Review of:Cradle 2 the Grave (2004)
Director:Andrzej Bartkowiak
Rating:R for violence, language and some sexual content
Starring:DMX, Jet Li, Mark Dacascos, Anthony Anderson, Tom Arnold
We've all seen it before. A martial arts master pushed to the brink of his abilities as he overcomes scores of bad man that want to do harm to innocent people. Bruce Lee is still remembered all these years after his death as a man that could take out a circle of fiends with no problem. In the martial arts master Jet Li you see some of the same characteristics; the cocky fighting stance, that small upturn of the lip as he is about to deliver some home-made butt kicking straight from the oven. He has the look of one dangerous man. Well it is all wasted on his newest film Cradle 2 the Grave.
In his newest film he plays as Su a Taiwanese government agent hot on the trail of some stolen merchandise, which just happens to be what Tony Fait (DMX) has just stolen. Unknown to Fait is that the stolen merchandise is hotter than an Oklahoma summer as new players introduce themselves into the fray. The complications that arise cause Fait and Su to form a loose partnership to recover the things they want most. For Fait it is his daughter who has been kidnapped, and for Su it is the opportunity to avenge the deaths of his team at the hands of Ling (Mark Dacascos).
Director Andrzej Bartkowiak has directed both of these actors before with DMX in Exit Wounds and Li in Romeo Must Die. Two films that succeed to a point that this one doesn't. Some of the problems of the film come from the pacing, which is like a bad timing belt. If Andrzej wanted this movie to work he should have worked on getting more of what the audience wants which is some intense action, and less of DMX explaining that he "just has a feeling" about what is going to happen. The next big point of contention is that when you have Gabrielle Union (Deliver Us From Eva) in a film most people would suspect that she would have a somewhat relevant part. She is about as integral to the story as I am, and that is a shame. The film also seems to have had the ability to deliver high on the laugh meter with Tom Arnold , and Anthony Anderson (Kangaroo Jack) usually good as comic relief. There talents are used spottily in the film, and their characters are never given the opportunity to become more than wallpaper to a film that needed something to set it apart from the norm.
DMX is portrayed as a Robin Hood type character that is portrayed as being a devoted father to his child. He takes from the rich and gives to himself with his crew backing his play all the way. With the high tech gadgetry that he uses to pull off his heist there seems to be something a little wrong with the picture. This man has the intelligence to blow a big time safe, but he doesn't have the opportunity to make money in the regular workplace. Or is he just in it for the quick money, and the close calls. Small details like these would help the viewer understand the situation a bit better instead of just throwing the viewer into the limited action that is used. In all this film uses the action, and pulse pounding music to hide the fact that a relevant story doesn't reside underneath.
