Cradle 2 the Grave Starring Jet Li, DMX Directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak Rated R for violence, language and some sexual content *1/2 out of **** Stars, Movie Grade: C-

Theatrical Release: February 28, 2003
Running time: 100 minutes

by Kevin Lang

I'm not going to be like every other critic and say that this movie's title proclaimed its own destiny. No, I'm not going to do that. I'm not even going to spend enough time thinking about what the title might have meant in relation to the movie, other than foretelling the movie's fate. Whoops, sorry. The film, starring martial arts star Jet Li and rapper DMX, was an overall disappointing attempt at an action movie.

"Cradle 2 the Grave" was directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak, who also directed 2000's "Romeo Must Die" and "Exit Wounds" (2001). Both of these earlier films were more enjoyable than Bartkowiak's latest, which was almost laughable at times. Sure, the cool scene from the preview was there. The one where Jet Li's character, Su, let himself fall down the side of a building, catching each ledge on the way. However, this scene wasn't nearly enough to save the movie, as well as make up for the acting, which was sub par even for this genre.

Who cares the about the acting, right? It was an action film. Okay, I'll overlook the fact that DMX delivers each line like he does in his rap songs, with sharp pauses and loud bursts of deep-throated emotion. Yes, I listen to DMX up in here. And just like how his songs start to sound alike, so do the lines that he delivers as an actor, and one can only take so much of him. As for Jet Li, he had shown a spark of personality in "Romeo Must Die," but was altogether dull and humorless here.

The plot was simple. Everyone was after a bag of what most assumed were black diamonds. Fait (DMX) stole these stones, and one of the criminals, Ling (Mark Dacascos, "Brotherhood of the Wolf") took Fait's daughter in an attempt to get the stones for himself. Su (Jet Li) was a Taiwan Intelligence officer after the stones that rightfully belonged to Taiwan. Su and Fait teamed up to save Fait's daughter, and to stop Ling from selling the mysterious stones.

The action often lacked significant motivation, not to mention that it often looked unbelievable. We watched Fait crash through multiple plate glass windows without receiving a scratch. It wasn't until the end that I noticed two butterfly stitches on the top of his head. The end fight scene, which came after Ling miraculously walked out of an exploded helicopter, was unfortunately interplayed with several other fight scenes that were distractions to what I wanted to see.

In the end, as the credits were rolling, Tom Arnold's character summed up the film best when he stated in a humorous improvised discussion with Tommy (Anthony Anderson) that the credits were the best part of the movie. The sad thing is that Arnold's character was right, the credits were the best part of this movie.

"Cradle 2 the Grave" Review written February 27, 2003, CTF.

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