Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life

Starring: Angelina Jolie, Gerard Butler, Djimon Hounsou, Chris Barrie, Ciaran Hinds, Til Schweiger, Noah Taylor, Ronan Vibert, Simon Yam

ACTION

certIFICATE: 12A

No swearing, sex, violence

"In nature there's always a balance," observes curvaceous Lara Croft (Angelina Jolie) in her second big-screen escapade.

"The world comes in pairs - yin and yang, right and wrong, man and woman, what's pleasure without pain... that sort of thing."

The buxom archaeologist and intrepid explorer could have extended her theory to Hollywood blockbusters - for every thrilling, white-knuckle event movie, there is a bloated disappointment like this.

Directed with breathless abandon by Jan de Bont, this ramshackle sequel roams the world, from one exotic locale to the next as the gun-toting heroine searches for another priceless artefact.

En route, there are myriad opportunities for Lara to shoehorn her cleavage into a skin tight body-suit and disable the bad guys with a well placed, gravity-defying kick.

She packs plenty of punch - it's a pity the same can't be said about the film.

Lara (Jolie) travels to Greece to track down a map to the location of the fabled Pandora's Box, only to have the artefact stolen from under her nose by the henchmen of megalomaniac Jonathan Reiss (Hinds).

When Reiss threatens to unleash the box's hellish powers on the world, Lara joins forces with ex-lover and mercenary Terry Sheridan (Butler) to prevent global catastrophe.

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle Of Life is an improvement on the first film but that's not much of a compliment.

The plot occasionally makes sense, if you forgive the ham-fisted manner in which screenwriter Dean Georgaris lurches from one big action scene to the next.

Jolie, however, is in fine shape and she glides effortlessly through the physical rigours of the role, whether it be roaring across the Aegean on a jet-ski or stopping a great white shark in its tracks by punching it on the nose.

She shows glimmers of Lara's insecurities but for the most part, her heroine is as icy cool as her plummy accent. Sexual chemistry with Butler's token beefcake also proves a welcome distraction.