This one is about Jolie trying to find the Pandora's Box which, if opened, can kill millions of people. Personally, I look at it as that there would be a lot of stupid people in those millions so that's actually a bonus if you ask me. She brings Gerard "This is Sparta!" Butler to China (which pissed them off because they felt the film made them look bad) and then to Africa.
This film is slightly better than the last one because of the plethora of ridiculous scenes. Like the beginning where she punches a shark. It's as cartoony and goofy as it sounds. Not only that, the shark gets scared of her and makes these noises because, yeah, sharks make noises. Then she rides the shark to the surface and the shark swims off without coming back with a swarm or anything. That shark was that scared of one little punch.
Then later in the movie she parachutes twice. Once when they fly with these suits that the film kept advertising in the previews where they fly (the camera lingers on them forever) and then parachutes to where I thought was going to be water, but turns out to be the deck of a ship. The other time she lands safely in a jeep.... with a parachute.
See my problem with this Lara character and about any character in this movie is that nobody seems like a real person. There's no tension with Lara because everything she does, the script and movie magic will make sure that it works. She just smiles and does superhuman shit because it always works out. Every single time she is in peril it always works out in her favor. It's like playing with her friends and your friend has to be the one where everything goes in his favor because he hates looking bad. That's the case with Lara Croft.
The only credit I give is to Gerard Butler who is about the only character in the movie who seems close to a human being. I'm confused by the climax, though, because after they easily defeat the bad guy at the end, Mr. 300 comes in to bag up the Pandora's box. Then Lara tells him not to because it could kill millions of people and he is like "So?" Which after that, I would be like, "Yeah, you're right, people suck. Let's get rich." Then he commits domestic violence on her and gets all mad. Then she shoots him. It was a really weird, odd confrontation to me. It was probably rushed.
Again, the film is slightly better than the last one. It was directed by Jan De Bont who made Twister and Speed. I expected a little better from him. The score is great and I was surprised it was done by Alan Silvestri because I never seen him score a video game movie before. He scored Back to the Future.
This is not exactly a film I would watch over and over again but its a good movie to watch to point out the stupidity like Lara punching a shark. I swear I haven't seen anything that stupid since shark repellent from the 1960's Batman movie.