Experience a brand new adventure to save the world in true Lara Croft style. Finally, a Summer winner!
--Tina
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle Of Life
Directors: Jan de Bont
Producers: Lawrence Gordon Lloyd Levin Jeremy H. Smith Louis A. Stroller
Writers: Steven E. de Souza James V. hart Dean Georgaris
Features: n/a
Characters:
Lara Croft - Angelina Jolie
Terry Sheridan - Gerard Butler
Jonathan Reiss - Ciaran Hinds
Hillary - Christopher Barrie
Bryce - Noah Taylor
Kosa - Djimon Hounsou
Genre: Action/Adventure
Review:
Lara Croft is back and on another adventure to save the world. This time, she’s out to stop a genocidal madman from unleashing the power of Pandora’s box upon the Earth. She is accompanied by former flame Terry Sheridan, an incarcerated ex-patriot who has an intimate knowledge of the Chinese underworld. Directed by Jan de Bont, Tomb Raider part two is a non-stop action ride.
On an underwater search mission for the mythic Luna Temple of Alexander the Great, Lara stumbles across a mysterious orb that is then stolen by a group of Chinese mercenaries. This orb is the map to the hiding place of the legendary box of life and death that was opened by Pandora in Greek mythology. Lara heads off to recover the stolen orb and stop an extremely wealthy and homicidal maniac from selling the box to the highest bidder as a weapon of mass destruction. Along the way, she has to reevaluate her feelings for Sheridan and determine if she can trust him again despite his history for protecting his own interests.
Director Jan de Bont is notorious for packing his films with non-stop action sequences, using just about anything he can squeeze in (consider Speed and Twister). For the second edition of Tomb Raider, we have jet ski jumps off the coast of Greece, side saddle shoot outs on the Croft estate, parachute dives off a building in Indonesia, motorcross races on the Great Wall of China, and numerous other high adrenaline sequences. My complaint about de Bont is that sometimes he sacrifices story development for explosions, something extremely evident in Speed 2. Also, the camera work in his films can be somewhat confusing, giving you that Blair Witch moment of nausea (again consider Speed 2). Thankfully, Tomb Raider’s cameras were heavily anchored and no nausea ensued, but I felt that the editing was a little confusing during heavy action sequences, perhaps trying to convince us there was more action then there actually was.
This movie is just great fun. Thanks to a mesmerizing cast of characters and the equally stunning actors who portrayed them, this plot never falls flat, leading us on a merry chase through several countries. Just like Indiana Jones, the Tomb Raider premise permits some very imaginary and supernatural elements to slip into the story, since Lara is often dealing with mythical artifacts. One of those supernatural elements includes Lara’s ability to come through a storm of bullets and broken glass without a scratch on her. Lara’s unlimited finances allow her to find resources all over the world, and her natural charm wins her allies in all the right places. Most of her charm lies in her tom-boyish personality, something that I enjoy about the games and the movies. It’s nice to see a girl punch out a shark now and again. I’m sure none of the male members of the audience will complain that she’s wearing a skin tight wetsuit when she does it. I only wish that such a famed archeologist such as our Ms. Croft could manage to continue on her adventures without destroying so many of the ancient sites she uncovers. We are introduced to the largest collection of Chinese Terra Cotta Warriors on record only to see them demolished during hand to hand combat. Nonetheless, I look forward to more of Lara’s adventures and wouldn’t mind seeing this franchise continue to Bond proportions.
---Tina