Lara Croft: Tomb Raider - The Cradle of Life

The Cradle of Life is still an outrageous action adventure full of stunts and gunfights, but this time, the style and directing minimize the cliche and maximize the fun! The Cradle of Life benefits from a larger budget, a new director, and a little less cheese. While this Tomb Raider film still has plenty of ridiculous moments, this time, they are more fantastical than cliche, which for a video game character, feels like a step in the right direction. The first film seemed more influenced by Blade and style Matrix, whereas the sequel takes its cues from Mission: Impossible. Lara Croft is a globe-trotting, gun-wielding, archeological super agent, but even with how larger-than-life that sounds, Angelina Jolie and Jan de Bont make it feel more grounded and believable. I appreciated the more practical feel of the effects and incredible stunts. In addition, Gerard Butler’s duplicitous romantic interest keeps the story more unpredictable and engaging. There were gun battles, exotic locations, plenty of expendable bad guys, and an awesome action heroine kicking butt! I couldn’t ask for more!

Proof, if it were ever really needed, that Gerard Butler really is just eye candy! He's ex Royal Marine "Terry" who allies with our intrepid relic hunter "Lara" (Angelina Jolie) as she embarks on another adventure to save the world. This time it's the megalomaniac "Reiss" (Ciarán Hinds) who is trying to obtain a talisman that will enable him to release the worst effects of the legendary "Pandora's Box" onto an unsuspecting world and leave him ruling the roost. The clue to it's long-hidden whereabouts is a pulsating golden orb and both team "Croft" and team "Reiss" know that's what they are going to have to locate before they can obtain this ultimate power. What's quite impressive about this sequel is that it managed to retain the services of Jolie and attract the always reliable Djimon Hounsou as it tells us a story respectful of cultures across the globe and extols the virtues of leaving well alone. As ever, there is plenty of action, destruction and even a bit of smart-mouthedness and Jolie did look like she was enjoying just throwing caution to the wind amidst a studio of green-screen and taut cables. There's a fair degree of teatime menace and the special effects guys have let rip with plenty of effective visuals to keep the pace rollicking along fine. It's a throw away adventure film with no ambitions to be anything else, and on that basis it effortlessly engages for a couple of hours essentially knitting a few stand-alone episodes into one. You ought to know what you are going to get when you watch it, and if you accept that premiss then it doesn't disappoint.