Director Andrzej Bartkowiak and his usual cast return to the big screen in Cradle 2 the Grave, the third film from the cinematographer turned filmmaker. His previous films were Romeo Must Die with Jet Li and DMX, and Exit Wounds with DMX and Steven Segal.
In Cradle 2 the Grave, Bartkowiak reunites Li and DMX to tell the story of a thief whose daughter is kidnapped. The opening scene of the film jumps right into the climax: the heist of a vault containing valuable jewels, as well as a funny conversation between Tommy [Anthony Anderson] and a homosexual security guard, buying time for his boss, Fait [DMX], to snag some gems.
You learn as the film wears on that Fait is a career criminal, though personable enough to come off quickly as the film's protagonist. All the while, Su [Li] is foiling the plan, bludgeoning a grossly outmatched white-collar informant who was in association with Fait. Predictably, the police are called and the criminals barely get away. Most of the film, unfortunately, is just as predictable.
Fait brings his new jewels to his local arms-dealer friend Archie [Tom Arnold] to examine them. Later, Archie is assaulted by a group of thugs who then steal the jewels. For this scene, it seems appropriate to have an Archie character to help facilitate the theft of the jewels from Fait and then he could have disappeared. But instead, the filmmakers continue to use Archie during the film as the comedic character opposite Jet Li's straight man. This experiment flops - Bartkowiak would have been better off just playing up Anderson's part instead.
More redundant than Archie's role of the goofy white guy [which gets old fast] is the kick to the groin. There are enough that you find yourself expecting every fight, which consists of four or five groin kicks, to end with one. Fait's inability to hang up a phone is also mystifying. He always ends conversations by fiercely throwing his phone on the ground or at the wall.
Ling [Mark Dacascos] is the villain who kidnaps Fait's daughter when he is unable to get the stones. The girl is held captive and, as has become the norm in kidnapping films, Su [who turns out to be a Taiwanese special agent] refuses to negotiate - which of course bothers Fait, who is unwilling to trust Su.
The film plods along for another hour, with the DMX crew splitting up, Su and Archie looking for information on the whereabouts of the stones, and DMX searching for his daughter.
The catch in Cradle 2 the Grave is that the black jewels, thought to be black diamonds, are actually plutonium used for weapons of mass destruction. Archie knows about the power of the black stones, and even mentions it in conversation with Su earlier in the film, that he had found out from an informant that the diamonds were not all that they appeared to be.
In the eventful final scene of the film, Ling gathers together a group of people he refers to as "the world's foremost arms dealers," who look on in amazement as Ling and his gang demonstrate the power of the stones, which Ling says are more powerful than weapons-grade plutonium.
It is difficult to watch the scene and not be uncomfortable about the fact that Archie, a second-rate criminal, has more knowledge of the power of these stones than all of the world's top arms dealers, who are drooling all over the new technology. It is also hard to believe that all of the world's foremost arms dealers would be gathered [and not inconspicuously] in one American warehouse without drawing any suspicion. Fait and Su are able to find Fait's daughter and the diamonds by simply tracking area flight patterns and finding out that several private helicopters were scheduled to land at the warehouse within minutes of each other. Yet, no one else knew about the meeting.
Of course, during the presentation, DMX and his crew burst into the warehouse and save his daughter with fist fighting abounds until the movie ends. You can't help but see this ending coming.
Cradle 2 the Grave has one strong redeemable quality - the fight scenes are well done. But the ensemble cast means the viewer is unable to relate to any of the many characters. DMX might be a strong box-office draw, considering how well his recordings have sold, but he still needs a lot of work to be a leading man. He appears stiff throughout the film and isn't even believable when he is desperately searching for his daughter.
Reach the reporter at gregory.salvatore@asu.edu.
|
'Cradle 2 the Grave'
Starring Jet Li, DMX, Mark Dacascos and Tom Arnold. Directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak. Opens Friday. |
(out of four)
