Lara Croft, Tomb Raider: The Cradle Of Life

Two and a half stars. Almost okay, but too flawed to make the grade.

A bit more plot (not that it's great) and fewer gratuitous set pieces (not that there aren't any) make this a better film than the first one (not that that's hard). It benefits greatly from having Lara's former lover Terry Sheridan (Gerard Butler) around as a parner/sidekick--at least this allows for a small measure of characterisation. The final act, which is only ever hinted at in the trailers, could have been rather good, but is let down by an enormously cliched showdown.

The film is also topped off with nine minutes of credits. Nine minutes. On a 103 minute film. I had to double-check the DVD to make sure I had the numbers right, but the counter didn't lie. Nine minutes. Really.