’t unprepared; as Kate’s fa grew, such revelations were inevitable, but he was sowhat displeased that The Sun was the first to release it. Fortunately, Kate was not in London at the mont, as she was busy promoting ’Tomb Raider’ with premieres in the UK and soon in the United States, while the estate Adrian had purchased was in Hampshire, so there was no imdiate worry about paparazzi.
As for the United States, it wasn’t a few years later yet; news took so ti to travel there, and by then, Kate should be prepared.
So Adrian wasn’t worried at all, and he even had ti to think about how to produce an adult version of "Tomb Raider." He decided to invest anonymously between 5 and 10 million, hiring the Porn Queen from DP to take the lead role, letting her perform all sorts of tricks as she pleased. Why not spend a little money to make oneself happy? DP wouldn’t refuse, after all, they were an ambitious adult film company.
Sadly, the other actress got involved with that old man, Hefner, and even made it onto the cover of Playboy. He had hoped she could star in an adult version of "Legally Blonde."
Well, that was just a trivial matter that Adrian thought about only in his spare ti. He had other matters to attend to most of the ti.
"Alright, if they are sincere, you can have soone check it out first. I’ll consider dropping by after my vacation in London ends if the results are good," Adrian said, calling for soone to enter after the knock on the door.
"Ed, what are you hiding here for? Everyone is outside," Little Emma said with her hands on her hips, clearly unhappy as she entered.
"Sorry, darling, just dealing with a small matter, and I’ll be done soon," Adrian said with a smile as he put down his phone and then typed a few things on his computer.
"You said it was a vacation," Little Emma walked over and leaned on the edge of the desk, peeking at the monitor.
"Can’t help it, can’t just ignore things that co up," Adrian shrugged, "Give five minutes, I promise to co out."
"Okay, okay, Mr. Busy, too busy even to put to bed," Little Emma grumbled on purpose.
"Hey, Emma, we had a deal," Adrian picked up his coffee and took a sip.
"Yes, I know," Little Emma said in a drawn-out voice as she walked away. As she turned, her indifferent expression suddenly sank, and she bit her lip, clearly frustrated.
She lingered at the door, then twisted around for another look at Adrian, her eyes suddenly lighting up.
"By the way, Ed, I have a surprise for you," she said with a mischievous smile, hands behind her back, puffing out her chest, "I wonder if you dare accept it."
"Surprise?" Adrian raised an eyebrow, shifting his gaze onto her and lifting his coffee, "Don’t try to provoke with reverse psychology, dear Emma, I won’t fall for it."
No sooner had he spoken than with a whoosh, Little Emma, facing him, lifted her skirt to reveal panties adorned with coffee cats. Not only that, but she also purposely wriggled her bottom a couple of tis, making the coffee cats on her underwear seem to move as if they were alive.
With a splutter, Adrian’s coffee surged out of his mouth, spraying far and wide—over the desk, floor, clothes, and his face. Then, with a loud and triumphant laugh, Little Emma dashed out.(To be continued. If you like this work, welco to visit qidian to vote and support us. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
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