This 2-Movie Collection of Tomb Raider and Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life are the same two discs from the individual 4K releases, sans the Blu-rays which contained most of the bonus features.
Tomb Raider/Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life
— 2-Movie Collection —
(2001/2003)
Genre(s): Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Paramount | PG13 – 100 min. / 117 min. – $33.99 | June 1, 2021
Date Published: 05/27/2021 | Author: The Movieman
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Blue Underground provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.
Note: Most of this review was copied from the individual 4K UHD reviews.
THE MOVIE — 3/5 |
TOMB RAIDER (2001) — 3.25/5
Quick Hit Review: Make no mistake, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is not a good movie but I guess if one would grade on a scale and compare it to other video game to film adaptations, it sadly one of the better ones out there with nothing on the horizon that appears all that promising, and that includes the Alicia Vikander Tomb Raider reboot. As for this incarnation, I actually have enjoyed it the now 3-4 times I’ve watched over the years. No, the acting isn’t all that great, though Angelina Jolie embodies the role of Croft rather nicely (mainly physically if you catch my drift) but the action set-pieces were pretty good while the CGI was hit or miss, but adequate for 2001. On the downside, Daniel Craig’s attempted American accent was awful yet hilarious as he strained his lines and Iain Glen as the bad guy was a bit weak but serviceable enough. TOMB RAIDER: THE CRADLE OF LIFE (2003) — 2.5/5 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 – 1½/5 |
| TOMB RAIDER: Audio Commentary – Director Simon West sits down for a low key but still informative track talking in-depth on the project and working with the cast. TOMB RAIDER: THE CRADLE OF LIFE: |
VIDEO – 4½/5 |
| Lara Croft: Tomb Raider jumps its way onto the 4K Ultra HD format presented with a 2.39 widescreen aspect ratio and given a 2160p resolution transfer. This is a good news, bad news kind of thing here as on the one hand it’s not exactly a stunning looking UHD disc, especially going up against other catalogue titles, and yet it is a solid upgrade over its so-so Blu-ray counterpart. Colors during the daylight scenes are generally bright, skin tones are natural looking and detail in most shots was sharp, though in others were on the softer side. 4.25/5
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. 4.5/5 |
AUDIO – 4¼/5 |
| The disc comes with a plethora of audio language options, including the English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which isn’t exactly dynamic, yet there is some okay depth outputting clear dialogue levels primarily through the center speaker while the surrounds are relegated for the various action sequences and the LFE does kick in to rattle the floor rather well. 4.25/5
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. 4.0/5 |
OVERALL – 2½/5 |
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Overall, this 2-Movie Collection of Tomb Raider and Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life are the same two discs from the individual 4K releases, sans the Blu-rays which contained most of the bonus features. |