Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life (2003)
★★ — Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life (2003)
There's a particular kind of disappointment reserved for sequels that look at everything their predecessor did wrong and decide to do more of it. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life is exactly that kind of film. Where the first movie, for all its flaws, had a certain cheesy charm to it, a sense of fun that made it go down easy, this follow-up strips all of that away and replaces it with noise, bloat, and a staggering lack of momentum. I watched my review of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider back before sitting down with this one, and honestly, that film looks like a minor classic by comparison. That's how bad things have got.
Angelina Jolie is back as Lara, and credit where it's due, she is still absolutely committed. She carries herself with the kind of effortless physicality and cool that the role demands, flipping through ancient traps, diving into the sea, staring down armed men with barely a raised eyebrow. She's doing everything right. The script, the direction, the production around her, they're doing almost everything wrong.
The plot this time involves Pandora's Box, which a rogue mercenary wants to get his hands on so he can unleash something catastrophic on the world. It's the sort of pulpy MacGuffin premise that can absolutely work if you commit to the fun of it. This film doesn't. Instead it globe-trots from China to Africa to Greece with all the narrative logic of someone flicking channels, pausing just long enough to stage an action sequence before lurching elsewhere. None of it builds. None of it breathes. Gerard Butler turns up as the villain and is almost entirely wasted, given precious little to do beyond glower and deliver exposition. It's a shame, because Butler at his best has genuine presence, and here he's given almost nothing to work with.
The action sequences, which should be the film's saving grace, are a mess. Louder and flashier than anything in the first film, sure, but somehow far less exciting. Too much of it is buried under shaky camerawork and CGI that looked rough even at the time. There are moments where I genuinely couldn't tell what was happening on screen, and not in a disorienting, deliberate way. Just in a sloppy, expensive way. That's arguably worse than a cheap film that can't afford the effects, because at least then you understand why. Here there's no excuse.
The supporting cast are wasted to a remarkable degree. Ciarán Hinds appears as some sort of shadowy official and then more or less evaporates. The promised chemistry between Lara and another key character goes absolutely nowhere. Even the returning Jon Voight, as Lara's eccentric father, has almost nothing to do. It's as if the film assembled a cast and then forgot to give them a film to be in.
What's most frustrating is that the campy, knowingly silly energy of the original has been jettisoned without anything to replace it. The first film knew it was daft and occasionally leaned into that. This one seems to want to be taken seriously, which only makes the plot holes and the flat characterisation more glaring. If you're going to be ridiculous, own it. Commit to the bit, as Jolie herself clearly has. The film around her simply hasn't.
As a blockbuster it doesn't work. As a video game adaptation it's a step backward from an already shaky starting point. As a time capsule of early-2000s excess, there's a vague archaeological interest to it, the way there is with Resident Evil: Retribution (2012), another franchise entry that mistakes scale for spectacle and ends up delivering neither properly. You can see exactly what these films were trying to be, which almost makes it worse.
Two stars. Jolie deserved better. So did we.
Rating: ★★ | Year: 2003 | Watched: 2025-10-24
Where to watch
Watch in the UK
Rent: Rakuten TV
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Stream: fuboTV · Paramount+ Amazon Channel
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Related on Movies With Macca
More with Angelina Jolie: Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011) · Kung Fu Panda (2008) · Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) · Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)
More from Germany: Lessons of Darkness (1992) · Cemetery Man (1994) · The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) · Resident Evil: Retribution (2012)
More from the 2000s: Kirikou and the Wild Beasts (2005) · Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) · Daredevil (2003) · Apocalypto (2006)
More adventure: Alice in Wonderland (1951) · The Eagle (1925) · Louisiana Story (1948) · The General (1926)
More action: A Better Tomorrow (1986) · The General (1926) · Hand of Death (1976) · Daredevil (2003)
