Review of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider - The Cradle of Life (2003) by Thequietgamer — 28 Mar 2021

As far as big, dumb popcorn movies go the first Tomb Raider was a decent ride that was ultimately held back from blockbuster greatness by a relatively uninteresting first half that took far too long setting things up. Unburdened by the need to introduce viewers to it's heroine and how she operates however, this sequel wastes no time in getting right to the globetrotting action and it's a better experience because of it. Something that is also in no small part due to how much grander and more beautiful the adventure is to boot.

The shootouts are bigger, the visuals prettier, and Croft is given more acrobatic sequences that feel like they were ripped straight from the games. There's even a greater variety to the set pieces as Lara takes a page from spy thrillers to do things like infiltrate her foe's corporation and battle through its secret laboratory before getting back to the Indiana Jones, beat-the-bad-guy-to-the-relic style hijinks you'd expect. The plot may have only gotten more ludicrous as a result, but given the nature of the narratives found in the source material it's not something I really take issue with.

In fact, about the only thing Cradle of Life does wrong is trying to establish a serious love interest for its protagonist in the form of an old flame portrayed by Gerard Butler. On top of giving Lara anything more than a casual flirt kind of cheapening one of the aspects that makes her so special (her independence), "Terry Sheridan" isn't exactly a likeable character. He's one of those macho jerk stereotypes and there's such a dissonance between his and Lara's personalities that the chemistry between Jolie and Butler that would have been necessary to sell the romance is nowhere to be found.

Still, this minor shortcoming does little to hinder the fun. At the end of the day, there may be thousands of alternatives out there with more depth and braincells, but next to none of them have as exciting a female lead as this one. It's a shame Angelina Jolie had no interest in making another one. This is a role she was born to play and the improvements that were made here boded well for a potential trilogy or more. While the Croft mantle has found a fine successor in Alicia Vikander, there's no secret that there was something special about the Maleficent star's take that no other actress will be able to match even though the films themselves were flawed.

7.