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Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life

Lara Croft still shakes the action for action's sake.

FILM FACTS

Starring: Angelina Jolie
Director: Jan de Bont
Rating: PG-13 for action violence and some sensuality
Genre: Action

Discuss this film | Official movie site

See showtimes (PG-13) 116 minutes

Grade: C

Verdict: Don't believe the hype - even with some semblance of a plot and a couple of romantic interludes, Lara Croft still shakes the action for action's sake.

By BOB TOWNSEND
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The big media blitz leading up to Angelina Jolie's reprise of her role as Lara Croft in the sequel to the 2001 video-game adaptation of "Tomb Raider" was often more fascinating to watch than the movie. And let's not forget about Billy Bob and the baby.

Seeing Jolie repeat the mantra that, unlike "TR1," "TR2" actually has a plot, was really much funnier than seeing her punch out a shark during the wham-bam opening sequence of "The Cradle of Life." But was that any more believable?

Truth be told, "TR2" has some semblance of a plot, though it's so standard it's really beside the point. It is certain to get message boards buzzing about the parallels between "The Cradle of Life" and "The Raiders of the Lost Ark."

The storyline follows the search for the legendary Pandora's Box, said to contain Earth's ultimate destructive power and hidden somewhere in Africa in an area known as, you guessed it, "The Cradle of Life."

With help from British intelligence agent turned mercenary Terry Sheridan, Lara Croft races against evil scientist Dr. Jonathan Reiss for possession of an orb that holds the coded map to the box's precise location.

Reiss, played with icy precision by Ciaran Hinds, is a nasty fellow who traffics in biological weapons. Early on, in what is perhaps the movie's only truly frightening scene, we see just how maniacal he can be as he administers a deadly dose of super Ebola virus to an informant.

Sheridan, played by Scotsman Gerard Butler, has the movie's best role as he becomes the vehicle for whatever bits of emotional complexity and edginess there are in the script, not to mention some Bond-like humor. We quickly find out that he and Croft were briefly lovers, and Sheridan's vacillations between hero and mercenary lead to the movie's inevitable denouement.

Director Jan de Bont, who stepped in for "TR1" director Simon West, made "Speed" and "Twister," both nerve-jolting action pics with strong female stars and touches of emotional content. Presumably he was hired to add some personality to "TR2." Of course, de Bont gets right to the work - opening with an ear-shattering earthquake that rolls and tumbles debris into the title, and on to an introductory shot of Jolie's Croft doing playful flips on a jet ski, wearing only a skimpy black bikini.

But fear not, straight away she dons a skin-tight silver wet suit for the boots-and-boobs look of the video game character. And her trademark big guns get blazing as she battles a Chinese crime syndicate and Reiss' henchmen in tombs or tomb-like structures all over the world. There's the crumbling underwater "Luna Temple" in Greece and a cave full of exploding terra cotta warriors in China; Reiss' (shattering glass) laboratory in Hong Kong and the dark-morphing inner quadrant that leads to Pandora's box.

Even if there is a little story and a couple of romantic interludes between Jolie and Butler, this is still very much an action for action's sake movie. Most scenes have little logic other than visual logic. And the breathtaking locations, ranging from the volcanic cliffs on Greek island of Santorini to the Great Wall of China, end up being the real stars of the show.

Will you enjoy "The Cradle of Life"? If your cup of Coke is a silly popcorn movie with nonstop action, big budget locations and a taste of eye candy, then fire all of your guns at once and explode with Lara. But if you believed the hype, and are expecting something more, best put your money on "Seabiscuit."