Rhune
ForumsNet Administrator
    
 
Gender: 
Posts: 292
|
 |
Review: Lara Croft's 'Cradle' is empty
« on: Jul 27th, 2003, 11:40pm » |
 Quote  Modify
|
Review: Lara Croft's 'Cradle' is empty
Sequel better than the first, but that's not saying much
By David Germain
Associated Press
Friday, July 25, 2003 Posted: 10:31 AM EDT (1431 GMT)
(AP) -- Once again, Angelina Jolie is all dolled up with plenty of places to go as adventurer Lara Croft.
Unfortunately, she's again dragging a lot of empty baggage in a movie whose trappings fail to measure up to Jolie's flashy persona.
"Lara Croft: Tomb Raider -- The Cradle of Life" is better than its 2001 predecessor, "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider," a vapid adaptation of the video game whose only asset was the ultra-cool presence Jolie brought to the character.
The sequel has a somewhat more interesting story, slightly more villainous villains and a more furious onslaught of action, the latter largely due to the rapid-fire style of director Jan de Bont ("Speed," "Twister"). The costumes, exotic locations and a few of the stunts would fit snugly into a decent James Bond flick.
Yet there's still too little for Lara to hang her hat on. She's so plainly superior to all around her that she never feels truly in peril. In her supremely capable hands, anything antagonists can throw at her seems like a walk in the park.
It's as if Lara's a full-bodied dynamo fleshed out to a glorious three dimensions courtesy of modern game graphics, while everyone else is a flat, monochromed Pong paddle.
Boxed in
Djimon Hounsou plays a friend of Croft's in "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider -- The Cradle of Life."
The movie opens with a promising undersea exploit as Lara goes diving in the Mediterranean to retrieve a map revealing the location of Pandora's Box.
Jolie's entrance in a black bikini riding a jet ski, and her dive in a body-hugging silver wet suit, make for an eye-catching start. That's followed by a taut underwater gunfight with bad guys and a narrow escape from an ancient submerged chamber.
"Cradle of Life" then settles into a modestly more engaging version of the go-fetch routine of the first "Tomb Raider" movie as Lara cavorts through Hong Kong, China and Africa in search of Pandora's little hope chest.
In Lara's world, Pandora's Box is not the Greek myth of a woman who unleashes all the world's evils from a forbidden receptacle. Rather, it's an artifact containing the origin of life on Earth, along with an "anti-life" force that could loose a devastating plague (the movie never bothers to explain just who left the box and why).
Lara's rival for Pandora's Box is international meanie Jonathan Reiss (Ciaran Hinds), a Nobel-winning scientist who's apparently run through his prize money and has turned to evil to pay the rent.
Stick figures
British intelligence conveniently teams Lara with old flame Terry Sheridan (Gerard Butler), a former agent turned mercenary. Sparks between them do not ensue, because Butler's a bore.
Also in Lara's corner are her men Friday, computer geek Bryce (Noah Taylor) and butler Hillary (Christopher Barrie), who as in the first movie, are potentially fun characters with too little screen time to come to life. Ditto for Djimon Hounsou as Lara's African buddy Kosa, a conceivably formidable ally who only pops up in the movie's final act.
And so "Cradle of Life" amounts to the Lara show, carried by Jolie's bemused elegance, aristocratic assurance, classy British accent, and grandly clad body to die a million video-game deaths for.
Good stuff if Jolie were strutting a fashion-show runway. Thin and forgettable to build an entire movie around.
"Lara Croft: Tomb Raider -- The Cradle of Life," a Paramount release, is rated PG-13 for action violence and some sensuality.
|
Home
Help
Search
Members
Chat
Member Map
Login
Register
Reply
Add Poll
Notify of replies
Send Topic
Print