MovieFreak.com - "Lara Croft Tomb Raider - The Cradle of Life" Special Collector's Edition DVD Review by Dennis Landmann

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life, The - Special Collector's Ed. (2003)

To recover what ancient civilization believed to be the essence of all evil, Pandora’s Box, Lara Croft (Jolie) must travel the globe from Greece to Hong Kong to Kenya and beyond to get to the box before it falls into the hands of a maniacal scientist (Hinds) whose plan it is to use it for mass annihilation. Lara recruits her ex-partner, Terry Sheridan (Butler), a dangerous mercenary who has previously betrayed her and their country, to aid her in a perilous adventure.

With The Cradle of Life, the Tomb Raider franchise is in the drain. That is, if there ever was a franchise to begin with. The first film was not exactly a guilty pleasure despite having some pretty entertaining sequences. It was a moderate action adventure starring a hot Angelina Jolie as the famous Lara Croft from the popular video game. It did rather well at the box office, but not record numbers by any means. I'm not sure what exactly warranted a sequel, because it certainly wasn't the movie going public. I just don't see that being the reason.

In any case, the sequel was a disappointment, although not only financially ($65.6 million domestic gross). Some critics were divided, but most dismissed it. The public didn't seem to like it much either as the film's attendance dropped significantly by an average of 44.76% spanning six weeks in release. My thoughts on The Cradle of Life are somewhat divided as well, liking only a few things among a number of different problems.

Problem number one, The Cradle of Life takes itself too seriously given its subject matter, which involves Pandora's box and all. Some passages are too complicated and filled with monotonous dialogue. I don't mind these types of scenes per se, because they are necessary sometimes, usually for expository purposes. Yet an excessive number of these scenes hurt a film. For example, Ciaran Hinds, who plays the evil bad guy, is just so typical and serious that there is no room for a bit of fun. Sometimes an actor will have fun with a bad guy role, but here it doesn't work. The character is too weak to begin with and Hinds is not the most versatile actor. At times Jolie keeps up her serious face when instead she should have a bit more fun. I'm not saying she isn't enjoying herself, because clearly she is having fun, but Lara Croft as a screen persona doesn't strike me as serious. Or perhaps I don't know jack shit about this character. Well, in that case, let's move on.

Problem number two and three, the film is too long and boring. It appears The Cradle of Life wants to be the female equivalent of an Indiana Jones adventure. The action is there, but scenes in-between are not very interesting. The adventure to locate Pandora's box is not a very compelling idea, so having to watch Lara Croft and Sheridan circle the globe to at least four different locales is taking its toll on entertainment value. As a result, I found myself bored from time to time. The total running time of 117 minutes is not bad when you look at it from the outside, but watching the film you realize the pace is a slow affair.

On the contrary, the action scenes are terrific and very well staged. One involves Croft and Sheridan jumping off a high-rise building with parachute suits and gliding through the air, all of which is composed to a cool music track by Alan Silvestri. Another well-staged action scene takes place at night and features a helicopter descending upon a city street for an exchange of stolen goods. Also, the film features a few humorous moments. Plus, it's nice to see Angelina Jolie looking hot and kicking ass. However, the film's PG-13 rating somewhat undermines Croft's sexual tension.

In terms of filmmaking, Jan De Bont stages a ridiculous big-budget adventure at the cost of $95 million based on a script that with some tweaking could've been better and made on a less expensive budget. However, it appears big sequels rarely take such an issue into consideration, such as the mostly disappointing MIB 2. For whatever it's worth, The Cradle of Life looks beautiful. The cinematography by David Tattersall is grand, the locations are exotic, the sets are elaborate, costumes look nice, production design is impressive, and, well, the list goes on a bit more. Oh, and the special effects look pretty cool. Despite great efforts, The Cradle of Life just seems too over the top most of the time.

On the acting front, Jolie got the British accent down and keeps a commanding performance. Gerard Butler does a good job, Ciaran Hinds is alright, Djimon Hounsou's appearance feels like an extended cameo, German actor Til Schweiger is wasted and Noah Taylor plays video games. So there you have it.

Paramount presents Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. Colors are quite vibrant and very well-saturated. Sharpness and color detail are excellent. Softness is not an issue here at all. Dark tones and blacks are consistent. Print quality is very nice. The image looks very nice and pure. I didn't notice any compression artifacts. However, minor edge enhancement appears in a few scenes. Little amounts of grain are also present, but they don't distract. This is a very nice, first-rate video presentation by Paramount.

Paramount presents Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life in English 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound. Here is where things get loud. This is a very impressive and aggressive sound mix. Dialogue scenes are clear and easy to understand. Also, Alan Silvestri's score is clear and very nicely accentuated. The surrounds make great use of the action sequences, reinforcing a great deal the film's score and the many sound effects. Rear speakers never go to sleep in this presentation, not even in the more quiet scenes. Sound effects come across with a great deal of precision.

A commentary by Jan De Bont starts things off. His comments are not limited to any one subject, but he refers mostly to technical aspects and other things, like the production and some story. I didn't find this track very interesting, but it's good to know De Bont doesn't waste any time on here.

Second on hand are 7 deleted scenes w/ optional commentary by De Bont. Some of them are nice to see, but only once. It's good the film doesn't include these scenes because at 117 minutes it is long enough.

Next are five featurettes on specific areas of making the film. They're interesting to watch and pretty self-explanatory. "Training" shows us Angelina Jolie preparing for the role. "Vehicles and Weapons" is just about that. "Stunts" illustrates the various stunts performed. "Visual Effects" goes on about some of the big effects used in the film. Lastly, "Scoring" provides a glimpse of Alan Silvestri working on the film's score.

Rounding out the extras is a Gerard Butler screen test (prison scene), 2 music videos (Korn with "Did My Time" and The Davey Brothers with "Heart Go Faster"), several bonus trailers (including Paycheck), and the film's original website,

You can select to view the film with optional English subtitles. The 117-minute feature is organized into twenty-six chapters.

You'll most likely want to rent this film for Angelina Jolie or the action scenes. Come to think of it, the former is probably more appealing since action alone doesn't guarantee much. [I could be making a joke about Matrix Revolutions, but I won't mention it. Actually, I enjoyed most of that film.] The Cradle of Life should do fine for a matinee rental if that sort of things exists. Video/audio quality is very good. Extras are pretty nice, but not great. Rent it if you don't have anything else to watch.

THE MOVIE	5
THE VIDEO	8
THE AUDIO	9
THE EXTRAS	7
OVERALL (not an average)	5