Cradle 2 the Grave (2003)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

Andrzej Bartkowiak

Writers (WGA):

John O'Brien (story)
John O'Brien (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

28 February 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Born 2 the life. True 2 the code. Bad 2 the bone.

Plot:

A jewel thief's daughter is kidnapped after he steals a collection of prized black diamonds, which aren't at all what they seem.

Plot Keywords:

Diamond | Heist | Erotic Dancing | Self Referential | Airport

Awards:

5 nominations

Cast

Jet Li	...	Su
DMX	...	Anthony Fait
Kelly Hu	...	Sona
Anthony Anderson	...	Tommy
Tom Arnold	...	Archie
Mark Dacascos	...	Yao Ling
Gabrielle Union	...	Daria
Michael Jace	...	Odion
Drag-On	...	Miles
Paige Hurd	...	Vanessa
Paolo Seganti	...	Christophe
Richard Trapp	...	Douglas
Ron Yuan	...	Laser Tech
Woon Young Park	...	Bald Enforcer
Johnny Nguyen	...	Ling's Hitman

MPAA:

Rated R for violence, language and some sexual content.

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Mandarin | Korean

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #39626) | Iceland:16 | Malaysia:18SG | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia) | South Korea:15 | Netherlands:16 | Canada:18A (Manitoba) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Philippines:R-18 | Spain:18 | Finland:K-15 | Argentina:13 | Australia:MA | Brazil:14 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Denmark:15 | France:-12 | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:IIB | New Zealand:R16 | Norway:15 | Singapore:NC-16 | Singapore:PG (cut) | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Silver Pictures

Trivia:

In the cage-fighting scene, Tito Ortiz is shown as the victor in a fight between himself and Chuck Liddell. In reality, the two have fought two times in the UFC, with Chuck winning both fights.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: At the end when the helicopter is taking off, a camera crew is visible running on the ground.

Quotes:

Fight Announcer: Put me down now, or I'll kick your ass, Bruce!
Su: I'm *not* Bruce.
[throws the short man through the air]

Movie Connections:

Featured in "HBO First Look: Cradle 2 the Grave (#10.3)" (2003)

Soundtrack:

Stompdash**outu

Pretty good action - pretty poor film

Tony Fait is a head of a gang of thieves who are on a job to steal a bag of black diamonds. Inspector Su from Taiwan is out to stop them. The gang succeed but find themselves with both Su and crime lord Ling after the diamonds. Fait takes them to his friend Archie to have them valued but a local mobster has them stolen. To make matters worse Ling kidnaps Fait's daughter and demands the diamonds. Fait and Su join forces to get the diamonds back from the mobster, rescue Fait's daughter and bring down Ling.

I was in the UK watching a tape of the NBA All-Star game that someone had taped off US TV for a friend. Fast forwarding the adverts a movie trailer caught my eye - the trailer for this movie. Dacascos and Jet Li in a movie together! Gotta see that! I couldn't wait and was excited when I saw it coming to the UK sooner than I'd expected. So I went to see it, not expecting art but hoping for a good ride.

I was a little let down but not too much. The film has some good scenes that almost manage to hide the inherent weaknesses in script, plot, editing, direction, acting etc etc. Let me start with the plot. Now I didn't expect wonders and I didn't get them - however the film pushes things too far by making the film about a world threat - a leap of faith too far for me. The actual script is full of so many clunky lines you won't believe. Little of it sounds like people actually talking.

The main weakness were direction and editing. You see I can for Jet Li et al fighting and for action. However the fight scenes and actions scenes are edited together and directed with a frantic touch. I'd prefer to see Li at work than constantly trying to keep up with the camera switches. I can understand why they do this (many of the actors must have done their scenes one move at a time) but with Jet Li it loses much of his power to not be able to follow his moves. Some of the action works well and is exciting but too often it is just frantic direction and noise.

The cast are passable but none really excel themselves. Li is good but not fully used. He has yet to have a film that really showcases his skills. Here he has some good moves but the direction spoils them. DMX is a good rapper (I like his joints) but he can't act anywhere near well enough to manage the scenes with his `daughter' - they are awful! Outside of these he is OK but he has NO chemistry with Li. Also he doesn't convince as a ninja (!), when he runs up a wall 15 minutes into the film it just looks silly. Tom Arnold and Anderson are pretty poor as the comedy sidekicks and really just clutter the film with characters (more later). I didn't know Union was in this till I sat down, but she makes a mark. She may be shameless eye candy (I like to think I'm above these shameless crowd pleasers) but she is very hot eye candy! She does a dance in the film that is pretty pointless in terms of plot, but is worth the price of admission alone! Kelly Hu is not used well at all and her losing her cat fight towards the end is unlikely. The biggest let down for me was Mark Dacascos. I know the guy does a lot of tat but he is one of my favourite actors. I was looking forward to him and Li fighting at the end (both have skills) but again it was spoilt by bad direction and the editing of 5 other scenes in with it.

The soundtrack is heavy but it is really poorly used. The makers just seemed to drop hip hop tracks in at random with little context. The opening credits worked well and the use of DMX's `X gonna bring it to ya' really compliments the onscreen action, but mostly they just seemed thrown in to draw a certain demographic.

Overall I did enjoy this film. It has enough noise and dumb action to just about cover the weaknesses while you are watching it. However it is pretty exploitative and excessive. Did we need to have EVERYTHING blow up in the end - no. Did we need to Gabrielle Union sexily stripping - no (but it was worth it!). It's not original and it is banged up with clichés (ring of fire showdown), and it's is inherently weak. But lets be honest we came for action, and it is just about passable in that. Worth a watch if you keep your expectations low.