Okay, I admit it. I raved about the original - Lara Croft: Tomb Raider - but mostly because it was so much fun watching Angelina Jolie kick butt, and look so incredibly cool while doing it.

Now that the dust has settled, I'll admit that it wasn't very well-written, and that the story was a bit cartoonish. The only parts I like to replay now are the action scenes, which confirms my belief that the plot and the dialogue were fairly horrid.

So here comes Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle Of Life, and behind the camera this time is none other than Jan De Bont, who brought us Speed and Twister. If nothing else, I knew that he was capable of directing a great action flick, even if the story wasn't all that great, as in "Twister".

But alas, the story this time out is much more solid, with room for real acting, and Lara Croft herself is three-dimensional this time, not just a gorgeous machine.

It is worth noting that Jolie was not signed on to do a sequel. She agreed to it only after loving the script that was presented to her. She was also given more say-so about what would and would not be in it, especially in the areas where it involved Lara directly.

So Let's Get The Plot Out Of The Way Very Quickly

From the dictionary, the following is written with regards to Pandora, and subsequently the infamous Pandora's Box: In Greek mythology, the first mortal woman, sent to earth as a punishment to man for Prometheus' theft of the fire. She brought with her a box (Pandora's box) containing all human ills which, when she opened the lid, escaped into the world, leaving only hope at the bottom of the box.

Why does this matter?

Well, in the film, Lara Croft tells us that an Egyptian pharoah discovered (or re-discovered) Pandora's Box in 2300 B.C., in a place he called "The Cradle Of Life".

Some two centuries later, Alexander the Great got a hold of it, and a plague released from the box wiped out his men, so he hid the box in a temple, which was later buried underwater by an earthquake.

As the film opens in Greece, another earthquake takes place, and treasure-seekers are filling the ocean floor in hopes of finding the temple that Alexander had hidden Pandora's box in.

Lara Croft and her team discover the temple, as well as an orb, that contains an encrypted code that will tell them the location of The Cradle Of Life, and thus, Pandora's Box. That's the good news.

The bad news is that a man named Dr. Jonathan Reiss (Ciaran Hinds) wants to find Pandora's Box to try and pull a Hitler sequel: wipe out the human race, all except for the best and the brightest.

When his men meet up with Lara, underwater in the temple, the men steal the orb from her, and the rest of the film is a race against time to get the orb back before Reiss decodes it and finds the Cradle Of Life.

What You Really Want To Know: Is This Film Better Than The First One?

Oh, by leaps and bounds.

Why? Oh, let me tell you.

**First, as I mentioned above, Lara is much more human. Jolie insisted that her breasts also be more so, and they are hers this time. So she's down from the double D that she sported in the first one, and what you see on her chest is hers, which is really a great improvement all in itself. Can you say cleavage boys and girls? :)

Seriously, as Lara's breasts have shrunk (though not by a whole lot) it has allowed room in the story for more humor, more brains, and most importantly, more acting (instead of merely reacting). In layman's terms, the weight of the story is no longer on her chest. (yuk yuk yuk...)

**They've given her a partner, Terry Sheridan (Gerard Butler), whose relationship with Lara provides some real conversation, fills in some backstory, and gives the story legs, as well as a good deal of suspense.

**The action this time around is not all guns and kicking booty. The creativity shown by DeBont, and the writers, is to be lauded. I have never seen a film with more variations on hand-to-hand combat, stuntwork, or action, done in so many different settings. It is truly a feast for the eyes.

**This action hero bleeds now, and when she falls, she gets hurt. After coming up out of the water, in one scene, having barely escaped with her life, she sets off her tracker button so she can be picked up, but in the meantime she clings to a piece of floating metal in the middle of the ocean, passed out from exhaustion, and bleeding from several places. I liked that a lot.

**The action scenes never go on too long, or get monotonous (can anyone say Charlie's Angels???); they are always involving and tense. How will she/they get out of this one, you wonder, and guess what? Sometimes they don't. What?!!

**That's right, sometimes they don't. Sometimes they lose. How often do you see that? And though you know they won't lose in the end, it's awfully entertaining to watch the wheels in the brain smoking, and the hands and feet moving.

**The film plays more like an action thriller that it does a cartoon or a video game. Think "Die Hard" meets "Indiana Jones".

**The first film wasn't very colorful, being filmed underground a lot, or in the Croft manor. This film has tons of color. We are treated to the coast of Greece, the gorgeous layout of Shang-Hai, the lush landscape of Africa, the outside of the Croft mansion, and loads of other locations. Another real feast for the eyes.

**And probably most importantly, Angelina Jolie is allowed to really act this time. Her interactions with Terry, with the men from MI6, with Hillary and Bryce, with the African tribesmen, and with Kosa (the wonderful Djimon Hounsou), her Massai warrior friend - all allow us to see a very human side of Lara that was missing from the first film.

One particularly powerful scene is with the African tribesmen as they accompany her to the place they believe is The Cradle Of Life. Without giving too much away, Lara comments to one of the young men that he is brave, and shortly after, something happens, and her reaction gave me goosebumps, and brought tears to my eyes. I was just as surprised as you might be by hearing that.

Her final scene with Terry is a heart-toucher as well.

Brief, Random Thoughts

Bob Costas recently interviewed Angelina Jolie. He commented on her Oscar, her Golden Globes, and the various other accolades bestowed on her for her acting chops. And he asked her if it bothered her (I'm paraphrasing) to not be as known for those things as she is for Lara Croft.

Her answer to him was no, because little children all over the world know Lara Croft, and that allows her to have a bond with them. None of them care about Oscars and Golden Globes, and none of them would know her except for Lara Croft.

Angelina Jolie loves Lara Croft, and it shows. She was very dissatisfied with the first film, she says, but in the second one, you can almost feel how they've nearly become one. Jolie loves Lara's fearlessness, strength, morality, wildness, drive, and the fact that at the end of the day she knows she did good. That in her heart, she's a good person. (Sounds a little like Angelina now, doesn't it? Hmmm...)

I think Lara Croft is important, and this may sound stupid, but for once we have an action hero that's female, and before you roll your eyes, hear me out.

She does not use her sex appeal to get what she wants, and that's a first; she uses her brain and her skills. The fact that she's easy on the eyes is just a perk. She is confident in what she does, and who she is, and yet she always strives to be better. She looks danger right in the face and takes it on. And even though it's a movie, I think it sends a strong message to all the eight-year olds she speaks of.

When I saw this in the theater, there must have seven or eight wheelchair-bound children in attendance. They didn't come in as a group, they came in singly, with their parents. As we were leaving, ten or twelve more were making their way through the doors. Maybe they're just fans of the video game, I don't know, but who she is appeals to kids, and for the first time in a long time, I think their hero is a positive one.

Summation

This film ain't rocket science, but it's not supposed to be. It's supposed to entertainment, and it's that and so much more. It is entertainment with brains, and more than a little feeling.

This movie is quite original, in that it's not CGI-laden. I don't know if they used it all, as a matter of fact. Jan De Bont, with the studio squawking, got all the locations he had on his going-in wish list, and they were on there because he wanted the film to seem real. In other words, he didn't want to have to rely on CGI to create a fake Africa. Jan wanted the real thing, and he got it, and we win.

This film is a great ride through breathtakingly beautiful places, with jaw-dropping stuntwork (nearly all done by Jolie again, except for the ones they forced her to stay out of, which were few), wonderful, solid acting, and a well-paced, grounded script.

It is rare to have a sequel that is as good as the original. To have one that surpasses it and moves it upward to a different level of filmmaking altogether is nearly unheard of, but here it is.

Treat your senses to a wonderland, and your brain to a thriller, and go out and see this movie.






Recommended: Yes