Lara Croft - Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life

Well get ready for another action packed movie.  Just what we need, right?  Absolutely! This is not a sequel but a new story.  Another adventure with Lara and her search for the Cradle of Life. This movie is better than the first as it has a lot more action and a much better story.  I didn't find it boring, even though some critics wrote that they almost fell asleep.  There was so much going on you had no chance to sleep. The music wasn't as loud as the first, which was good for the ears.

For those not familiar with Lara Croft, she is like Indiana Jones who searches for lost artifacts and 007. The difference is she has a lot more high tech gadgets and friends like Bryce, the computer whiz, who helps her find the treasures so to speak. If you go, be prepared to travel a lot around the world. She travels from Greece to Hong Kong, the Great Wall of China, Tanzania, and finally ends up in Kenya where the Cradle of Life is located. The Cradle of Life is believed to be the location on earth where life began.  It is also where Pandora's Box may be located. She manages to get help from an old boyfriend, Terry Sheridan who is taken from a prison run by the British.

 
Terry is supposed to be an authority on the first location she is traveling to, Tanzania, and the only one she will trust. The British government wanted to send their people but she needs someone she can trust. In time even Terry's loyalty comes into question. When he has a chance to kill the main villain, Jonathan Reiss, he fails to take the shot and Lara becomes suspicious of him. Eventually she is able to restrain him so she can get to the location of the Cradle of Life. There is only thing that she has to do and that is stopping the villains from getting there first.

Somewhere in the Cradle of Life is believed to be the one and only Pandora's box.  This is the real one and the villains plan to unleash a deadly virus believed to be inside that would wipe out most of the human race.  When we finally get to the location and she is caught by the villains and forced to help them get the box.

Well it is not all that easy as they discover a lot of obstacles and they aren't exactly human. It gets real scary as it looks like no one will survive and get Pandora's box.  Well guess who shows up? That's right Terry and just in time to come to Lara's rescue. It turns out he is more interested in getting Pandora's box for himself. They (Lara, Jonathan, and Terry) do find the box and the villains don't live and Lara almost doesn't either.  Then Terry gets the box out of what looks like hot tar or some liquid that you wouldn’t want to bathe with. Lara tells him to put it back but he insists that they take it as they found it. When it looks like Terry is about to shoot Lara, she shoots him. Now Lara is tempted to look inside but finally she comes to her senses and puts the box back in the water. Lara gets rescued and hopefully we will see another adventure like this one with a lot of different cities across the world.

I really liked this one better than the first because Angelina Jolie (Lara) is able to do her own stunts. The fight scenes are her and not a stunt double, at least in most of the scenes.  I also like how she is able to get out of tight squeezes. I wish I could think as fast as her in the situations she gets into. Many times I felt she was trapped but always manages to escape. She is definitely the female 007 but more attractive in those tight clothes. I can't wait for the next adventure.

There are plenty more action scenes and more to the story.  If you get a chance, go see this one.  This is definitely a good popcorn movie to see on a wet and dreary day.

See you all at the movies.

Max at the Movies