Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life is a 2003 action adventure directed by Jan de Bont, starring Angelina Jolie, Gerard Butler, Ciaran Hinds, Chris Barrie, Noah Taylor, Til Schweiger, Djimon Hounsou, and Simon Yam. Adventurer Lara Croft goes on a quest to save the mythical Pandora’s Box, before an evil scientist finds it, and recruits a former Marine turned mercenary to assist her.

Positives:

• Great cast and performances
• Good score
• Good action
• Good set pieces
• Interesting story
• Good humor and dialogue

Negatives:

• Lackluster script
• Generic story
• Few memorable characters
• CGI could’ve been better

Plot: The story follows fearless explorer Lara Croft tries to locate Pandora’s box before criminals Jonathan Reiss and Chen Lo use it for evil. According to myth, the box holds deadly organisms that could kill millions of people. With her old partner, Terry, Croft goes on a hunt that takes her from Europe to Asia to Africa.  The story is what you would expect from a Tomb Raider film.  Lara has to stop the bad guys from uncovering some really nasty stuff.  Unfortunately, the story is a mess.  I do like Lara/Terry’s story which is done a helluva lot better than Lara/Alex.  It’s pretty generic in terms of twists and turns and the climax is nothing special. (3 out of 5)

Characters: Lara Croft returns and she’s great.  She has a lot of emotional feelings to deal with concerning the revenge angle of losing some good friends to Reiss and dealing with her old flame Terry Sheridan.  I like that.  Especially with her being in positions of unease unlike the first film where we see her in control of everything.  We do see less of adventurer Lara Croft and more of a secret agent Lara Croft which does hurt the characterization.

Terry is one of those characters who just makes a movie.  He’s an asshole with a charming yet dangerous personality.  Really enjoy the onscreen banter between the two.

Hillary and Bryce return and honestly they were just shoed into this movie for shits-and-giggles.  They offer nothing to the overall plot really nor do they actually do anything significant.  Movie would’ve been better had neither actually been in the movie.

Jonathan Reiss is the main antagonist and a scientist turned bio-terrorist.  There’s nothing really interesting about the character.  His only motivation is money and wanting Pandora’s Box to create a plague is kind of a weak plan.  Why a successful bio-terrorist would want to do this is beyond me.  Another antagonist is Chen Lo, a crime lord and smuggler who just doesn’t have much to do in the film.  The best bad guy in the movie actually is Sean, Reiss’ right hand man.  He’s intimidating, he’s badass, and has that same ruthlessness of Powell from the first film. (3 out of 5)

Cast: Angelina Jolie just kills her role as Lara Croft.  Much of that great wit and strength we see in the previous film is presented here.  However, because of the level of action the film has we see a little more action Jolie than adventurer Lara Croft.  Gerard Butler is awesome in this film and I like the chemistry he has with Jolie.  He completely steals his scenes, especially with his introduction.  Ciaran Hinds is good but it’s hard to appreciate his performance when his character was so poorly written.  I really liked Til Schweiger who plays Reiss’ muscle Sean.  Really thought the character was a great contrast to Lara in terms of skill.  The performances from the supporting cast is good including: Chris Barrie, Noah Taylor, Djimon Hounsou, Simon Yam and Terence Yin. (4 out of 5)

Visuals: I thought this was a really good film in terms of the production value.  In most aspects its a great movie to look at.  The action sequences are good, the set pieces are better than the previous films, and there are some pretty awesome shots of the land and cityscape.  But like the previous film, the CGI isn’t good.  There are some obvious green screen moments which could’ve been either done better or done practically (I’m talking about the motorcycle ride on the Great Wall of China).  Even the Bigfoots (which look leagues better than the statues in the previous film) could’ve been better designed.  The Cradle of Life and Pandora’s Box could’ve had better designs.  There’s literally nothing impressive about the look of either, especially the Cradle of Life which you think would have…oh, I don’t know…floating fairies, magical lights, some ethereal beings, or something to make it look like the origin of life.  I will say that the stunts are pretty cool. (3 out of 5)

Score: Alan Silvestri takes over the music and honestly he does a really good job.  The music isn’t by any means memorable.  I didn’t come away thinking I should get the soundtrack.  But I admit, the music wasn’t half bad. (3 out of 5)

Writing: Like the previous film, the writing and direction make the film feel less Tomb Raider and more Angelina Jolie.  Jan de Bont gives us an interesting take on the character which feels more James Bond than Tomb Raider.  Eighty-five percent of this movie could’ve been Lara exploring some ruins with the glowing orb trying to find the Cradle of Life while trying to stop Reiss’ forces.

The film does a great job of putting Croft in situations where she’s struggling to survive but not by much.  The Bigfoot sequence is probably the most Tomb Raider felt sequence next to the beginning and the end.

The action feels a little more grounded this time around.  Lara isn’t jumping around the room or running around the walls but it’s still pretty stylish.  Bont’s choice in making this more of a secret agent film and less of an adventure film (which it is) makes the movie feel really generic.

I actually liked the dialogue and thought it worked as well as in the previous film.  It does have a lot of action, but there is humor and some pretty dramatic moments. (2 out of 5)

The Writing: In the end, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life is decent film.  I can honestly see how fans of the first film can be put off by the style of the film.  Yes, like its predecessor, there is a lot of problems with the pacing, direction, and the writing.  However, despite this, the film is still entertaining with good performances, a great cast, an interesting story, good action, and a good score.  Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life gets 3 out of 5.