[yasr_overall_rating]
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.
Like my earlier review of this film’s predecessor, “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider” (you can read that review here), “Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life” suffers from the exact same issues that plagued the first movie, not enough tomb raiding. Because both films were based on the popular video game, where the heroine spent most of her time in booby-trapped tombs and temples, the movies seemed to want to move away from that element, which makes no sense whatsoever as that is what the character of Lara Croft is all about. Like Indiana Jones, she is an archaeologist, therefore, exploring ancient and forgotten temples and catacombs is what she does best, it is her life. While this aspect is sorely missing from both films, they are still quite enjoyable. Like many of the actors who portrayed James Bond, with more outings, they seemed to settle comfortably into the iconic role and here, Angelina Jolie does the same. With this being her second Lara Croft outing, she seems more at ease with her character and as a result, more assured in everything she does onscreen.
This time around, Lara is after Pandora’s Box, the legendary artifact from Greek mythology which is said to contain a virus so deadly it could wipe out the entire planet. She is racing against time and Jonathan Reiss (Ciarán Hinds), a scientist turned bio-terrorist who wants the box for his own diabolical intentions. Along the way, with the help of MI6, she releases from a Chinese prison, her old flame Terry Sheridan (Gerard Butler), a former marine turned mercenary. She does so on the condition that he help her find a mysterious magical sphere that operates as a map and which will point them to the Cradle of Life in Africa where the box is located. They discover that a ruthless Chinese crimelord named Chen Lo (Simon Yam), has the sphere and is willing to sell it to Reiss but because Terry was a part of Lo’s criminal operation in the past, he should be able to get them in so they can steal it. Granted, things don’t go according to plan and once the duo are trapped in a skyrise high above Hong Kong, they must formulate an escape plan and make their way to Africa before it’s too late.
Director Jan de Bont, who spent many years as a cinematographer on such high-profile action movies like “Die Hard,” “The Hunt for Red October,” and “Lethal Weapon 3,” to name but a few, made his directorial debut with the Keanu Reeves/Sandra Bullock actioner “Speed,” in 1994, and he continued his winning streak with “Twister,” “The Haunting,” and lastly, “Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life.” A very capable director who knows how to construct magnificent action scenes and set pieces, here, he somehow fails to live up to the expectations of his previous outings. That might have something to do with the fact that the storyline for “Cradle of Life” is mired in mystical elements and while he dealt with similar aspects in “The Haunting,” that movie was a straight-up ghost story, while “Cradle of Life” is a combination of both action and the supernatural, a genre he apparently had trouble with. The film is fun and engaging and once again, Angelina Jolie proved that she had, without a doubt, star power, it’s just a pity that the screenplay got lost along the way.
Available on 4K Ultra HD February 27th
