LARA CROFT TOMB RAIDER: THE CRADLE OF LIFE

Starring:
Angelina Jolie
Gerard Butler
Ciarán Hinds
Christopher Barrie
Noah Taylor
and Djimon Hounsou

Director:
Jan De Bont

Running Time:
130 mins

Out to buy on DVD 2nd February

After raiding Alexander The Great's Temple of Light under the sea off the coast of Greece, Lara Croft (Jolie) discovers that the temple holds more than just the treasure of the long dead conqueror. She discovers that Alexander had located the Cradle of Life, the place where life itself began on Earth and location the object that started it all, Pandora's box. The problem is that Lara isn't the only one interested in the box, billionaire genetic scientist Jonathan Reiss (Hinds) sees it as the ultimate weapon and will do anything to get his hands on it. With the help of Terry Sheridan (Butler), Lara faces a race against time to find the Cradle of Life before Reiss.

After a decidingly average first outing that just happened to make a large amount of money, Lara Croft returns for a second adventure but does one of the strongest female characters ever created get the movie she deserves?

In a word, no. While this is a marked improvement on the Simon West directed original, it still doesn't life up to the potential the character so abundantly has. She has the chance to be the modern, gadget-ridden adventurer, a female Indiana Jones with a sprinkling of James Bond thrown in for good measure but the people behind the franchise never seem to realise this.

All the elements are there. A quest for a mythical object that most people have heard of, a villain driven by greed and power, temples and ruins to raid, a partner and former lover that has a chequered past and an profusion of bad guys to fight against. Everything you need for a great adventure but the film never seems to utilise these elements fully leading to a movie that is never more than just slightly entertaining.

Angelina Jolie is the personification of Lara Croft. There isn't anyone better to play the adventuring heroine. She is arguably one of the most beautiful women in show business and when you combine this with body hugging outfits and plenty of action but never underestimating her intelligence and skills, you have a very positive female character. Angelina gives her all in the role and you can tell she is having fun with it, especially in the action sequences but her performance is let down by the script and direction of Jan De Bont.

A once respected action director with hits like Speed and Twister, De Bont then followed this with the extremely average The Haunting and the just plain dull Speed 2: Cruise Control, so hopes for the Tomb Raider sequel were mixed. While he handles most of the action sequences well, especially the Temple of Light scene and the Hong Kong laboratory escape, the rest of the film, especially the finale, lacks any real pace or tension. In fact the finale is probably the least exciting part of the movie. Blame can be laid at the feet of the writers but a director, who can excel in this genre when he wants to, should have the experience and expertise to realise that the movie needs more excitement and tension in the final act.

The supporting characters are slightly too underdeveloped. The always-excellent Gerard Butler does his best as the love interest, whose back-story isn't panned out enough but he handles the action extremely well. Chris Barrie and Noah Taylor are very underused as Hilary and Bryce, Ciarán Hinds is a good enough villain but he needed his motivations better explained and the Djimon Hounsou has nothing more than a cameo.

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life is entertaining enough but also frustrating at the same time. This is a character with great potential and an actress that can, with the right people behind her, achieve this. The people at Paramount are sitting on a potential goldmine but just haven't got the vision to see it.

Audio commentary from director Jan De Bont
Deleted and alternative scenes with optional commentary from the director
Gerard Butler's screen test
'Training' featurette (9 mins)
'Vehicles And Weapons' featurette (4 mins)
'Stunts' featurette (10 mins)
'Visual Effects' featurette (11 mins)
'Scoring' featurette (5 mins)
'Did My Time' music video from Korn
'Hearts Go...' music video from the Davey Brothers
Interactive menu & Scene access


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2003