Lara Croft: Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life is a half-baked and poorly made sequel that lacked the fun and thrills of the first film though Angelina Jolie appeared to give it her all, or at least her stunt double did, but the action itself was lackluster outside of the opening action sequence.
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life
(2003)
Genre(s): Action, Adventure
Paramount | PG13 – 117 min. – $31.99 | February 27, 2018
Date Published: 02/17/2018 | Author: The Movieman
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Note: All screen captures are from the Blu-ray disc.
THE MOVIE — 2.5/5 |
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Plot Synopsis: Lara Croft (ANGELINA JOLIE) is back in action and faces her most perilous mission: to recover what ancient civilization believed to be the essence of all evil, Pandora’s Box. She must travel the globe, from Greece to Hong Kong to Kenya and beyond to get to the box before it’s found by a maniacal scientist (CIARAN HINDS) whose plan is to use it for mass annihilation. For this adventure, Lara recruits her ex-lover – Terry Sheridan (GERARD BUTLER) – a dangerous mercenary who has previously betrayed Lara and their country. She knows he’s the best for the mission, but can she trust him again? Join her as she races against time and save mankind’s future.
Quick Hit Review: Lara Croft: Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life is a sequel where the original was objectively not very good in its own right, and yet still was entertaining in a popcorn kind of way in conjunction with Angelina Jolie kicking ass and looking gorgeous while doing it. This one has her kicking ass once again, including in an opening sequence which was the best of the entire movie. Unfortunately there was another 100 (or so) minutes to go in what was lackluster and, frankly, quite dull under the direction of Jan de Bont, who is mainly known as a cinematographer on such films as Die Hard, Basic Instinct and The Hunt for the Red October. Here, he just can’t make an exciting action/adventure despite Jolie’s bad-ass-ness. Like the previous entry, The Cradle of Life gets another recognizable male lead before they made it big, the last time was Daniel Craig sporting a laughable American drawl, thankfully Gerard Butler kept his native Scottish accent so it didn’t come across as strained, the character though seemed to be more of the same, the two being ex-lovers forced to work together to stop the bad guy (played by Ciaran Hinds); though this time there is a twist for the character.
In the end, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life isn’t dreadful but still pretty bad with perhaps its only saving grace being Angelina Jolie’s vigorous performance in the title character and an opening sequence which was at least watchable and in keeping with the campiness of the first film (Croft gets away riding a frickin’ shark!). |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 2.5/5 |
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This release comes with a glossy slip cover and inside a code for the Digital copy. Audio Commentary – Director Jan De Bont is rather mundane and not exactly lively. Deleted/Alternate Scenes (11:56; SD) – There were seven scenes that failed to make the cut including an alternate ending. Funny, the very first one they had to blur out one of the actor’s faces, probably didn’t some release form. * Dropped from the original Blu-ray was an optional commentary with Jan De Bont. Featurettes:
Nothing of note here, some basic behind-the-scenes footage with some of the usual safe interview footage. Last items up is are Music Videos for Korn’s “Did My Time” (4:04; SD) and The Davey Brothers’ “Heart Go Faster” (3:37; SD). |
VIDEO – 4.5/5 |
| Paramount releases Lara Croft: Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life onto 4K Ultra HD presented in its original 2.35 widescreen aspect ratio and a 2160p HD transfer. This one doesn’t look half bad, detail is generally sharp throughout and colors, aided by the HDR (Dolby Vision also available) do get a slight boost, while dark levels are fairly deep without losing any detail. Compared with the Blu-ray, it is at least an okay upgrade. |
AUDIO – 4.0/5 |
| Not surprisingly, the audio didn’t get updated as the original Blu-ray (and the one included in this combo pack) and although it would’ve been nice to get an Atmos improvement, this DTS-HD MA 5.1 track is adequate enough outputting clear dialogue levels and some okay depth during the assorted action-centric sequences. |
OVERALL – 2.75/5 |
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Overall, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life is a half-baked and poorly made sequel that lacked the fun and thrills of the first film though Angelina Jolie appeared to give it her all, or at least her stunt double did, but under Jan de Bont’s direction, the action itself was lackluster outside of the opening action sequence. The 4K release offers up good video/audio transfers and an okay selection of bonus material. |
Check out some more 1080p screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.