Jolie makes a bad career move

Someone please tell me why it is that video game to film adaptations always seem to suck. The latest installment of the "Tomb Raider" series manages to fall infinitely short of its predecessor, which was in itself easily forgettable if not mildly entertaining. This time around the movie is about as much fun as watching someone else play the video game, which I would closely parallel with picking one's belly button lint. \nHelmed by Paul Verhoeven's lackey, Jan de Bont (who gave us "Speed," which was good, and "Speed 2: Cruise Control," which was not), "Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life" (could this title be any longer?) focuses on Lara's heated search for Pandora's Box, before our wuss of a villain can sell it to the highest bidder in the hopes of releasing the greatest plague the world has ever known. Granted, virus scares tend to peak my interest, but this story is transparent and pointless. Croft recruits an ex-flame named Terry Sheridan (Gerard Butler), held up in prison as a traitor. She and her resident bad boy try to infiltrate an Asian gang and make their way to the Cradle of Life, where Pandora's little glowing box of crap awaits. \nThis movie has absurd attempts at plot and character development with no justification, motivation or reason. One character completely contradicts himself in the ending sequence and is killed just because the script said so. There was one cool sequence with these shadow monsters who lived in trees, which looked the way "Forbidden Planet's" Id monsters should've looked. The action set pieces were exceptionally lackluster. I haven't been this bored at a movie in awhile. De Bont must've felt the audience wouldn't get it or something, as he randomly slows the frame rate for no reason.\nReally, the only good thing about the movie is Angelina Jolie. Given that she's beautiful and extremely talented, I don't know why she chooses movies like this. She has made her share of mistakes (though, I'm probably the only person who enjoyed "Original Sin" for reasons other than excessive nudity), but this one takes the cake. \nI weep for video game flicks of the future, but still cling to the hope that "Resident Evil 2" and "Silent Hill" might get it right. So, if you're 13 and Lara Croft gets you off, or if you're any age and Jolie does, then maybe (I emphasize maybe) you should see this movie. Aside from that, there's really no excuse for any of this to be up on screen.