Lara Croft Tomb Raider – The Cradle Of Life: 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Review
The Movie:
Fearless explorer Lara Croft (Angelina Jolie) tries to locate Pandora’s box before criminals Jonathan Reiss (Ciarán Hinds) and Chen Lo (Simon Yam) use it for evil. According to myth, the box holds deadly organisms that could kill millions of people. With her old partner, Terry (Gerard Butler), Croft goes on a hunt that takes her from Europe to Asia to Africa, where pal Kosa (Djimon Hounsou) helps her. Along the way, Croft rappels down cliffs, scuba dives and decimates many male opponents.
Much like the first film in this franchise this movie suffers from the same thing. It’s fun, entertaining and action packed but falls short in terms of holding up over time. The one thing that I will say is that I felt like the story was improved this time around but it was the dialogue that took a hit. It just didn’t feel believable and it kept pulling me away from the film. I will say however that the film was shot beautifully and it makes the entire film feel larger than life. Like the original, it’s not the best video game film by far but it is entertaining and perfect if you’re just looking for an action movie to pop in on a Saturday afternoon. I recommend picking this one up if you love Tomb Raider or if you’re simply looking for some video game movie nostalgia. 6/10
4K Presentation:
Just like the first film, I’m extremely impressed with the 4K transfer. The clarity in the picture is very nice and textures of skin and even the landscape itself looks wonderful. The colors within each scene seem to be nice and vibrant and the black levels seem to be perfect with no details that look to be lost in darker scenes. Another great 4K release!
Special Features:
Deleted/Alternate Scenes – A few scenes here that are fairly decent but nothing that would add any more to the film itself.
Training – A look at Jolie and her training regimen to revisit the role of Lara Croft.
Vehicles and Weapons – A great look at some of the tools used in the film.
Stunts – A look at some of the stunts in the film and how the stakes were higher this time around.
Visual Effects – An in depth look at a few of the films visual effect scenes.
Scoring – A look at the score and how important it was to the film.
Gerard Butler’s Screen Test – These are always pretty interesting to see and getting to peek in to an audition.
Korn “Did My Time” Music Video
The Davey Brothers “Heart Go Faster” Music Video
Feature Commentary With Director Jan de Bont
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle Of Life is available NOW on 4K Ultra HD from Paramount
