Tomb Raider 2: Cradle of Life Reviews

[Dr. DVD]

Haven't seen it yet, but will be going this afternoon.

I'm more or less going to gawk at Angelina Jolie than anything else, but the movie is getting reviews that say it is better than the first one, but that still leaves room for improvement.

IMO, the first movie left such a sour taste in so many people's mouths that they won't want to come back for this outing, despite any improvements. I think it will do decent on DVD like the first one did, but that's it.

[marty888]

Closing line of the review in today's NY Daily News:

<b>"How could something so expensive, so loud and so frenetic simultaneously be so mind-numbingly boring?"</b>

[Dr. DVD]

Since when will reviews matter in a movie like this anyway? It's based on a video game, nothing much to expect.

This is a thread more or less made for the few people that feel a second outing was worth the trip.

[Dr. DVD]

Saw it. Thought it was a lot better than the first one and worth the matinee price. I'm a geeky horndog, true, but this one had more of the feel of a traditional adventure than a video game based movie.
I will definitely buy the DVD.
Keep your expectations modest and this one won't disappoint. Of course I doubt many of you will bother seeing this one after the problematic first one.

[moocher]

23% = Rotten (Rottentomatoes.com)

My local paper gives it 1 out of 5 stars and lambasts it worse than I have ever seen in a review. All this doesn't mean it is awful but it does make me a bit skeptical.

I'll wait for the DVD...

[B.A.]

Originally posted by Dr. DVD
Saw it. Thought it was a lot better than the first one and worth the matinee price. I'm a geeky horndog, true, but this one had more of the feel of a traditional adventure than a video game based movie.
I will definitely buy the DVD.
Keep your expectations modest and this one won't disappoint. Of course I doubt many of you will bother seeing this one after the problematic first one.

:up:

I have been wanting to see this one because, to me, it does look much better than the first one. I'm not expecting Indiana Jones, but I think I can be pretty accepting sometimes. Glad you liked it - hopefully I will make it this weekend. Angelina Jolie is looking so much better now than she has in the past few years - that doesn't hurt either.

[Ranger]

Probably will wait for the DVD.

[Spy021]

Watched the first one on DVD last night for the first time. It was OK, not my favorite film, but I'm seen much worse. I went into it knowing that it wouldn't be mind blowing or a masterpiece, so that definitely helped. Plus I find Angelina very easy on the eyes. I will most likely go and see the second one, if for nothing more than to see Angelina on the big screen. :hump:

[Patman]

There is no snap to this film. I thought the characters were bland and lifeless. The stuntwork left me underwhelmed. The locales were sort of interesting, but shot in a manner that just didn't really connect with me.

I didn't think the direction by de Bont was all that good, nor was the script all that interesting. It gets far too predictable towards the end of the film.

I give it 2 stars, or a grade of C.

[Dr. DVD]

Originally posted by Patman
There is no snap to this film. I thought the characters were bland and lifeless. The stuntwork left me underwhelmed. The locales were sort of interesting, but shot in a manner that just didn't really connect with me.

I didn't think the direction by de Bont was all that good, nor was the script all that interesting. It gets far too predictable towards the end of the film.

I give it 2 stars, or a grade of C.


Like it was any different than the first one?

[D.Pham00]

Originally posted by Dr. DVD

the movie is getting reviews that say it is better than the first one, but that still leaves room for improvement.


that's what i thought when i saw it too. though i thought there wasn't much between the two main characters (jolie and butler). i like the plot better though, since it seems a little more realistic. and i enjoyed the references to mythology.

and i liked the monsters coming out and killing the soldiers.

i was gonna go see pirates of the carribean, if it had only started 6 minutes earlier, but this was still a pretty decent movie.

[Iron_Giant]

Originally posted by Ranger
Probably will wait for the DVD.
This is were I am going to save about $20 by waiting to rent the DVD.

[Geofferson]

It probably isn't very good, but I bet it is better than the first.

[clemente]

Boring kind of sums it up.

The action set pieces are boring, the plot is kind of mundane, and there's even less chemistry between the characters than the first.

Is it better than the first, yes, but only slightly so. It does move pretty quickly, so despite its faults it never becomes very bogged down in one location.

Honestly, its plays a lot like Alias, with constant action, location changes, and a mythological unknow, but without the characters we like or decent dialogue or excitement.

But still...better than the first.

[DRG]

Kind of depressing to hear it's boring... that's the worst sin a big summer popcorn flick can commit. I was very upset with the first film, but had my hopes (slightly) up for this one. The concept should be a no-brainer... a female Bruce Wayne meets Indiana Jones, with a dash of 007. I thought there was one great scene in the first movie... where she faces the gigantic statue come alive. That should've been the finale, but instead they went with the lame fight scene. I'll still probably check this out sometime this week.

[Red Dog]

Originally posted by Iron_Giant
This is were I am going to save about $20 by waiting to rent the DVD.


Since when do movie theater tickets cost $24?

[matome]

Definitely way better than the first. I actually thought it was a lot better than most of the other big summer flicks I've seen. It felt a lot like a Bond film (good thing) and was actually pretty violent for it's PG-13 rating. I think DeBont did a great job with this.

[SeanValen]

Originally posted by matome
Definitely way better than the first. I actually thought it was a lot better than most of the other big summer flicks I've seen. It felt a lot like a Bond film (good thing) and was actually pretty violent for it's PG-13 rating. I think DeBont did a great job with this.


:up:

Excellent

[Jaymole]

Wow, the executives at Paramount are going to be pretty disappointed when they see the box office #'s Monday morning

[Dr. DVD]

Originally posted by Jaymole
Wow, the executives at Paramount are going to be pretty disappointed when they see the box office #'s Monday morning

I hope that studio execs learn a lesson from this summer. While I liked T3, TR 2, and Charlies Angels:Full Throttle, a lot of people didn't go see them because they really didn't crave more of those movies. T3 was probably dented by the DVD market more than anything else, but TR2 and CAFT were most likley cases of having a the first movie be a hit with a majority of the audience walking away unsatisfied and not really clamoring for more.
What's a real shame is the big chunks of money the studios sink into these movies. It seems like movies are costing more but making less. Studios need to plan better financially instead of automatically thinking a sequel = $$$.

[Jack Straw]

Loved the part where she cuts herself to attract the shark and then proceeds to slug it in the nose as it is about to devour her. The shark becomes disoriented and slightly cowers. She then climbs on the shark's back and rides it to safety holding on to its fin.

Lame.

[KTIK]

The sharks in Nemo were more realistic than that shark.

[Jack Straw]

Originally posted by KTIK
The sharks in Nemo were more realistic than that shark. :up:

[NCMojo]

The movie is fun for what it is -- a typical big-studio popcorn flick. The action sequences are fast-paced, Angelina is hot, and the plot is relatively straightforward. You need to compare this to Bond films -- does it have an inane storyline, cardboard villains and inane dialogue? Check, check, check. But nobody goes to see a Bond flick expecting anything more, and the same standard should be applied to this flick.

[atari2600]

simple question: how long is this movie?

[Red Dog]

Now I liked the first Tomb Raider. I did not like this one as much although Angelina looks awesome - definitely #1 on my list of hottest mainstream actresses. I'd probably give it 2 out of 4 stars.

[El-Kabong]

Originally posted by Jack Straw
Loved the part where she cuts herself to attract the shark and then proceeds to slug it in the nose as it is about to devour her. The shark becomes disoriented and slightly cowers. She then climbs on the shark's back and rides it to safety holding on to its fin.


Hey, hey HEY - how about some SPOILER tags here, buddy! Sheesh!

(This message closed captioned for the humor impaired)

[immortal_zeus]

Originally posted by El-Kabong
Hey, hey HEY - how about some SPOILER tags here, buddy! Sheesh!

(This message closed captioned for the humor impaired)

If you didn't want to read possible spoilers, what are you doing in this thread? I thought that it was implied that reviews would have possible spoilers. Or maybe not. I don't come into this forum too much.

Anyway, I thought the movie was okay. Nothing special. Angelina Jolie is hot. Some cool stunt scenes. The plot sucked.

Jumping off the building was cool. The monsters were dumb. Hitting the shark in the nose was dumb. Some other dumb parts. The beginning of the movie was Angelina in her bikini-type outfit was hot.

<B>If you haven't seen it already, I'd recommend waiting for it to come out on DVD and renting it.</B>

Edited to add: I just saw the sticky about using spoilers. Guess I was wrong.

http://www.ameritech.net/users/dvdtalk/rome.gif

[DRG]

I saw this last week... and it really IS boring. It IS better than the first one, but I think in its attempts to be less silly it plays things a little TOO safe. A lot of fights, chases, shootouts, daring stunts, etc. but none of it is all that exciting. I just never felt like Lara was in any real danger, so the suspense is gone. The bad guys weren't menacing enough. The adventure aspect is mostly gone, what's left feels like a rejected 007 script. On a positive note, Angelina admirably gives it her all. She keeps you awake, at least. It's not really bad... it's just not much of anything.

[B.A.]

Finally saw it - I give it **1/2 out of *****. It was better than the first one and Angelina looked much better, imo. She was fantastic, given what she had to work w/. Yeah this movie could have been done a little better, particularly some of the cinematography, which looked pretty bad in parts of the movie, imo. I did like some of the stuntwork/fight scenes - nothing too special, but if they were shot differently it might have made them better.

Again - Angelina was great, but they needed more geek and butler. To give is some perspective - it was a lot better than League of Craptacular Gentlemen.

And the preview for Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World was excellent. I can't wait for that one.

[Giles]

all these reviews here and there saying this was better than the first - puleeze. As an action-film director, Jan De Bont doesn't cut it (didn't he learn from "Speed 2" - no scene came close to the great original fight scene in the first film where Laura is fighting various bad guys from a bungee cord in the chateau/castle thing a ma jig.

[B.A.]

Originally posted by Giles
all these reviews here and there saying this was better than the first - puleeze. As an action-film director, Jan De Bont doesn't cut it (didn't he learn from "Speed 2" - no scene came close to the great original fight scene in the first film where Laura is fighting various bad guys from a bungee cord in the chateau/castle thing a ma jig.
Overall, I did think the second was better than the first, but I will agree that fight scene in the Croft Mansion was the best fight scene in either film.

[Original Desmond]

watched a dvd screener, not bad i reckon, well worth the price

[The Bus]

Saw it a couple weeks ago, worst movie of 2003 by far -- if it was a free matinee I would've liked it a bit more.

:)

[Giles]

the only positive thing I can say about TR2 is that I cant wait to see Gerard Butler as the 'Phantom' in "Phantom of the Opera" next year - can he sing (??) hope he can surprise me.