Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life

PG-13

Released Jul 25, 2003

1 hr. 58 min.

Adventure

Action

List

24%

175 Reviews

Tomatometer

44%

250,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Fearless explorer Lara Croft (Angelina Jolie) tries to locate Pandora's box before criminals Jonathan Reiss (Ciarán Hinds) and Chen Lo (Simon Yam) use it for evil. According to myth, the box holds deadly organisms that could kill millions of people. With her old partner, Terry (Gerard Butler), Croft goes on a hunt that takes her from Europe to Asia to Africa, where pal Kosa (Djimon Hounsou) helps her. Along the way, Croft rappels down cliffs, scuba dives and decimates many male opponents.

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Critics Consensus

Though the sequel is an improvement over the first movie, it's still lacking in thrills.

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Georgan G

Lots of amazing special effects and scary stunts with Angelina Jolie, as in the original, still the best part.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/12/24

Full Review

Mason B

really good movie 10/10

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

10/09/23

Full Review

StephenPaul C

The worst 01 hour: and 58 minutes ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

08/24/23

Full Review

Audience Member

20 years old and this is mindless popcorn entertainment even if it falls below the original movie Director Jan de Bont helms the second entry of the popular video game franchise Angelina Jolie returns as Lara Croft this time searching for an orb leading to an artifact called the Cradle of Life Newcomers include Ciaran Hinds and Gerard Butler After escaping the Lunar Temple in Greece Lara does all she can to find the Cradle but she has to get to it before Jonathan Reiss does who specializes in biological weapons He plans to use its dark power by using the buyers on the black market to unleash it Lara reluctantly seeks help from Terry Sheridan whom was branded a traitor and locked away yet he's the only one to infiltrate the Shae Ling gang in Hong Kong to find the Cradle She has the authority to kill Terry if things go south The film is full of hand-to-hand combat, acceptable special effects, great locations from Hong Kong to Africa, and some playful banter from both Jolie and Butler Hinds makes for a classy villain too The Lara Croft character; Her creation was perfect as female heroines boomed in the 1990s in various media such as comics and games It's a shame this was Jan de Bont's last directorial effort and they rebooted it in 2018 But at the time it did put Jolie in the spotlight showing her chops as an action star

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

07/25/23

Full Review

Red T

It's a Subpar Action Adventure Movie and a Terrible Sequel. Everything here is a step down. The acting overall is just ok. Jolie isn't as charming as the first and the supporting cast including her love interest partner is just passable and so forgettable it's ridiculous. He has no chemistry at all with her and the villain is terrible in this. The cinematography is a mess overall. Some action scenes are cool and well done, others are ridiculously over the top, bad CGI, bad green screen, and filled in between with hit or miss camera work, farfetched/stupid scenes like punching a shark, and boring dialogue scenes. Some of the sets are cool though while others are forgettable like the ending chamber where the box is. The music is as forgettable as the first. The editing is subpar and the pacing isn't good. This can't decide if it wants to be a over the top action flick or a adventure film faithful to the source material and never makes the two work together cohesively. This leads to never feeling any investment in the characters, and add on a stupid plot worse than the first and you want this to end two thirds of the way through. I felt no emotion when she killed her love interest at the end. This is basically a repeat of the first and does nothing better than the first which was just average as well. Honestly, skip this.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

04/18/23

Full Review

MATTHEW K

Seems like they rushed it all to make. Graphics are ok but the acting again like the first one is terrible. Nearly the same story line as the first one too.. why cant lara get stuck inside a massive ancient tomb and make it interesting for us to watch not this man war storyline

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

03/14/23

Full Review

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Jan de Bont

Director

Angelina Jolie

Lara Croft

Gerard Butler

Terry Sheridan

Ciarán Hinds

Jonathan Reiss

Chris Barrie

Hillary

Noah Taylor

Bryce

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David Ansen

Newsweek

It's not half bad, with cool locations and a great stunt leap from the top of a Hong Kong high-rise. Unlike the wink-winking Charlie's Angels, Croft 2 mostly, and wisely, keeps a straight face.

Mar 13, 2018

Full Review

Nell Minow

Common Sense Media

Better than the first, but not by much.

Rated: 2/5

Dec 25, 2010

Full Review

David Rooney

Variety

The less welcome news is that most of the same shortcomings that cramped the first installment are still dogging the sequel, which delivers on action but dawdles through downtime.

Apr 12, 2010

Full Review

Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Even the rock-tree monsters that appear late in the game look familiar - perhaps disgruntled extras from the set of Fraggle Rock.

Rated: 1.5/4

Jun 6, 2021

Full Review

Allison Rose

FlickDirect

Jolie once again does an impressive job as the iconic video game heroine and her banter with a very young-looking Butler is convincing.

Rated: 2.5/5

Jun 2, 2021

Full Review

Mike Massie

Gone With The Twins

It might be ever-so-slightly better than the last one, but that level of improvement is virtually unquantifiable.

Rated: 2/10

Oct 9, 2020

Full Review

Read all reviews

Synopsis

Fearless explorer Lara Croft (Angelina Jolie) tries to locate Pandora's box before criminals Jonathan Reiss (Ciarán Hinds) and Chen Lo (Simon Yam) use it for evil. According to myth, the box holds deadly organisms that could kill millions of people. With her old partner, Terry (Gerard Butler), Croft goes on a hunt that takes her from Europe to Asia to Africa, where pal Kosa (Djimon Hounsou) helps her. Along the way, Croft rappels down cliffs, scuba dives and decimates many male opponents.

Director: Jan de Bont
Executive Producer: Jeremy Heath-Smith
Screenwriter: Dean Georgaris, Steven E. de Souza, James V. Hart
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Production Co: Mutual Film Company, BBC
Rating: PG-13 (Some Sensuality|Action/Violence)
Genre: Adventure, Action
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jul 25, 2003, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 1, 2013
Box Office (Gross USA): $65.7M
Sound Mix: Surround

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