I wasn't making out that it was anything the author was trying at all, in fact I'd say the opposite, I just meant it backfired with me, because I think I was meant to like the old guys and think the young ones were being a bit silly.
And there's a reason they're b-movies rather than a-movie action stars. But actually thats unfair to b-movies, because b-movies often have interesting action stars, just not very complicated ones. It's part of the reason b-movies are worth watching. Think of Bruce Campbells career =D He would never have made it if his characters were flat. That weren't deep but they were interesting, like how in Predator you can give everyone a one line label. 'Guy who tells inappropriate jokes' 'hunter' 'non-talkative tough guy.' But that one line was a strong inline and it made them interesting and helped set Predator as a film that's talked about decades later.
But Lara wasn't like that, she was an A-movie knock off rather than a b-film star. She's one of those characters out of the really big budget blockbusters that people watch and forget instantly, a Battleships star to a Transformers star. heck you even described her as an Indiana Jones knock-off. Not that that couldn't work. Nathan Drake is an Indiana Jones knock off, but when people describe him he's a joke cracking everyman. He's nowhere as big as Lara Croft, but people who've heard of him but haven't played the games could probably make a fair go at describing his personality. Lara Croft? I've played some of the games and watched the film, but I couldn't tell you if she was nerdy or outgoing, romantic or a party girl. Confident or does Nathan Drake/Indiana Jones 'oh crud oh crud I'm going to die' thing.
Oh wait a sec, old Dante is a good example. I think new Dante is a significant downgrade even if I'm not a hater. But both old Dantes were b-movie action stars, like you said and they have a very strong wisecracking, utterly calm in the face of danger persona that instantly comes to mind. It's not deep, but it's not cardboard. And actually DMC3 had a really strong personal Dante storyline. He's got all kinds of things going on, think of Vergil.
So it's really not a b-film thing, it's Lara Croft herself. I mean to be fair, it was bound to happen because when they sat down to create her the geminating thought process was 'what if the lead protagonist is a women?' (the plumber thing I mentioned was a direct quote from the original developers), but being a women isn't a personality description at all. . It#s like making the central thing about your protagonist that he has brown hair. There's no surprise it turned out flat. Whereas Dante's creation was 'lets make someone cool' and that is a personality description and gives a key into actual actions.
