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Lara Croft Tomb Raider - The Cradle of Life (Full Screen Edition) Customer Reviews (31 - 33 of 49 Reviews)

Not out yet, but......I CAN'T WAIT!
Well, let me start out by saying, Tomb Raider: The cradle of life, and anything else TR is great... the movie is,,,,well....

It's fun, funny, chilling, etc. There is alot of : Action, such as jumping from a 100 foot building, horror even!, such as the shadow guardians, adventure, such as the tomb of Alexander the great, etc... Angelina Jolie plays her role terrfic! She is a PERFECT Lara croft. This movie is nothing like the first. Yes, I liked the first, but it kinda bored me! And I'm a HUGE fan of Tomb Raider. This movie is longer and much more exciting.

This movie gets 5 stars for it's great casting, chilling and heroic scenes, and Lara croft/Angelina Jolie.

If you are a fan of Tomb Raider, or just looking for a great DVD, buy Lara Croft, Tomb Raider: The cradle of life......

This cradle su ... bites!
I saw this movie for free, as a friend of mine (for reasons I cannot fathom) bought it and loaned it to me, knowing that I am a huge fan of the Indiana Jones movies. I can understand someone thinking that a similar film might appeal to me, but when that film is absolute crud ... well. I knew that both this film and the one which preceded it (which I have mercifully not yet seen) were both based on video games, but this was not necessarily a bad thing: after all, "The Pirates of the Carribean" was based on an amusement park ride, and yet the movie was still very enjoyable (of course, that movie had some truly talented artists working behind it, such as Geoffrey Rush and Johnny Depp). But perhaps that particular movie was an exception to the rule ... it's very possible that movies based on video games/rides/other sorts of not-exactly-literate entertainment generally aren't that great (but it would be nice if they were). But what exactly were my problems with this movie? I've got a list of them, and here they are in no particular order:

The first complaint that comes to mind for this has to do with the music. Though it wouldn't be so bad if we heard it just a time or two, the "theme music" for this movie, a sort of "Lawrence of Arabia"-style sweeping orchestra piece, gets pretty danged irritating the fortieth or so time we hear it.

Second, there's Lara Croft's outfits. They aren't practical adventuring gear ... they're obviously costumes. That's the vibe I got right away, when first we saw her jetskiing in that skin-tight silver thing. She's an archaeologist, not a model, for crying out loud! Not only that, but Angelina Jolie, in spite of how well she pulled off the British accent, seemed totally phony and unbelievable in the role. She was more an archetype than a real person ... a glamorous British adventurer simply going through the moves. The character did nothing for me.

Third, the action and flow of the film struck me as nothing more than a series of incidents or set-pieces ... one cool action moment after another, repeated ad nauseum, from a hardly thrilling skydive to a motercyle ride on top of the Great Wall of China to a dozen more ... It's not exciting in the least, and only inspired for me eye-rolling tedium. It made me wonder "what's next" as each scene went by, and not in a good way.

While the action was up to that point meant to be realistic, the whole climax of the film involving the tree creatures guarding the treasure of Pandora's Box, along with the Escher-style caves the box is kept in really came out of nowhere, inspiring the question "what the heck is that all about" rather then, "wow, cool!". One thing I like now, I realize, about "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (which is quite possibly my all-time favorite movie, I should now mention) is that it gave us hints of the supernatural throughout the film, without actually throwing us into a situation where the supernatural was undeniably at work until the very end. This movie, unfortunately, keeps us (tenuously, I admit) in the real world until the bit toward the end, and the change is quite jarring and feels totally artificial.

I really didn't care for "Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life", and so I really cannot recommend it. If anyone out there can enjoy this, more power to them, I say, but I honestly believe that a healthy dose of Indiana Jones administered through a viewing of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" or "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" will immediately cure anyone of their desire to see this film again. It saddens me to know that while another Indy film seems next to impossible to get off the ground, films like this are in the meantime somehow being released and making people like me always more aware of what the movie-viewing public is really missing out on.

Carry on Carry on,

MN

A fun & fitting encore
If you liked the first film in the Tomb Raider series, "Cradle of Life" will deliver just as much fun. The sequel begins with artistocratic archeological adventuress Lady Lara Croft (Angelina Jolie) diving off the coast of Greece, where a volcanic eruption has uncovered the fabled Lunar Temple. Within the underwater temple, Lara discovers a mysterious orb. As with many of her tomb raids, however, things soon go awry, and the orb falls into enemy hands.

Representatives of the British intelligence agency MI-5 recruit Lara to retrieve the orb, which Alexander the Great created as a map to Pandora's Box. MI-5 fears that a scientist known for creating biological agents will use a plague contained in Pandora's Box to create weapons of terror. Lara scoffs at MI-5's offer to send agents to assist her, and insists on an assistant of her own choosing--a possibly untrustworthy mercenary (Gerard Butler) who is her former lover. And thus the quest for the orb begins anew.

Once again, Jolie brings to Lara Croft a terrific mixture of Indiana Jones' daring and cleverness, James Bond's class and grace under fire and an acrobatic combat style, wittiness and sex appeal all her own. She makes a very appealing heroine that both men and women can enjoy. At one point, as she is checking from rural China in via cell phone, her assistant asks her what she's doing, and she coyly comments "Accessorizing" as she straps on automatic weapons and knives.

Lara is a woman used to doing things her way, as evidenced by how unimpressed she acts when the MI-5 agents tell her that the Queen requires her assistance in retrieving the orb. She aims her dry wit equally at her mercenary ex-lover and the thieves attempting to keep control of the orb.

The rapport between Gerard and Jolie is somewhat reminiscent of the repartee once seen on the silver screen between Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell. Although their barbs aren't quite as rapid fire as "His Girl Friday" dialogue, the tension and lingering attraction between the two add spice to the movie. The question of whether Lara really can trust Terry (Gerard) to not double-cross her, and cut a better deal with the unsavory characters seeking the orb creates additional suspense.

One disappointment in "Cradle of Life" was that the puzzles that Lara must solve to find her way to Pandora's Box aren't as complex as the puzzles in the first "Tomb Raider." Most of the puzzle work is done via computer with Lara sending images back to her assistant to crack back home. The imperative to find the orb and get to Pandora's Box wasn't quite the race against the clock involved in the first "Tomb Raider," where pieces to the triangle that controlled time could only be retrieved during certain moments in a planetary alignment. Consequently, while the need to beat the bad guys to the next step was obviously important, the clock didn't seem to be running quite as quickly.

Nevertheless, "Cradle of Life" does not disappoint with its breathtaking travelogue-style cinematography and its tricky stunts. A series of gymnastic maneuvers that Lara executes to climb atop the roof of the underwater temple and a motorcycle ride along the Great Wall of China were reminiscent of the settings in the first two Tomb Raider games. In other scenes, Lara flees from her captor among Chinese terra-cotta tomb warriors, and then rappels head first down a sheer cliff. The spiral passageways leading to the hiding place of Pandora's Box created an eerie and exotic setting.

Overall, "Cradle of Life" is a lot of fun! The love story between Lara and Terry adds a complexity to the action. The exotic settings and the kick-butt stunts add up to a sequel that's just as interesting to watch as the first. See this on the big screen. While I'm sure the DVD will be good, the sweeping views of China, Greece and Africa won't translate as well to the small screen. See it now!

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