Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life [Blu-ray] [2003] [Region Free]

This film remains perhaps among my favourite 'Fun-Packed-Action' adventures, now available on the 4K format, so glad I invested in it, the picture quality is sharp, vibrant, and frankly stunning, was like in many ways watching the film for the first time and yet, on Blu-ray I have indeed watched the movie a few times certainly.Of course, having Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft to watch is a bonus.The film starts at a pace, as, after an earthquake, a temple built by Alexander the Great becomes accessible after many years cut off by the sea On Santorini island, Greece.Lara and her team investigate the 'Luna Temple' finding it to house many treasures including a glowing orb which it is reputed unlocks the whereabouts of the legendary some believe mythical 'Pandora's Box'However, the orb is snatched from Lara's grasp by a group that has followed her and her team to the location, her team and several of the following group die, Lara escapes.Lara insists on having former friend and perhaps lover Terry Sheridan (Gerard Butler) released from imprisonment to help her track down the orb.She'll never entirely trust him but he will prove a useful ally, however, there is competition in the search for the orb and the secrets it holds Jonathan Reiss (Ciarán Hinds ) a ruthless criminal with the misuse of 'Pandora's Box' and its power if discovered.Reiss manages to get hold of the orb and gets pretty close to unlocking its secrets, however, Lara and Terry are close by.With the help of friend and associate Bryce (Noah Taylor) a high-tech computer whiz Lara learns of the location of the legendary cradle of life where the box is.She heads to Kilimanjaro without Terry who she felt should have killed Reiss when he clearly had the opportunity to do and with help persuades the tribesmen guarding the sacred site to show her the way.However, Reiss and his henchmen are not far behind, fortunately neither is Terry who has been able to discover where Lara had gone.With legendary creatures guarding the way, Lara accompanied by Reiss finds her way into the maze which is the cradle of life and where the box has laid safe for many a century.Lara knows the box must not fall into Reiss's hands and should never be opened, however, Reiss has other ideas, fortunately for Lara, Terry has also found his way into the complex but, after helping her will show his true intent.Will Lara escape the complex and leave Pandora's Box where it belongs?A superb action-packed adventure, certainly worth another viewing especially i

The DVD of this film has many extras & when buying this blu ray I expected like the DVD to carry those extras, I mean the first films blu ray does. But no this blu ray has just the film, no extras at all. Nothing it's like going back to those first DVDs that were just the film and said in special features "Scene Selections" it's pretty poor just wanging the film on a blu ray disc and not adding anything at all. I know it's partly my fault for not researching it. But I just presumed it would have those extras. But I was wrong.

This 2003 action adventure sequel sees aristocrat Lara Croft (Angelina Jolie) diving down to a temple built by Alexander the Great to house his most prized treasures, including a glowing orb that can lead to Pandora’ Box which actually contains a deadly plague, but crime lord Chen Lo (Simon Yam) manages to steal the orb and Lara has to get it back in order to find the box.  Unlike the original, this starts with a relaxed pace and spends time developing a plot. It also plays as a more continuous story, rather than scenes bundled together. Angelina Jolie also seems much more at ease [hence more convincing] and has a more 'James Bond' or 'Romancing the Stone' feel than Indiana Jones.Opening to a 12 language selection screen [mainly Scandinavian and eastern European] it then goes to main menu offering play, audio options [cesky or English], subtitles [mainly Baltic states and eastern European –no major European languages other than English and English for hard of hearing], special features [commentary, deleted scenes, featurettes, screen test, music video, DVD-ROM] and scene selection. Rated 12, this lacks much of the overt sensuality of the original but still contains some mild swearing and many scenes of adventure type violence, appearing more mainstream cinema than a computer game clone like the original. A good all round family action movie, but lacks the pace of the original.

I had fond memories of this second installment of TR being pretty good, these were somewhat dashed when I watched it again recently and re-experienced the wooden acting, lame story line and rather silly choice of Angelina Jolie as a posh English girl, its almost as daft as giving Imogen Poots an American Accent in "Awkward Moment" some actors can do it but I don't think Angelina was wholly convincing.We've seen a quality reboot of many films recently - Spiderman, Bond, Superman - which fixed what was wrong in the earlier outings, it would be good to see the same happen with TR, especially with some very decent games coming out in the series in recent years.

This follow up to the Tomb Raider film was an interesting addition to the original film that I really enjoyed. I think that Angelina Jolie is a good choice for the part and it was good to see the return of the team from the first film. There are some cool special effects and locations with added humour. I think that the first film was better and it would have been nice to have some featurettes like on the first film but if you want to see more of Laura Croft this will be worth a look.

Angelina Jolie reprises her role as Lara Croft, with support from Ciaran Hinds and Gerard Butler.The action sequences are spectacular and the CG goodSome may say it is not as good as the original but I say suspend belief, sit back, relax and enjoy.

Pure escapism going to the point of defying credibility but isn't that what escapism is all about? If you're a Lara Croft fan, you won't be disappointed with this film.

Great dvd