After winning an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in "Girl, Interrupted," Angelina Jolie has been in "Gone in Sixty Seconds," "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider," "Original Sin," "Life or Something Like It," and now "Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life." She wins an Oscar, but then follows that with with five shitty movies in a row. I like Angelina Jolie a lot, but she needs to fire her agent and play roles that are worthy of her beauty and talent.
When I wrote my review of the first "Tomb Raider," I was very lenient. I'm sorry, but I can't be as forgiving this time around. You would think that for the sequel, they'd learn from their mistakes. They didn't. Angelina Jolie is still gorgeous, and it's nice watching her in action, but this movie is a disaster.
I'm not gonna write a long review, because it's not worth it. Read my review of the first "Tomb Raider" movie, because it's the same shit. Angelina Jolie is a goddess, the movie sucks, blah, blah, blah.
For this film, the director was Jan de Bont, a guy known for directing really bad movies that happen to look good. His films include "The Haunting," "Speed," "Speed 2: Cruise Control," and "Twister." Not a good film in the bunch (though "Twister" and "Speed" have a few redeeming qualities). With "Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life," Jan de Bont keeps his track record of making bad movies. As for the writing, a new team of writers have come aboard, but the script is no better than the one for the first film. The story was by Steven E. de Souza (best known for being one of the writers of "Die Hard," though he also wrote and directed Jean-Claude Van Damme's lame ass "Street Fighter" movie, so he's had his ups and downs) and James V. Hart (he wrote the 1992 version of "Bram Stoker's Dracula" directed by Francis Ford Coppola). The screenplay was written by Dean Georgaris, and this is his debut.
This movie sucks, so don't watch it. The only good thing about is Angelina Jolie, so for that, you may wanna rent the DVD, otherwise, don't bother. Too bad, because the "Tomb Raider" films have great potential. A great character played by a beautiful and talented actress born to play the role, but no one can seem to get it right. It's a shame, really.
Scale of 1-10: 3