Tweet
Lara Croft: The Cradle Of Life - A Review August 1, 2003
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 130 minutes
Cast:
Angela Jolie (Playing God, The Bone Collector, Gone In 60 Seconds) is Lara Croft
Gerard Bulter (Tomorrow Never Dies, Harrison's Flowers, Reign Of Fire) is Terry Sheridan
Ciaran Hinds (Rules Of Engagement, The Sum Of All Fears, The Road To Perdition) is Jonathan Reiss
Chris Barrie (Lara Croft: Tomb Raider) is Hillary
Noah Taylor (Shine, Almost Famous, Vanilla Sky, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider ) is Bryce
Djimon Hounsou (Amistad, Gladiator, The Four Feathers) is Kosa
Directed by Jan de Bont (Speed, Twister, The Haunting), this is the story of Lara Croft (Jolie) and her adventure to keep Pandora's Box from falling into the hands of a genocidal arms dealer (Hinds). She recruits an old lover gone bad (Butler) to assist her in getting in to see the tomb robbers that have a map to Pandora's box. Jolie is strong, sensual and physical in her role, Butler is handsome, charming and devious in his as sparks occasionally fly between the two. The screenplay is penned by Stephen de Sousa (48 Hours, Jumpin' Jack Flash, Die Hard) and James V. Hart (Hook, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Contact). Cast-wise and technically, this is a VERY appealing film. A goodly amount of talent is present in the mix at all times, and I was disappointed in the final product. Yessir, horribly disappointed.
Visually, this film is a wonderful accomplishment. The colors are glorious and deep with a nighttime street scene in Hong Kong looking almost surreal from the neon-lit signs surrounding the action. Scenes range from bright daylight in a Greek village to ocean vistas to underwater grottos to ominous gravity-defying caverns. All are rendered beautifully with an almost 3D look at times. Framing of scenes is generally well done with fight sequences actually being visible as they are filmed from a vantage point far enough away to see the moves, and they are shot without the choppy MTV-like effects seen in Dare Devil and other recent action films. Close-ups of the actors show almost startling detail and tonal qualities. Overall, this could be a serious contender for visual reference DVD when it's released.
Aurally, the soundtrack doesn't disappoint either. Deep, wide, clean and clear. Gunshots aren't of Saving Private Ryan quality, but then neither have any other film's been. Dialog is clean and at a reasonable volume when compared to the action sequences. The surrounds are generously used and to very good effect – as should be expected from action films such as this. I did have trouble with Gerard Butler's deep accent at times, but that's an individual issue. Your milage will vary on this. Overall this is a very good soundtrack and will (hopefully) add to the visual imagery on the DVD.
The story is where this movie fails. Completely, utterly fails. I enjoyed the first Lara Croft movie and had hopes for a continuation of the sense of fun, the clever dialog and interweaved stories. In this effort however, there were a few good clever moments of dialog but the majority was something that could have been penned by any first-year acting student - boring, boring, boring. Also, at some points I was wondering if the actors themselves cared about the scenes they were in. The overall storyline of searching for Pandora's box was not too bad, although the set-up seemed to come straight out of Raiders Of The Lost Ark. The premise of a weapons dealer that wants to unleash the box's un-defined evils on the world, which evidently won't cause HIM (or some selected others) any harm is really pushing the "suspension of disbelief" envelope, though. Above and beyond that, the story didn't seem to flow. It was jerky, haphazard and at times seemed not to know where, and how, to proceed. One pet peeve here: Lara is portrayed as a "super" herione, and that's fine – but, PLEASE let her miss when she shoots a gun, even occasionally! Knowing she'll hit everything the first time is not only distracting but takes away from any suspense in those sequences. Speaking of "suspension of disbelief", deliberately cutting yourself with knife when swimming in the ocean, punching out the shark that comes to investigate, and then riding it to the surface is waaaayyyyyy too much – c'mon gang.
Overall, this is a fine production from the technical aspect, with a talented group of actors that is let down by a weak script and, surprisingly, some weak moments by the cast. FYI, my 16 year-old daughter has seen it twice and loved it. My wife and 18 year-old son were both disappointed too.
On the strenght of its visuals I wanted to give more, but as a whole I give Lara Croft: The Cradle Of Life :2: out of :5:.
David - HTGuide flunky
Our "Theater"
Our DVDs on DVD Tracker
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 130 minutes
Cast:
Angela Jolie (Playing God, The Bone Collector, Gone In 60 Seconds) is Lara Croft
Gerard Bulter (Tomorrow Never Dies, Harrison's Flowers, Reign Of Fire) is Terry Sheridan
Ciaran Hinds (Rules Of Engagement, The Sum Of All Fears, The Road To Perdition) is Jonathan Reiss
Chris Barrie (Lara Croft: Tomb Raider) is Hillary
Noah Taylor (Shine, Almost Famous, Vanilla Sky, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider ) is Bryce
Djimon Hounsou (Amistad, Gladiator, The Four Feathers) is Kosa
Directed by Jan de Bont (Speed, Twister, The Haunting), this is the story of Lara Croft (Jolie) and her adventure to keep Pandora's Box from falling into the hands of a genocidal arms dealer (Hinds). She recruits an old lover gone bad (Butler) to assist her in getting in to see the tomb robbers that have a map to Pandora's box. Jolie is strong, sensual and physical in her role, Butler is handsome, charming and devious in his as sparks occasionally fly between the two. The screenplay is penned by Stephen de Sousa (48 Hours, Jumpin' Jack Flash, Die Hard) and James V. Hart (Hook, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Contact). Cast-wise and technically, this is a VERY appealing film. A goodly amount of talent is present in the mix at all times, and I was disappointed in the final product. Yessir, horribly disappointed.
Visually, this film is a wonderful accomplishment. The colors are glorious and deep with a nighttime street scene in Hong Kong looking almost surreal from the neon-lit signs surrounding the action. Scenes range from bright daylight in a Greek village to ocean vistas to underwater grottos to ominous gravity-defying caverns. All are rendered beautifully with an almost 3D look at times. Framing of scenes is generally well done with fight sequences actually being visible as they are filmed from a vantage point far enough away to see the moves, and they are shot without the choppy MTV-like effects seen in Dare Devil and other recent action films. Close-ups of the actors show almost startling detail and tonal qualities. Overall, this could be a serious contender for visual reference DVD when it's released.
Aurally, the soundtrack doesn't disappoint either. Deep, wide, clean and clear. Gunshots aren't of Saving Private Ryan quality, but then neither have any other film's been. Dialog is clean and at a reasonable volume when compared to the action sequences. The surrounds are generously used and to very good effect – as should be expected from action films such as this. I did have trouble with Gerard Butler's deep accent at times, but that's an individual issue. Your milage will vary on this. Overall this is a very good soundtrack and will (hopefully) add to the visual imagery on the DVD.
The story is where this movie fails. Completely, utterly fails. I enjoyed the first Lara Croft movie and had hopes for a continuation of the sense of fun, the clever dialog and interweaved stories. In this effort however, there were a few good clever moments of dialog but the majority was something that could have been penned by any first-year acting student - boring, boring, boring. Also, at some points I was wondering if the actors themselves cared about the scenes they were in. The overall storyline of searching for Pandora's box was not too bad, although the set-up seemed to come straight out of Raiders Of The Lost Ark. The premise of a weapons dealer that wants to unleash the box's un-defined evils on the world, which evidently won't cause HIM (or some selected others) any harm is really pushing the "suspension of disbelief" envelope, though. Above and beyond that, the story didn't seem to flow. It was jerky, haphazard and at times seemed not to know where, and how, to proceed. One pet peeve here: Lara is portrayed as a "super" herione, and that's fine – but, PLEASE let her miss when she shoots a gun, even occasionally! Knowing she'll hit everything the first time is not only distracting but takes away from any suspense in those sequences. Speaking of "suspension of disbelief", deliberately cutting yourself with knife when swimming in the ocean, punching out the shark that comes to investigate, and then riding it to the surface is waaaayyyyyy too much – c'mon gang.
Overall, this is a fine production from the technical aspect, with a talented group of actors that is let down by a weak script and, surprisingly, some weak moments by the cast. FYI, my 16 year-old daughter has seen it twice and loved it. My wife and 18 year-old son were both disappointed too.
On the strenght of its visuals I wanted to give more, but as a whole I give Lara Croft: The Cradle Of Life :2: out of :5:.
David - HTGuide flunky
Our "Theater"
Our DVDs on DVD Tracker
Comment