Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life

Published November 11, 2013

Film info

Title Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life
Director Jan de Bont
Year 2003
Run time 1hr 57m
Genres Thriller, Fantasy, Adventure, Action
Tagline A quest to save the mythical Pandora's box

Lara Croft is back in action and faces her most perilous mission: to recover what ancient civilization believed to be the essence of all evil, Pandora's Box. She must travel the globe, from Greece to Hong Kong to Kenya and beyond to get to the box before it's found by a maniacal scientist whose plan is to use it for mass annihilation. For this adventure, Lara recruits her ex-partner - Terry Sheridan - a dangerous mercenary who has previously betrayed Lara and their country. She knows he's the best for the mission, but can she trust him again? Join her as she races through furious hand-to-hand battles, blazing shoot-outs and breathtaking sky-diving escapes to try to save the ancient artifact... and mankind's future.

Live Blog

Time	Comment
2:51	That’s some loud music to create a rock fall!
4:20	Is there any jetskiing in the game? It definitely seems like a Lara mode of transportation.
7:13	Was never very good at swimming in the game. Up is down and down is up and all that.
9:19	She found the temple, short film.
11:09	Even Lara is busy filming when she should be living the experience. If it’s good enough for Lara…
16:35	Submarine!
22:42	I didn’t know you could handbrake a horse.
26:00	Angelina seems even more British this time round.
30:10	“You can call it second chance money.”
31:36	If they move around a lot, how’s he going to know where they are? He’s been in prison for god knows how long.
42:43	I wouldn’t want to be left alone with that guy either.
44:56	Between them, they’re doing a rubbish job at preserving these terracotta things. The National Trust would have a fit.
46:34	Can I just say how much I enjoy that she had to lift the necklace over his head, instead of just ripping it as people normally do in films.
48:46	She has Google Glass before Google Glass existed!
53:41	Two films in, it is still fun to see her doing game-like moves. This time swinging round a bar.
1:03:50	It’s good that they say they need more backup. They know what they’re up against!
1:06:15	I hope Lara’s bag has a lot of padding in it, she just dived out the door with an orb inside.
1:19:56	Giraffes!
1:30:11	Do they keep showing all these different animals just to prove they were in Africa?
1:41:57	“Now, you’re being dramatic.”

Conclusions

As you may have gathered from the Film Watch notes of the previous Lara outing, we’re pretty big fans of the game and enjoyed the first film immensely. I know I have seen the second film before, but most of my memories are scenes that are also in the trailer - the sliding down the ropes, and a lot of breaking glass in the skyscraper. The rest is a blank, but I feel as though I didn’t mind it quite as much as a lot of other people did.

I think, generally speaking, my initial impressions summed up the film - I enjoyed it, I can see that other people probably didn’t like it as much as the first one, if at all. It seems like the kind of film that is for proper fans of the game, rather than an Avengers-style anyone can enjoy it adventure. The best bits about both films remain the nods to the games, so if you’re not spotting those, I’m not sure there’s an awful lot to entertain you with.

It was nice to see Lara with slightly more realistic proportions, I was slightly bemused by how much stronger Angelina’s accent was in this one, and spent plenty of time pondering how it’s possible to do push ups on the ceiling. All in all, a successful movie, but not a patch on the first.

**Rating: **3/5

Rating: 3 / 5