Lara Croft: Tomb Raider - The Cradle of Life (2003)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

I think this movie is even better than the first one,which is not often the case. It sends a strong message while the first movie doesn't send any message at all. I think also that the plot is way better than in the 1st one. That is why I don't know why it has lower rating that the first Lara Croft: Tomb Raider movie..

I made the mistake of being lazy and watching this movie. It ends exactly where it started and was useless in between... Nothing made sense except Angelina's wardrobe. Nice bait for the 14-year-old hormoners. From the stealthy motorcycle ride on the GREAT WALL to the super secret transfer of the 'box by helicopter in the middle of a city neighborhood, nothing even made sense. I was actually angry and continued to watch just to hope for a clever moment of this crapfest...

Thousands of years ago, Alexander the Great discovered the greatest source of life on Earth, the Cradle of Life. The power within the box that was dubbed Pandora's Box was had a plague-like side effects that the ruler had hidden the box and has never been revealed since then. Today, an evil bio-terrorist named Dr. Jonathan Reiss (Ciaran Hinds) is in hot pursuit of that box and is willing to exploit its powers to our vulnerable world. Lady Lara Croft, assigned by the MI6 was called upon to retrieve the box before it's placed in the wrong hands. That's pretty much about the story of "Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life." The opening scenes start off like you would expect set in the Santorini Islands off of Greece where fishing boats are all around. Then all of the sudden, a speeding jet ski appears on the scene and makes a flip onto one of the fishing boats. Sure enough it's Lady Croft. Just then, a massive earthquake erupts and ironically opens up a secret, mythological hideaway hidden undersea, which might be Alexander's Luna Temple. So Lady Croft and her crew get in their deep sea gear and start exploring the area in hopes to find The Cradle of Life. Croft and her crew discover an orb which could be the element that could lead to The Cradle of Life, and Pandora's Box and all the powers it contains. What Croft doesn't know is that the leader of an Ancient Chinese gang called the Shay Ling, Chen Lo (Simon Yam) also has his mindset on that orb. During the fight, he and his men grab Lady Croft and strand her in a cavern. While this happens, the quake aftershock comes into effect and closes the temple down. The always resourceful Croft makes a miraculous escape as she hops onto a shark for safety. Lady Croft's journey takes us around the world as she's assigned by MI6 as Dr. Croft enlists a former British Commandeer, now serving as a mercenary who's been incarcerated in Kazakhstan named Terry Sheridan (Gerard Butler). If he promised to help her on her dangerous mission, he promised Sheridan his freedom, amnesty, 5 million pounds and the return to British government. For if her mission fails, than Reiss will have the power for world domination, the orb that will open Pandora's Box and unlock a mysterious disease which could lead to a potential global epidemic. The globe hopping adventure takes us from Greece, to China, to Hong Kong and finally to Kenya, where it's claimed that the Cradle of Life is situated. Video game aficionados will likely have their eyes set on this sequel to the Lara Croft video game adaptation and might even like it better than its predecessor. Angelina Jolie is great person to watch as she's both intelligent and quite stunning to look at. but there thing that really makes her stand out is that she carries a big set of guns. Come on guys, we all know you're all smitten for foxy chicks with huge guns. This movie has several action scenes that could compare to that of the more recent James Bond movies. If the Broccoli family wanted to change genders of Bond, she could be the next Bond. Even though Jolie carries the bulk of the film, the supporting cast does a fine job as well. Butler does a great job as Croft's partner and shows that he's not just a sidekick to Croft on her dangerous adventures. He has the physical toughness and the good- looking appeal and is anything but a tag-along for the ride character. Sure the romance element between him Croft were not needed, but it never hindered the film in the least. Many of the cast seems under- developed as they can be just bullet shields for our leading heroine. Cieran Hinds is convincing as the evil genius even if his bad guy role is clichéd. However German actor Til Schweiger stands out in much- needed comic relief as Reiss' sidekick,Sean. Returning to the sequel are Christopher Barrie and Noah Taylor as Croft's technological experts Hillary and Bryce, but are not prominent in their roles. Same can be said of Djimon Hounosu as Croft's Kenyan companion.The technical features are in sync with the big-budget that came into making this sequel (it was $300 million worldwide). The stunts, costumes, choreography and the cinematography was a first class act in itself. A big shout out goes to Jim Henson's Creature shop at providing some invigorating monsters when Lara and company enter into the realms of the Cradle of Life. The Cradle itself looks like a carbon copy of the famous Escher painting, you know the painting with all those stairs surrounding the area. And the stairs are going around different places. "Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life" is something that both boys and girls can both enjoy. for the guys because of the immense popularity of the classic video game this movie's based on and for the girls an iconic female hero they can look up to. And for fans who love thrill-seeking sagas like Indiana Jones, James Bond or the Bourne series, will truly enjoy this film as well. But as more films are dependant on saturating the screens with CGI graphics, I fear that if they spawn another sequel of this series, it will not exceed the expectations of the first one and this one. Let's not let this happen.

I'm torn about this film. On the other hand, I cannot quite pinpoint the differences between this and the original Lara Croft film, and yet it feels inferior in every aspect. But why is that? Why do I feel that this isn't as good as the original. Well, novelty might be one explanation. The first Tomb Raider was fresh, new, something we hadn't seen before. This one is just the first one with a new coat of paint, which is never a good thing.One explanation might also be that I don't really like Gerard Butler's Terry Sheridan as a character. The first Tomb Raider was great because the focus was on Lara. She was the undisputed hero of her own story. In this one I feel that they regretted that decision and decided to add some unneeded masculinity into the mix. And yes, this is hypocritical, because if any sequel to a male lead adventure film decided to add a kickass female character, I wouldn't complain at all. Unfortunately, that's the world we live in, and I cannot lie about how I feel about Terry.I also miss the interplay between Lara and her father. The first film was very focused on her character and the stages were personal. Not so much in this film. Lara quests for the Cradle of Life, not because it means something to her personally, but because she's ordered to do so and she just went: "Yeah, I didn't have anything planned for the weekend anyway." A workable solution if you don't have anything else, but it's a bit on the weak side.Otherwise the movie is pretty much identical to the first one. Gorgeous locations, great stunt sequences, imaginative action scenes and Angelina Jolie is as great as always, although the need to cover her up in order to cover her tattoos is a crime against humanity. So, if you liked the first one, I'd give this one a watch as well. It's not quite as good, but it's not noticeably worse either. If you didn't like it, this won't change your opinion.