Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003)

Director:

Jan de Bont

Writers (WGA):

Dean Georgaris (screenplay)
Steven E. de Souza (story) ...

Release Date:

25 July 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Fantasy | Thriller

Plot:

Lara Croft is on a quest to save Pandoras box.

Plot Keywords:

Busty Heroine | Spin Off From Video Game | Acid | Archeology | Motorcycle

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Angelina Jolie	...	Lara Croft
Gerard Butler	...	Terry Sheridan
Ciarán Hinds	...	Jonathan Reiss
Chris Barrie	...	Hillary (as Christopher Barrie)
Noah Taylor	...	Bryce
Djimon Hounsou	...	Kosa
Til Schweiger	...	Sean
Simon Yam	...	Chen Lo
Terence Yin	...	Xien
Daniel Caltagirone	...	Nicholas Petraki
Fabiano Martell	...	Jimmy Petraki
Jonathan Coyne	...	Gus Petraki
Robert Cavanah	...	MI6 Agent Stevens
Ronan Vibert	...	MI6 Agent Calloway
Lenny Juma	...	Village Leader

Also Known As:

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Die Wiege des Lebens (Germany)
Tomb Raider 2 (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for action violence and some sensuality.

Runtime:

117 min

Country:

USA | Germany | Japan | UK | Netherlands

Language:

English | Mandarin

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

UK:12A (original rating) | Iceland:12 | Ireland:12 | New Zealand:M | USA:PG-13 (certificate #39956) | UK:12 (video rating) (2003) | Malaysia:U | Argentina:Atp | Australia:M | Brazil:12 | Canada:14A | Denmark:11 | Finland:K-15 | Germany:12 | Netherlands:12 | Norway:15 | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:15 | Spain:7 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:16 (canton of the Grisons)

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

In the film, Lara and Terry walk into a mall in Hong Kong called Times Square, after which they make their way to a then-unfinished taller building called the IFC tower. The film treats the two buildings as if they are attached, but in fact they are a subway train ride apart. The large skylight that looks up the IFC tower from Times Square was digitally added into the scene.

Goofs:

Continuity: Lara cuts her arm to attract a shark, but later when she is picked up by a submarine, her wetsuit's arm is unmarred.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Jimmy Petraki: They found another one. There's going to be no treasure left by the time she gets here.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Howard Stern on Demand: J.J. Abrams and the Film Festival Winner" (2006)

Soundtrack:

You're Nice

goofball action film

Angelina Jolie returns as a distaff Indiana Jones in "Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life," an action/adventure film (based on a video game character) that is just goofy enough and inane enough to be almost entertaining.

In this follow-up adventure - which is designed to give historians and social studies teachers a severe case of the heebie-jeebies - Lara, the world-famous archaeologist and adventurist, finds evidence that the mythical Pandora's Box is really no myth at all, but rather an actual object loaded with enough plague and pestilence to wipe the entire human race off the face of the planet. It lies buried somewhere, hidden by Alexander the Great in the 4th Century B.C. when he discovered how virulent and deadly the contents of the box really were. Now, twenty-four centuries later, Lara has to try and prevent an evil billionaire capitalist from locating the container, prying open the lid, and bringing an end to civilization as we know it.

Though the storyline is clearly not one to be conjured with, all that really matters in a movie such as this one is that the action move quickly and the stunts be sufficiently enterprising to engage the audience. Credibility is the last prerequisite in a Lara Croft adventure, as evidenced by the fact that if Lara isn't parachuting smack dab onto the deck of a ship or into the passenger seat of a moving jeep, she's hitching a ride on the back of a great white shark and riding it to safety. Ah well, it's all in good fun, I suppose, and Jolie not only looks stunning in all the outfits she's been given to wear, but seems to be having a fine time playing along with the joke.

The ending is inevitably anticlimactic, but viewers can have a pretty good time getting there at least.