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Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life

  • 20032003
  • PG-13PG-13
  • 1h 57m
IMDb RATING
5.5/10
137K
YOUR RATING
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • IMDbPro
Angelina Jolie in Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003)
Home Video Trailer from Paramount Home Entertainment
Play trailer2:28
1 Video
99+ Photos
  • Action
  • Adventure
  • Fantasy
Adventurer Lara Croft goes on a quest to save the mythical Pandora's Box, before an evil scientist finds it, and recruits a former Marine turned mercenary to assist her.Adventurer Lara Croft goes on a quest to save the mythical Pandora's Box, before an evil scientist finds it, and recruits a former Marine turned mercenary to assist her.Adventurer Lara Croft goes on a quest to save the mythical Pandora's Box, before an evil scientist finds it, and recruits a former Marine turned mercenary to assist her.
IMDb RATING
5.5/10
137K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Jan de Bont
  • Writers
    • Dean Georgaris(screenplay)
    • Steven E. de Souza(story)
    • James V. Hart(story)
  • Stars
    • Angelina Jolie
    • Gerard Butler
    • Chris Barrie
Top credits
  • Director
    • Jan de Bont
  • Writers
    • Dean Georgaris(screenplay)
    • Steven E. de Souza(story)
    • James V. Hart(story)
  • Stars
    • Angelina Jolie
    • Gerard Butler
    • Chris Barrie
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 342User reviews
    • 165Critic reviews
    • 43Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 win & 3 nominations

    Videos1

    Lara Croft Tomb Raider Two: The Cradle of Life
    Trailer 2:28
    Lara Croft Tomb Raider Two: The Cradle of Life

    Photos273

    Angelina Jolie in Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003)
    Angelina Jolie in Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003)
    Jan de Bont in Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003)
    Jan de Bont and Angelina Jolie in Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003)
    Angelina Jolie, Djimon Hounsou, Chris Barrie, and Noah Taylor in Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003)
    Angelina Jolie in Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003)
    Angelina Jolie in Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003)
    Angelina Jolie and Gerard Butler in Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003)
    Angelina Jolie in Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003)
    Gerard Butler in Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003)
    Angelina Jolie in Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003)
    Angelina Jolie and Gerard Butler in Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Angelina Jolie
    Angelina Jolie
    • Lara Croftas Lara Croft
    Gerard Butler
    Gerard Butler
    • Terry Sheridanas Terry Sheridan
    Chris Barrie
    Chris Barrie
    • Hillaryas Hillary
    Ciarán Hinds
    Ciarán Hinds
    • Jonathan Reissas Jonathan Reiss
    Noah Taylor
    Noah Taylor
    • Bryceas Bryce
    Djimon Hounsou
    Djimon Hounsou
    • Kosaas Kosa
    Til Schweiger
    Til Schweiger
    • Seanas Sean
    Simon Yam
    Simon Yam
    • Chen Loas Chen Lo
    Terence Yin
    Terence Yin
    • Xienas Xien
    Daniel Caltagirone
    Daniel Caltagirone
    • Nicholas Petrakias Nicholas Petraki
    Fabiano Martell
    Fabiano Martell
    • Jimmy Petrakias Jimmy Petraki
    Jonny Coyne
    Jonny Coyne
    • Gus Petrakias Gus Petraki
    • (as Jonathan Coyne)
    Robert Cavanah
    Robert Cavanah
    • MI6 Agent Stevensas MI6 Agent Stevens
    Ronan Vibert
    Ronan Vibert
    • MI6 Agent Callowayas MI6 Agent Calloway
    Lenny Juma
    • Village Leaderas Village Leader
    Raymond Ofula
    • Village Leaderas Village Leader
    • (as Raymond Offula)
    Hezron Ajuala
    • Village Leaderas Village Leader
    Alfred Kalipso
    • Tribesmanas Tribesman
    • Director
      • Jan de Bont
    • Writers
      • Dean Georgaris(screenplay)
      • Steven E. de Souza(story)
      • James V. Hart(story)
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
    • All cast & crew

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      In Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), Angelina Jolie had to wear bra padding, in order for her bust size to measure up to the videogame character. Jolie wears considerably less (and possibly no) padding in this film, as the decision was made to give Lara more realistic dimensions.
    • Goofs
      When in Hong Kong, Lara tells Bryce to call Kosa and have him pick her up north of his village. However, Bryce is immediately taken hostage by Jonathan from the trailer, and would not have been able to call Kosa. Yet he still arrives to pick her up in the Jeep.
    • Quotes

      [Deciding who should jump off first]

      Terry Sheridan: Right, you go first.

      Lara Croft: No, you go first.

      [Thugs shoot at them]

      Lara Croft: I'll go first.

    • Crazy credits
      The opening logos for Paramount and Mutual Films are projected onto water.
    • Connections
      Edited into Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness (2003)
    • Soundtracks
      Did My Time
      Written and Performed by Korn

      Produced by Korn and Jonathan Davis

      Additional production by Frank Filipetti

      Korn performs courtesy of Epic Records

    User reviews342

    Review
    Top review
    7/10
    The Best James Bond Film In Five Years!
    Let's face it, the James Bond franchise has become rather limp lately. "The World Is Not Enough" was a debacle of miscasting and an an endless parade of meaningless subplots and tertiary characters. "Die Another Day" suffered from much of the same, but was also saddled with an inexplicable amount of stereo feedback and one of the oddest (if catchiest) theme songs in recent memory. The series has been re-energized with the new entry "The Cradle Of Life," a high-spirited, far-reaching film that doesn't quite succeed but is such an improvement on the originals that you're ready to overlook all that.

    Actually, this is a review of "Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle Of Life", the sequel to 2001's abysmally dull video-game-based film "Tomb Raider." Angelina Jolie is back as sexy, gun-toting archeologist Lara Croft, and at first glance, it's easy to mistake her for Bond, Jane Bond. Lara is a British citizen of refined taste, highly competent in various forms of weaponry, travels around the globe to exotic locations, has friends (and lovers) in virtually every port, uses a wide variety of nifty gadgets, has an amusing yet dry form of wit, looks fabulous, and routinely saves the world from a madman bent on global domination. She's a better 007 than Timothy Dalton in any case.

    The film begins with Lara diving into a sunken temple off the coast of Greece. While there, she is attacked by Chinese mercenaries, her support crew killed and left for dead, the mercenaries making off with a mysterious glowing orb. Seems that mad scientist Jonathan Reiss (Ciaran Hinds) is looking for Pandora's Box, and the orb is the key to finding it. Lara is appointed by MI:6 with stopping Reiss because opening the box would unleash an amazingly nasty plague upon the world. Besides her support staff of Hillary (Chris Barrie) and computer expert Bryce (Noah Taylor), Lara joins forces with ex-lover Terry Sheridan (Gerard Butler), a shifty mercenary and the only person who knows how to get to the mercenaries who stole the orb in the first place. And of course, time is running out.

    Jolie is excellent as Lara Croft, and there probably isn't an actress around who would be better cast in the role. Jolie has the physicality, the look, the voice, and the attitude to pull off the role effortlessly. She was the only redeeming factor in the first film, and she's great to watch here. The supporting cast is a mixed bag. Hinds refrains from chewing up too much of the scenery, but he brings to mind some of the more notable Bond villains of recent times. Butler is great to look at, but his performance is far too low-key and deadpan for a movie as bombastic as this one wants to be, especially when he's paired with Jolie, who enters each seen with a relishing look in her eyes. Taylor again acts as a dry kind of comic relief, and he displays far more chemistry with Jolie than Butler does.

    One of the biggest improvements in this film is the director. Replacing Simon West (responsible for the monotonous "Con Air") is Jan de Bont ("Speed"), a much more competent director even if some of his films are only barley entertaining ("The Haunting"). de Bont has a knack for action on a small scale, most vividly in a gun-fight staged in a laboratory/office, but his large scale pieces, like Lara body-gliding off of one of Hong Kong's tallest buildings, lack drama. Still, de Bont has chosen good locations and sets for the film, and there is a blessedly welcome lack of the "Matrix"-style visuals and candy-colored bombast so popular in action films of recent memory. He is nothing if not up to task. The film operates well within its own set of rules and physics, unlike many other films that tend to sacrifice internal logic for cheap stunts.

    As much of an improvement on the first film as this is, there are still flaws. The script, while improving ten-fold on the original, still falls flat on several occasions, sometimes held up only by Jolie's confident line readings. At almost two hours, the film displays a desperate need for tighter scenes and a quicker pace while simultaneously leaving some scenes cut too quickly. The movie can be very easily divided into stages, which may hold true to the spirit of the video game's levels, but often leaves the audience doing nothing more than predicting when the DVD chapter cuts will occur in six months. Also, like the James Bond films, there is rarely any doubt that Lara will escape any dire situation she finds herself in. Like 007, we always know the hero will prevail in the end, which robs some scenes of the tension needed to excite the audience.

    Despite some of these flaws, "The Cradle Of Life" is a fine movie and a good way to spend 2 hours on a summer afternoon. Jolie obviously enjoys the role, and if nothing else, the film is worth it for that alone. Here's hoping the third entry into the series is even better than the this one. 7 out of 10.
    helpful•63
    57
    • johnnysugar
    • Jul 31, 2003

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • July 25, 2003 (United States)
    • Countries of origin
      • United States
      • Germany
      • Japan
      • United Kingdom
      • Hong Kong
    • Official site
      • Paramount
    • Languages
      • English
      • Mandarin
      • Swahili
      • Greek
      • Russian
    • Also known as
      • Tomb Raider 2
    • Filming locations
      • Santorini, Greece
    • Production companies
      • Paramount Pictures
      • Mutual Film Company
      • British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $95,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $65,660,196
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $21,783,641
      • Jul 27, 2003
    • Gross worldwide
      • $160,099,222
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 57 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • DTS
      • Dolby Digital
      • SDDS
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.39 : 1
      • 2.35 : 1

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