Lara Croft: Tomb Raider & Cradle of Life

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One of the finest lines one can ever tread as a movie-lover is going backwards in time and watching films that they missed at a certain point in their lives. While a whole bunch of movies, universally considered pretty terrible or schlocky and popcorn-driven, can still make audiences smile after a decade, there’s a whole bunch that can’t, and the risk of seeing these movies years later is that one might even miss out on the dumb-fun factor and just get a mediocre film experience. Running with this train of thought, I sat down and did both Tomb Raider movies recently (the Angelina ones, not the 2018 remake).

*Seeing as my experience from both films was pretty much the same, I have decided to review them as a double-pack type thing. Why waste time on two reviews that more or less say the same thing?

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider introduces audiences to former videogame character, now fleshed out, Lara Croft (Angelina Jolie), a badass heroine who does exactly what her job title says. In this movie she discovers a strange clock that started ticking during an eclipse and soon finds herself in a race against time (and a bunch of villains) to find ancient artefacts that, in the wrong hands, could bring about the end of the world.

Cradle of Life sees Croft doing the exact same thing except this time with a reduced bust-size and having to team up with an ex-lover (Gerard Butler), as they race to stop a villain from finding Pandora’s Box and unleashing a plague.

These films are definitely good popcorn movies, I am not disputing that in any way. There’s a whole lot of cool action sequences with neatly choreographed fist, sword, and martial art combat, as well as the whole travelling to exotic places and exploring ancient tombs, which (as we all know from Indiana Jones) are loaded with fun times.

Image credit: Apple TV

Lara as a heroine is a striking depiction of the Male Gaze (Jolie’s chicken fillets of the first movie are no doubt what got bums in seats): all flesh, sass, independence, and… no voice. Throughout both films Lara spends most of time fighter rather than talking and during the scenes where she does have dialogue, it’s frank and doesn’t take longer than five seconds to deliver. While total snaps must be given to Jolie for her accent, stunt work, and ability to even walk in some of those skin-tight costumes, her character is definitely one that’s written for the boys.

Both films suffer from that classic archaeological-action movie trope of having a kickass hero who actually is not needed at all a la Raider of the Lost Ark, with Croft simply going after the treasure purely for the fact that her name is in the film’s title. Oh and, in an attempt to lure more girl bums into seats, there are romantic stories in both movies… somewhere. They don’t receive any attention from the writers and are left to develop on their own, which they don’t and therefore, when ‘drama’ strikes, it’s less that anticlimactic and definitely not as emotional as it's clearly intended to be.

The Tomb Raider movies are fun if you’re up for a night of mindless action, skin-tight costumes with thigh holsters, and a voluminous bust. If you’re looking for things beyond that, look way beyond!

Director: Simon West, 2001 (Lara Croft: Tomb Raider). Jan de Bont, 2003 (Cradle of Life)

Cast: Angelina Jolie, Chris Barrie, Noah Taylor, Jon Voight, Iain Glen, Daniel Craig, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Leslie Phillips, Gerard Butler, Ciaran Hinds, and Djimon Hounsou