En sursis

How much enthusiasm, impressions and emotions left this film after watching! All this is the work of the director, famous for the film "Through wounds."

In the story of a professional robber Tony Faith during his next mission, black diamonds are accidentally caught. This message reaches the international criminal Lin, who decides to get these unusual decorations for personal gain. So he kidnaps Faith's daughter. Faith finds his secret partner Su, sworn enemy Lin, as his companions, and together they must stop the insidious villain. Each of them has its own reason for this.

First of all, the film is notable for an unprecedented cast. The lead role was gained by the popular rapper DMX. Actually, he is better known as a musician, not an actor. He has a few films on his account, but here he even managed to open up well to the audience as an elusive robber and loving father. And what to say about Jet Li, he continues to delight his fans with his brilliant stunts and acting skills. Here he played a calm, extremely agile agent, and his main opponent ... This is Mark Dacascos! Yes, unexpectedly for me, he appeared in the negative role of a violent criminal. This role for him turned out to be much more successful than that in the "American Samurai"! It was here that he distinguished himself with charisma, the ability to act clearly according to all the rules of the "villainous" role. This can not be forgotten. Sometimes it even seems to me that this is his best role in the last 10 years. And his partner got the former model Kelly Hu, who also brilliantly played the accomplice of the criminal. And of course, the film does not do without humor. To this end, Tom Arnold, the famous comedian, was invited to the shooting.

But most importantly, the film itself looks at one go. Here we will see everything that is characteristic of 21st century militants: high-quality and spectacular battles, beautiful chases, powerful gunfights and special effects. We immediately see that the budget of 25 million is spent wisely. Particularly memorable are some episodes of the film: a perfectly thought-out bank robbery, leaving the police on an ATV, a secret agent against a dozen boxers in the ring, and finally the final outcome - the division of the storyline into 3 unforgettable fights: the DMX hero rescues his daughter, Kelly Hu against Gabriel Union , a fight of Jet Li and Mark Dacascos. The soundtrack of the film is encouraging music performed by DMX.

The theme of the film is already far from fresh, but the way everything is worked out cannot but remain in the spotlight. The film will always cheer up, no matter how much you look at it. Apparently, the director tried his best!

What could have been a reasonably acceptable action vehicle for Jet Li became completely annoying thanks to the obligatory (and ridiculously lame) inclusion of what I'd call Hollywood's fascination with "family values" and "kiddie cuteness". An R-rated action picture is no place for cutesy, resourceful brats and there's nothing more bland than an action hero straddled with a family or family members in peril. It all reeks with middle-class political correctness and made the DMX character an unnecessary annoyance. Real villains would have made short work of the kid's ears and gotten a little cooperation from that rapper a lot sooner. This one's pathetically wimpy, even with Jet versus the ultimate fighting boys; not having any gratuitous nudity is unforgivable also, especially when you set the audience up for some!

A thief steals a stash of black diamonds and this accidentally involves his family in an international terrorist plot since the diamonds are not just your typical diamonds. He joins forces with a mysterious guy who is dressed in all black and can kick serious ass with his martial arts skills to set things right. And, of course, kill the bad guys.

The plot is pretty silly, but the action is decent so if you just want to see a cheesy action movie, this is a pretty good choice. However, the film tries hard to have a dramatic and thriller edge that is just laughable. It tries to go push itself into a larger scope by the end. That is where you'll either tell yourself that you enjoyed the movie, or whether the whole thing just crashed and burned for you. However there is a good array of stunts and Jet Li shows off what he does best (again). However, at the same time the some of the action scenes seem to beg you into thinking that they are good with their fast paced editing and slow mo that doesn't really manage to cover up much of their mediocrity.

Basically it is just a direct-to-video action movie, but with star power. It was that, and only that, which provided it with its theater run. --- 5/10

Rated R for violence and profanity

I wasn't sure what to expect from Cradle 2 the Grave. A week before it came out I hit the official web page and was excited to learn that Mark Dacascos (The Crow: Stairway to Heaven, Brotherhood of the Wolf) and Kelly Hu (The Scorpion King, X-Men 2) were in the movie. The real reason I was waiting for the movie was of course Jet Li.

Over all, I have to say that the movie left me unimpressed. DMX gives a terrible performance. It's not consistently bad, but when he breaks out into highly emotional scenes he stinks.

Tom Arnold is also in this movie, and is funny in his Tom Arnold way. He's basically the comedic relief, exploiting his fish-out-of-water position (he's a middle age white guy who's main associates throughout the movie are young African-Americans) for laughs. And love or hate the guy, he will make you laugh. He's good in supporting roles, just think of him in True Lies. Similar effect here.

Bad dialogue and acting can be forgiven, but two things are unpardonable: Not giving Jet Li enough to do, and the misuse of Mark Dacascos and Kelly Hu. Apparently they forgot that Jet Li is an international star, and while DMX is known for his music he can't act to save his life. The primary focus of the story should have been on Jet Li's character, not DMX's. Simple common sense--use your star. The star of this movie ain't DMX, it's Jet Li.

Those who have seen Mark Dacascos in Brotherhood of the Wolf know that he can kick some serious tail. All that is wasted since his fight with Jet Li is a pathetically wasted effort, and his only fight in the movie. Kelly Hu, an emerging star soon to be seen in X-Men 2, should have been given more screen time. Sure, she has a fight, but one can't help but feel that she also was misused.

Kung-Fu and Hip-Hop are a bad mix. Producer Joel Silver can't seem to get that through his head, and I doubt he will anytime soon since Cradle 2 the Grave took the number one spot at the box office on it's opening weekend. The fact of the matter is Jet Li carries this mediocre effort all the way. That's a lot of weight for one man to carry, but he does it. Hopefully he'll get back to starring in movies that exhibit his abilities, not stick him in the passenger seat of a stinker driven up by a recording artist.

"Cradle 2 The Grave" is an action movie by the same people who brought you Romeo Must Die and Exit Wounds... And it shows. Skeleton-thin story, two-dimensional characters, and action for action's sake. Usually when you watch an action movie - not always, but usually - the action scenes serve as a means to tie the story together. In this movie, the exact opposite is true. Therefore, the flow of narrative serves only to fill the gaps between scenes where Jet Li unleashes Wushu fury on his opponents, who for the most part tend to be guys who are just in the wrong place at the wrong time. The action is well done, don't get me wrong, but for some reason Jet Li just seems uncomfortable here. Perhaps it's just the role he was given, but for some reason he never quite "clicked" with everything else that was going on.

Another gripe I had about the movie is that we're told who everyone is by other characters. Instead of showing Jet's history with the villain portrayed by Mark Dacascos, we just hear Jet saying "We used to be on the same side, he betrayed us, etc. etc." This keeps things going along at a fast pace, but personally I like my movies fleshed out a little bit - even a flashback scene would have been enough. Since it's not, the final battle really doesn't mean anything. Oh well, I guess I'm just asking too much.

I suppose that after "Kiss of the Dragon" and even "The One" I was expecting Jet Li's U.S. track record to improve, not slide backwards 3 years, to "Romeo Must Die" status. Perhaps after "Hero" is released state side we'll start getting some good projects from Li. Until then, we'll have to deal with more DMX (Get At Me, Dawg!) movies.

For now, I'll continue to watch Fist of Legend. If you haven't, I recommend you see that rather than this.