4K Blu-ray Review: Lara Croft: Tomb Raider 2-Movie Collection

Blu-ray Reviews, Reviews, Top Story

It’s been 20 years since Lara Croft: Tomb Raider hit theaters and to celebrate Paramount is packaging together both the original film and its sequel in 4K, along with digital copies of both films. The Tomb Raider video game franchise is one of the more iconic gaming series out there, and 20 years ago there was really nobody better to play the dual-wielding archaeologist than Angelina Jolie. She brought everything fans could want to the table, as she really was a Lara Croft brought to life with how the character was designed at the time.

The first film, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is a fun, fairly well-paced popcorn flick that isn’t just a carbon copy of any previous story from the games, and instead just pays homage to them by including puzzle aspects, as well as some of Lara’s signature moves. The movie sees Lara in a race against the Illuminati to hunt down an artefact that allows the person who has it in their possession to control time. It’s a fine premise, though the story suffers from a lack of depth to the supporting cast, nor any true sense of stakes, as it never feels like the true power of this artefact is explored, and often everything is handed to the protagonist on a silver platter. I mean, I know Lara’s rich, but still!

The 4K is scanned from the original’s 35mm source, and while this leads to some grainier scenes than some may have hoped, none of them are distracting, and it simply adds that filmic feel that some may actually welcome intermixed with the cleaner image. There are some distracting directorial decisions to add awkward slow motion bits to some of the action sequences. These result in choppy looking movements that just don’t flow with the rest of the action and instead take the viewer out of the moment almost each and every time.

That said, I hadn’t seen this movie in, well, decades, so revisiting it now allows me to report that it’s a solid action flick that definitely shows its age in certain areas of production, but as a whole is still a fun watch for fans of Miss. Croft. It’s also fun when revisiting older movies like this and realizing actors were in it that may not have been as popular at the time. One of the supporting characters in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is Daniel Craig, who puts on an American accent to play rival archaeologist, Alex West. The two have fine chemistry, though as with most characters in the film, Alex is fairly two-dimensional and not overly memorable.

The sequel, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life is one that may be hit or miss, depending on the audience. This time Lara is in a race against evil businessman, Jonathan Reiss, to find Pandora’s Box. She’s joined by Terry Sheridan (Gerard Butler,) who they try to add more layers to, but I never felt that they really worked, so some of the moments they thought would be more emotionally impactful simply weren’t.

They definitely set out to do things bigger in the sequel, and they succeeded for the most part when it comes to the action, and that’s really all some may care about. There are some great locations used, crazier stunts and a much larger cast of characters; however, it also suffers from how much it’s trying to do, and its almost two-hour runtime leads to some pacing issues with how the story is told. The film also has a different director, but still suffers from the same poorly timed slow motion moments that just come off awkward and choppy.

But as a whole the sequel’s 4K transfer is better, as it’s a 2160p transfer that’s upscaled from a 2K Mastered DI and it looks great consistently throughout. The slow motion bits look that much worse, but the film as a whole looks sharp, with clear details coming through thanks to the boost. Like its predecessor, The Cradle of Life also has a filmic look to it; however, it’s not a distracting amount, and as a whole it’s cleaner than the prior film.

So for fans of the original films who have yet to make the upgrade to 4K and want both movies in a convenient package then this is definitely the set to pick up. The movies look great, the audio transfer makes it sound like you’re in the theater with booming bass, and to put it bluntly: these flicks aren’t going to look or sound better in this current generation of tech. If you’re a newer fan to Tomb Raider and are looking to delve into the backlog of games and films then this is a great set to jump on board with, as it’s cheaper than picking up the films individually, as you get both the original and sequel on 4K for the price of one.

4K Blu-ray Video and Audio Review

Both of these areas were touched upon in the review itself, but I’ll revisit them briefly here once again. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider’s 4K is scanned from the original 35mm source, which gives the movie a more filmic appearance. While the grain can be slightly heavier in some scenes, it’s not unexpected and with the 4K upgrade, the image itself is clearer despite any grain. So as a whole this is the best the movie has looked for home viewing.

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life sees its 4K transfer upscaled from a 2K Master DI, which gives it an overall better image than the original. That said, both do suffer from terrible directorial decisions to add meaningless and distracting slow motion moments to the films that only detract from the scenes they’re placed in and these are almost elevated in how bad they look with these 4K upgrades.

On the audio side of things we’ve got DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtracks, and both will blow you back in your seat quite a bit if you’re able to crank up your surround sound. Even when listening on a slightly above average level the action sequences are booming and the score just blasts right through.

Special Features:

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider

Audio Commentary – The lone bonus on the disc is the director’s audio commentary. Whether or not you want to learn more about why decisions were made or how important that is to you, the option is here.

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life

Audio Commentary – Like its predecessor, The Cradle of Life only has a director’s commentary on the disc as far as special features go. Again, for those who want to learn a bit more about the filmmaking process for this movie, or the reason certain things were done the way they were, fire this one up!

Paramount Pictures Presents Lara Croft: Tomb Raider & Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life 2-Movie Collection. Starring: Angelina Jolie, Daniel Craig, Gerard Butler, Iain Glen, Djimon Hounsou, Ciarán Hinds. Running time: 100 Minutes & 117 Minutes. Rating: PG & 14A. 4K Blu-ray Collection Released: June 1, 2021.

Brendan Campbell was here when Inside Pulse Movies began, and he’ll be here when it finishes - in 2012, when a cataclysmic event wipes out the servers, as well as everyone else on the planet other than John Cusack and those close to him. Brendan’s the #1 supporter of Keanu Reeves, a huge fan of popcorn flicks and a firm believer that sheer entertainment can take a film a long way. He currently resides in Canada, where, for reasons stated above, he’s attempting to get closer to John Cusack.