*** Official LARA CROFT TOMB RAIDER: THE CRADLE OF LIFE Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

$21.7m opening weekend on over 3,200 screens. Ouch. To quote myself from another thread-

I'd be surprised if this movie makes $40 million on opening weekend.

I am slightly surprised, I though it would atleast crack $30m.

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Yeah that is a pretty piss poor opening. Overall I liked it. Nothing terribly special but enough locations and stunts to make it worth while. The only part that really rubbed me the wrong way was the shark scene. For one, since when do sharks 'scream' and 'growl'? But the rest that transpired was more than my empty head (as I left my brain at the door) could take.

So I wonder if this just killed the Tomb Raider franchise.

Actually, the first movie killed the franchise. Even though it made more money, it sucked so badly that people didn't feel like getting suckered twice. Even though this second one was better -- although that's obviously not saying much.

Two things: you'd figure the guys would have some sort of "condition green; all is well" type of signal to indicate that they were captured at the other end. Haven't they ever watched Star Trek?

Second, do you suppose she could have waited a fraction of a second before dropping the orb, so that the whatchamacallits would have killed the bad guy for her? They were right behind him. I suppose in that kind of situation, it's risky because you really don't know what will happen, but it just seems like an excuse to tangle with him a few minutes later.

//Ken

Saw this article at Gamespot.
Here's one quote:

"The only thing we can attribute that to is that the gamers were not happy with the latest version of the Tomb Raider video game, which is our core audience,"

Uh-huh.
Give me a freaking break. Talk about spin doctors. Did they ever stop to think that maybe the first movie was really bad and that's why no one went to see the second one?

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No, as evidenced by the similar reaction by the studio to the failure of Star Trek: Nemesis (i.e. "The fanbase must have in some way shrunk." --Sherry Lansing, Paramount), the studios NEVER place the blame for a movie flop on the movie itself. It's always someone else's fault. :rolleyes

[url=http://www.thelightworks.com/images/pics/ref_tv/paramountsml.jpg] [/url]

Ever notice that brief glimpse of water you see before the mountain in the Paramount logo? It's actually a river. Know what it's called? That's right: Denial.

I am not sure what to make of this movie. The whole thing made absolutely no sense to me at all.

First, the shark scene was completely absurd. How much force can a person submerged in water possibly generate with a punch? How did she know the shark was going to go towards the surface? What if he went deeper into the water? Why couldn't she have used the time waiting for and punching the shark to just start swimming to the surface?

My main problem with the movie is thatI have no idea why she was trying to find the box in the first place. What was she going to do with it once she found it, leave it where it was? If so, why go looking at all? She could simply have hidden the orb instead of leading the bad guys directly to the box. She must have known that they were following her or that it was a possibility.

Also, what was the box resting on when she first got there? Why would the person who put it there even rest it on anything? Why not totally submerge the box so that nobody could ever get to it?

Punching a shark in the nose is cited as a defense. If you ever get in that situation, let me know if it works.

I dunno if sharks tend to surface when they've got something on their backs. That could have been just luck, but if she knew she was too deep to surface under her own power, it was may have been easier to wait for the shark than to try and exert herself to swim up. But yeah, that whole sequence could be baloney.

As far as hiding the orb, the bad guys would come after her to find out where she hid it. I suppose she could have destroyed the orb, but then she'd have to deal with them too. This way, you draw all the interested parties in, and make sure they're dealt with. Sure, she risked them actually getting to box, but this is a movie.

Finally, the acid-proof (and air-tight) box was just floating. To submerge it, you'd have to fill it, but that would require opening it

//Ken

I caught the end of an ad for this movie on TV last night that had a quote by some reviewer saying "people actually fly" and "this movie rocks". Are they so desperate to find quotes? They should have been able to get a few better quotes from Ebert ("better than the first", "creative fun"). Did you watch last week when Roeper said "I think you are so smitten with Angelina Jolie that..." and Ebert responded "What's wrong with that??"