Angelina Jolie brings Lara Croft to life and is perfect casting for this role, there are rumours that they are planning to bring Lara Croft back to the big screen with a younger actress but i would rather they tempt Miss Jolie back, if they must re-cast then i hope they find someone who can act as well as look good in the role.

The first film was entertaining but this film is superior and better filmed, this film also has a better music score and Angelina seems more assured in the role.

I originally was less critical of the films image quality but on a repeat viewing and with more experience at seeing faults i feel this release has had minor film grain reduction and there is also some minor compression artifacts on view especially at the beginning of the film. Grain reduction does not affect every scene but scenes which retain the grain look more detailed.

I feel some people do not understand the effects grain reduction can have on a blu ray release, you often reduce image quality by reducing grain, they just do not have the tools available to reduce grain and keep all the detail intact, grain in film is not evil, its essential and should be retained.

The minor issues with this disc could have been avoided by simply using a BD-50 and having a higher bitrate for difficult to encode scenes. Deja Vu as i think i said the same thing last week about another release but its worth repeating.

The sound mix is very good and although the Germans get a lossless track its dubbed into German and i dislike dubbed soundtracks, the english language dts track is 1509kbp/s and its a good sound mix, i feel that people sometimes dwell too much on the codec used and forget about important things such as how the track was mixed, its all in the sound mix folks and although i would prefer a lossless track i was happy with this discs sound quality, speech was clear, surrounds were active and engaging and bass was deep, its a good sound mix.

I think there will be another release of this film in an english language country that improves upon this release and will likely give us a full blown lossless track but for now i think this is a good release with some minor issues which affect overall quality.

View blu ray screencaps of Tomb Raider: The Cradle Of Life below. Click again for the full HD frame.

After the success of the first movie it was inevitable a sequel would be made and the sequel improves on every aspect of the original film.

Jan De Bont started his film career in the seventies and worked on many movies with his fellow dutch compatriot Paul Verhoeven. Originally a cinematographer on films such as Die Hard, The Hunt For Red October and Basic Instinct before making a name for himself as a director of such films as Speed, Twister and The Haunting. 

I won't mention he directed Speed 2. ( Oops )

De Bont always brings great camerawork to every film he does which is no surprise considering how he started out in the business. 

The first Tomb Raider co-starred Daniel Craig who many will now recognize as James Bond – 007.

This film also has Gerard Butler co-starring, many will recognize him from such films as 300.

Angelina Jolie was brought back onboard as Lara Croft and she was reportedly paid a cool $12m dollars for reprising her role.  In my opinion she was worth every penny.

The film itself performed rather poorly at the American box office only taking an estimated $65m dollars and a reported $156m dollars worldwide gross.

When you consider it cost $95 million to make and probably another $60m to advertise and the studio only gets some of the grosses then the film was a lossmaker for the studio. It would of course go on to make money for the studio via DVD, Blu Ray and worldwide television sales but at the time of it's release the studio would not have considered this film a hit.

Film Plot

Lara Croft is hired by british intelligence to track down an orb which can lead to the mythical Pandora's box get to it before nasty Jonathan Reiss.  Reiss sells killer viruses on the black market and hopes to sell the secrets hidden within Pandora's box as the ultimate weapon of mass destruction.

Lara recruits her old flame a former british marine now turned mercenary Terry Sheridan and together they travel the world in their search for the orb and to save humankind from the destruction that unleashing the secrets from Pandora would bring. 

Packed with action/adventure and excitement.

Positives

I feel the Tomb Raider universe is well suited to action/adventure movies with a hint of horror thrown in and in many ways this also feels like a female version of Indiana Jones with the archaeology aspect to the character. 

This film has fabulous cinematography, good stuntwork and a great musical score which just pulls you in from the opening moments.

The budget allows for some well staged action sequences.

Angelina Jolie brings a sense of energy, danger and fun to her portrayal of Lara Croft and i felt she did a great job with the British accent.  The direction is more assured than the first film and the storyline more involving and better written.

The supporting cast all do a very good job with the material they have to work with.  They clearly are having fun. I loved the horror aspect near the end of the film.

There is a real sense of atmosphere and creepiness and overall the film was good fun.

The image quality on the disc was good. Some scenes had a film like appearance but see below for some negatives regarding the image quality. The film was shot using low grain film stock and there was a good amount of detail on display here. De Bont uses the 2.40:1 aspect ratio frame superbly. I feel whenever i watch one of his movies it is always well filmed and feels very cinematic and open to me with a sense of scale.

The sound is DTS – HD Master Audio  for the German track but only standard 1509kbp/s DTS for the english audio track.  This wasn't an issue though as the audio was superb with constant left/right front and rear surround sound and crystal clear vocals through the center channel. The subwoofer gets a very nice workout too and the bass is controlled and at times deep.

Negatives

I would have liked a slightly different ending as i felt it was too similar to the first movie and the way it ended. 

The music score was very engaging and i did like it a lot but i also felt the main theme was overplayed at times but this is true of many films which have been scored by Alan Silvestri. 

With regards the music score i recently watched Predator and Silvestri scored that movie too and it's main theme is also very good but is also overplayed just as in this movie. 

This is just a minor nitpick though as i did enjoy the soundtrack a lot and felt it added much to the film.

I did notice some minor compression issues so the image while being good could be even better. I also felt there was some minor grain reduction as some scenes still had grain intact.

It would be nice if the disc had a full blown lossless track for the original english language soundtrack and not just for the German dubbed one.

The film comes with no extra's on the disc.  I own the Korean DVD edition of this movie which has superb packaging and extra's and this version does not even come close.

Final Thoughts

This is more entertaining than the first Tomb Raider film and i felt it was better directed with a much better script and a real sense of scope to the proceedings. 

The bigger budget has allowed for more daring stuntwork and more stunning locations.

You get to see so many more different locations this time around and this made it feel more large scale and involving than the first movie.

The music score was memorable and aids the visuals. The image and sound on this German edition of the movie is good. An overall good package but the lack of extras is a disappointment.

It's a shame that a third Tomb Raider movie has been announced and that Miss Jolie will not be returning.  She will be missed but i will watch it with interest when it is eventually released.

View a DVD/Blu Ray comparison of the film here.

Click here for full HD screencaps from Tomb Raider: The Cradle Of Life

You can buy a Tomb Raider twin pack import version from Germany below, this is region free and will work on all blu ray players regardless of your region, this edition has a lossless dts soundtrack.

Techical Disc Specifications

Disc Title: LARA CROFT 2
Disc Size: 22,107,039,220 bytes
Protection: AACS
BD-Java: No
Playlist: 00000.MPLS
Size: 22,034,196,480 bytes
Length: 1:57:23
Total Bitrate: 25.03 Mbps
Video: VC-1 Video / 19631 kbps / 1080p / 23.976 fps / 16:9 / Advanced Profile 3
Audio: German / DTS-HD Master Audio / 5.1 / 48 kHz / 2372 kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 16-bit)
Audio: English / DTS Audio / 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 16-bit
Subtitle: German / 29.485 kbps

For average bitrate details for each chapter click here.

This is a region free release

Film Entertainment Rating – 4/5
Transfer Quality Rating – 4/5
Sound Mix Rating – 4/5