The Cradle of Life is the 2003 sequel to Angeline Jolie's 2001 film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, adapted from the popular video game franchise. It stars Angelina Jolie, Ciaran Hinds, Gerard Butler, and Djimon Hounsou. Jolie (who reprises her role as Lara Croft) and Gerard Butler (from 300), are on a quest to find Pandora's box and the Cradle of Life. Of course, there are bad guys who are also after the box for nefarious purposes. There are a bunch of very unrealistic action sequences and stunts (including Lara punching a shark and then riding it to the surface of the ocean) that rival the Fast and Furious movies for their absurdity. And, like in the first movie, they put Jolie into the tightest outfits possible to show off what she has going on.
The A/V quality of the Blu-Ray is excellent. If you have a surround sound system, there is sound coming from all the speakers at almost all times. The movie looks great in HD, and the practical and CGI effects blend together very well. There is a decent amount of extras included, such as a director's commentary track on the movie, about ten minutes of deleted scenes, about forty minutes of behind-the-scenes and making-of featurettes, a portion of Gerard Butler's screen test, and a couple of music videos. Ultimately, the movie is good but not great. Some of the action sequences either border on or jump headlong into the absurd. It is definitely a movie that you can have on in the background and still easily follow along with what is going on, even if you look away for a few minutes at a time. Jolie plays Croft exactly as she did in the first movie, and Chris Barrie as Hillary and Noah Taylor as Bryce provide the comic relief. It is definitely a "turn your brain off and enjoy it" kind of movie. It requires a lot of suspension of disbelief; certainly, not everyone will enjoy it. But, in general, if you liked the first movie, you will probably like this one. On the other hand, if the first movie did little for you, then this is probably not going to do anything for you either.
The A/V quality of the Blu-Ray is excellent. If you have a surround sound system, there is sound coming from all the speakers at almost all times. The movie looks great in HD, and the practical and CGI effects blend together very well. There is a decent amount of extras included, such as a director's commentary track on the movie, about ten minutes of deleted scenes, about forty minutes of behind-the-scenes and making-of featurettes, a portion of Gerard Butler's screen test, and a couple of music videos. Ultimately, the movie is good but not great. Some of the action sequences either border on or jump headlong into the absurd. It is definitely a movie that you can have on in the background and still easily follow along with what is going on, even if you look away for a few minutes at a time. Jolie plays Croft exactly as she did in the first movie, and Chris Barrie as Hillary and Noah Taylor as Bryce provide the comic relief. It is definitely a "turn your brain off and enjoy it" kind of movie. It requires a lot of suspension of disbelief; certainly, not everyone will enjoy it. But, in general, if you liked the first movie, you will probably like this one. On the other hand, if the first movie did little for you, then this is probably not going to do anything for you either.
No comments:
Post a Comment