'Lara Croft Tomb Raider - The Cradle of Life' directed by Jan de Bont

In this sequel, Croft is asked by the Queen of England to retrieve Pandora's Box. As Croft explains to British Intelligence the Sunday school version is much less frightening than the real story behind mythic box. Turns out that the box is the source of life on earth and whoever possesses it is the most powerful person on earth. Unleashing the full power of the box can also cause the death of millions of people so its Croft to the rescue.

Lara Croft is the quintessential Jolie. This is Angelina Jolie at her finest. The strong kick ass woman who is fearless, funky, and possessed with a lust for adventure that only Angelina Jolie could bring to life. Jolie had been my heroine until she merged with Brad Pitt and this film is why.

In preparing to retrieve the box before it falls into the wrong hands the heroine Croft must obtain the help of Terry Sheridan. Sheridan is Croft’s former lover and a former Royal Marine turned mercenary. Croft negotiates his release from jail in Kazakhstan and the two set off for China.

The Cradle of Life is almost a female Bourne with the moves of Gina Carano. Gerard Butler was Terry Sheridan and he took up bodybuilding to be convincing in the role. Just like Croft was quintessential Jolie the Terry Sheridan character is the definitive Gerard Butler. Croft and Sheridan are described as Ying and Yang in many movie reviews of this film. In the dialog itself Sheridan says that he and Croft are two sides of the same coin, a perfect pair. They certainly are a well matched pair of fearless adrenaline junkies.

Part of the charm of this film is that audiences did see the softer side of Croft. We sort of understand now why she has her guard up at times. Turns out that Terry did not just betray his country but also her and in the end does so again. Butler made himself a thinking man's action hero in this film and his subsequent roles have not lived up to it in quite the same way. Not to say that his action star power is any less potent. Just that the Terry Sheridan role could have been something that was much better than Bond for Butler. While Gerard Butler has been suggested as another James Bond it appears that Terry Sheridan is more the role for him if such a franchise were ever developed for Butler himself.