STARRING: Angelina Jolie, Noah Taylor, Chris Barrie, Iain Glen, Daniel Craig and Jon Voight.

How long have you been waiting for a good adventure movie? I’m not talking about action flicks. Action movies are like a box full of bottle rockets thrown into a campfire. All flash and big noise and over too soon. Adventure flicks have a little more finesse. They don’t assault you with bone-crunching stunts or overwhelming CGI. An adventure film is a roller coaster with brains and a sense of humor. I’m talking about Errol Flynn. Cliffhangers. I’m talking about Indiana Jones.

In my book, "Raiders of the Lost Ark" is the all-time champ of this genre. Not too many movies come close. "Raiders" has it all: a great hero, a clever story, and action scenes that were essential to the plot instead of a distraction from it. Nowadays, movies just try to steamroll over us with big stunts and special effects. It’s all adrenaline. No heart. Plus, no story or brains, but whose keeping track?

I wasn't expecting Lady MacBeth, but maybe something deeper than a heavily armed aerobics instructor.

Every now and then, a movie tries to recreate Indy’s mojo, but the successful ones are few and far between. They just can’t recapture the spunk . . . the fun . . . the panache of "Raiders of the Lost Ark." Filmmakers put more time into topping the action scenes than creating characters that resonate. "Raiders" is a kick-ass flick, but it wouldn’t be half as much fun if Indiana Jones weren’t so cool. The dude’s got P-E-R-S-O-N-A-L-I-T-Y. Most heroes today just have muscles and a semi-automatic weapon.

But God bless Hollywood. They keep trying. Director Simon West ("Con Air"), screenwriters Michael Werb and Michael Colleary ("Face/Off") along with rookie scribes John Zinman and Patrick Massett take on the adventure film with "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider." It’s pretty savvy on their part. Unless you’ve been stomping grapes with monks in some remote Eastern European mountain retreat for the last few years, you know that Lara Croft is the sexy, globe-hopping, hot pants-wearing fortune hunter of the hugely popular "Tomb Raider" video game series. No need to set-up a backstory since every techno warrior from here to Poughkeepsie knows what makes this babe tick. Lara comes to the screen with a built-in legion of fans.

To help flesh her out, the filmmakers have shrewdly cast wild woman Angelina Jolie ("The Bone Collector" and "Girl Interrupted"). I can’t think of any actress better suited for this part than Mrs. Billy Bob Thornton. With her dark hair, bodacious curves and snarling lips, Jolie even looks like Lara Croft. While she definitely brings plenty of spunk and attitude to the role, West and his writers haven’t given Jolie anything interesting to do. She runs! She jumps! She wears short pants! That’s about the extent of her work here. Now, I wasn’t expecting Lady MacBeth, but maybe something a little deeper than a heavily armed aerobics instructor.

Villain Iain Glen is about as threatening as a ball of yarn.

Even so, Jolie makes an impressive action hero. She actually looks physically capable of her on-screen antics. And while there’s not much depth to her performance, I don’t really think that’s her fault. The filmmakers seem to be trading on her looks and persona — not to mention the "Lara Croft" brand name — to carry the whole film. They don’t do much to establish the character beyond catapulting her from one action sequence to another. Jolie is definitely the best thing in this film. It’s too bad she has to share scenes with so many boorish co-stars.

While Noah Taylor ("Shine" and "Almost Famous") and Chris Barrie (Rimmer from the amazing sci-fi Brit-com "Red Dwarf") are fun as Lara’s cronies, there is an appalling lack of charisma in most of the supporting cast. Daniel Craig ("Elizabeth") plays Lara’s rival and sometime love interest (I think?), but there’s so little chemistry between them, they seem more like high school lab partners. And then there’s Iain Glen ("The Young Americans") playing the dullest villain since Christopher Eccleston in last summer’s "Gone in 60 Seconds."

Don't think too hard about the plot or it will make your head hurt.

Glen plays Manfred Powell, an evil . . . lawyer. Oooookay. Guess they were all out of evil dentists. He’s about as threatening as a ball of yarn. Glen clods his way through this flick, delivering lines like he’s in a bad romance novel. A decent hero needs a proper villain and this guy’s not up to snuff. Jolie blows him off the screen. What’s up with actors lately? Have they forgotten how to be menacing? Geez, Alan Rickman (Hans Gruber in "Die Hard") could teach a seminar today on cinematic villainy and make a fortune.

Anyway, these prosaic characters are running around the globe trying to serve a hackneyed storyline about ancient artifacts, secret societies, and the ability to control time. Don’t think too hard about this plot or it will make your head hurt. Lara comes into possession of the Clock of Ages, which leads her to find the missing pieces to the Triangle of Light that holds the key to this contraption that can turn back time when all the planets come into alignment. Excuse me, I need to take an aspirin now and lie down.

This film wants to be the "Raiders of the Lost Ark" for the new millennium, but unfortunately, it’s a lot closer to "High Road to China." It’s a real movie. Look it up. In that early-80’s stinker, Tom Selleck played a maverick WWI pilot in search of adventure. In reality, he was just an actor over-compensating for missing out on playing Indiana Jones. It was a trifling film attempting to coax a few bucks out of audiences still high from watching "Raiders."

Despite the best efforts of Angelina Jolie, "Tomb Raider" is simply trying to do the same thing. Only it’s been a long time since "Raiders of the Lost Ark." Audiences aren’t as forgiving any more. If you’re hungry for an adventure jones, stay home with Indy. If you need a Lara Croft fix, you’d be better off playing another round of the game.

Hey . . . could I have referenced "Raiders of the Lost Ark" any more in this review? I don’t think so. Somebody make a decent adventure flick already and get me off this kick.