Cradle 2 the Grave

Release Date: February 28, 2003
Studio: Warner Bros.
Director: Andrzej Bartkowiak
Screenwriter: John O'Brien, Channing Gibson
Starring: Jet Li, DMX, Anthony Anderson, Mark Dacascos, Tom Arnold, Kelly Hu, Gabrielle Union
Genre: Action, Thriller
MPAA Rating: R (for violence, language and some sexual content)
Official Website: Cradle2theGrave.WarnerBros.com

Plot Summary: When his daughter is kidnapped and held in exchange for priceless diamonds, the leader of a crew of highly skilled urban thieves (DMX) forges an unlikely alliance with a Taiwanese Intelligence officer (Li) to rescue her. Their race against the clock to find the precious stones ultimately unravels a plot to distribute a deadly new weapon of war.

Reviewed by Peter Veugelaers © 2003
- Better than a cheese royale: buy one while its hot

Jet Li, martial arts extraordinaire turned action movie hero, gets to strut more than enough of fists and tamed fury as a Taiwanese investigator in this Joel Silver produced no hold bars actioner. Intended for action and martial arts fans this delivers plenty of intense raw fighting and attitude that will satisfy for the most part the intended demographic.

One terrific action sequence towards the end, which begins hilariously, tops off an entertaining showpiece for Li. Plenty of brain dead but strong, authentic and self-important man-against-man fight scenes gets interrupted occasionally with the odd sentimental foray.

Investigator Su Duncan (Li) is tracking down the perpetrators of a jewel heist. Black diamonds have gone missing and Ling (Dacascos) and his criminal henchmen (and women, including Kelly Hu) are after the black diamonds and force Tony Fait (rapper DMX), who lost them during the heist, to surrender the jewels to Ling’s possession or face the consequences. To double the complications Fait’s daughter (Hurd) is kidnapped by Ling, but Tony gets unexpected assistance from Li as they search for his daughter and the diamonds.

There is one sequence here that is worth the admission price alone. If you are willing to suspend disbelief from the outset of the film, then this – a well crafted edited juxtaposition of parallel events, one in a fighting ring, the other a vehicle chase through city streets and buildings – is stunning. And a willing suspension of disbelief is what this requires or else you’re lost in a myriad of unconvincing plot developments.

The sentiment over the relationship between Tony Fait and his daughter precedes a more general feeling about faith and belief in ‘supernatural’ intervention to save the day. The build-up of the odds stacked Fait and the empathetic rendering of his daughter being kidnapped (however unrealistic and trivially handled) create enough tension, coupled with intense martial arts scenes, to pull something of a punch.

The emotional connection in this is slight and is too trite to be believable if it weren’t for the sympathetic portrayal and likeability of the characters, a close-knit fraternity, who come across as vulnerable so you can go along with them on enjoying the process and outcome of their journey.