Although missing some of the bolder range from contemporary design, discreet use of the surrounds is prevalent. Paramount includes the same DTS-HD 5.1 mix from the Blu-ray, and it’s a fine track. It’s not as if Cradle of Life is in need of clean-up. All of this is minor, but worth a note for those keeping track. A hair is visible in the upper right of the screen in one shot. Minor print damage is evident in the form of small specks. Cinematography softens at times, but that’s a source issue, not this disc. Facial definition strikes at medium range too, and some of the location sights (including the opening shot of Greece) reach high-grade travelogue quality. Mild grain isn’t enough to challenge the encode, and resolution appears reasonably high. If there’s a “best quality” to this disc, it’s certainly those moments of darkness. Shadow delineation is spectacular, and black levels frequently feature true black. The same goes for those numerous Hong Kong signs. African scenes load up on greens, at least until day-for-night turns everything blue.Ī blistering sun sets on those same African locales, showcasing some great HDR effects. Scenes in Hong Kong push plenty of primaries, making use of the exceptional neon streetside. Flesh tones veer orange, if not offensively so. There’s some life to this UHD presentation with notable color warmth and attractive locations.
#Lara croft tomb raider: the cradle of life movie
This short-lived movie series had no such aspirations. She would mature through the various interactive iterations. Croft though remains a dull lead, speaking to the videogame series that spawned her as a mere vessel for male fantasies. Butler plays a better love interest, and Alfred Molina’s villainous plot to poison the world has some thematic weight. There’s an actual symphonic score, albeit repetitive, removing the life-draining techno of before. Pacing keeps moving around the globe, often without a single tomb to raid, keeping the visuals varied and events ludicrous.Ĭradle of Life is a better outing than 2001’s plainly named Tomb Raider. It’s corny enough for laughs, bombastic enough to shed boredom (most of it, anyway). Jan de Bont’s take on the videogame gained some kitsch value in that time. Some fifteen years passed since Cradle of Life. She fights her opponent by performing a military salute routine.
Croft slides down wires on a Chinese dragon sign. Action scenes reach for any creativity, often draining logic in a hunt for visual stakes. Up until the final quip of Cradle of Life, the sense of this being an American blockbuster is almost nill it feels more like an internationally sourced copycat. In either of Paramount’s Tomb Raider offerings, rarely does anyone seem to have fun. Cradle of Life, with hokey slow-mo and generic music stings is lean enough to feel direct-to-video rather than a studio blockbuster.Ĭroft remains a dull lead, speaking to the videogame series that spawned her as a mere vessel for male fantasies There’s a sense of a complex past, mingling with people she knows even in isolated spots of Hong Kong, but other than a derivative screen heroine, there’s nothing here. Old habits and all.Ĭroft still isn’t much of a character.
#Lara croft tomb raider: the cradle of life skin
She wears more clothing too, even if its often skin tight. Jolie isn’t used for her physique as much as her macho musculature. Under director Jan de Bont, Cradle of Life shows signs of maturation. Mysterious African monsters pounce on them. Angelina Jolie returns as the wealthy British adventurer, this time out for Pandora’s Box, hunting alongside a romantically linked Gerard Butler.
Cradle of Life is an absurd film, enough that underwater shark fisticuffs seems rudimentary by the end. She punches the thing right in the mouth. Lara Croft doesn’t jump the shark in Cradle of Life – she punches it.