*** Official "CRADLE 2 THE GRAVE" Review Thread (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Sun]

Another Jet Li - DMX film collaboration. Don't expect too much in terms of innovation for films of this genre (the mixed race martial arts action flick). Nothing is all that complex, though Tom Arnold had a few amusing lines and does bring with him some decent nervous energy, which is sadly needed due to the subdued perfromance by Jet Li, and the badly acted performance by DMX.

The action sequences are fine, fun, and towards the end, a little outrageous. The villains are pretty to look at (except for Chi McBride), but nothing special.

Treat this film like a 90 minute amusement park ride, and you'll get your money's worth.

I give it 2 stars, or a grade of C (for Cradle).

 

[Robert Crawford]

This thread is now the Official Review Thread for "Cradle 2 The Grave". Please post all HTF member reviews in this thread.

Any other comments, links to other reviews, or discussion items will be deleted from this thread without warning!

If you need to discuss those type of issues then I have designated an Official Discussion Thread.



Crawdaddy

 

[Chuck Mayer]

I'll admit, I wasted my money on this. I didn't want to be the sucker that started the thread

Anyways, passable until the atrocious ending. Yes, I was aware of what type of film I was at, but it sunk lower than expected in the stupid plot area.

Arnold was passable, the women were attractive and 1-dimensional, and Jet Li DID fight Mark Dacascos.

The bad:

Gabrielle Union is plenty pretty without TONS of makeup.

Give Kelly Hu a real character.

And most importantly:

When Mark Dacascos and Jet Li are fighting, DO NOT cut to a lame girlfight between Hu and Union or a pathetic fight between Asian Bad Guy #1 and DMX. It's the reason we came. And don't end it that pathetic.

Not awful. Not too good.

Better than The Transporter

5/10

Take care,
Chuck

 

[Timothy Alexander]

I was just frustrated from start to finish with this movie.
I was walking in with low expectations and still ended up pissed at the end. MY GOD this movie, and it's asinine plot developments, horrible dialogue and acting and wasted opportunities.

What really got to me was the fact this movie had Jet Li, Mark Dacascos, and Kelli Hu and for some odd reason the focus was on DMX and his band of boring outlaws(except for Gabrielle Union of course{drools}).

There was that scene with DMX running up a wall to get a way from a dog and then there was that underground fight with Jet Li and a midget...c'mon....

And can someone explain to me how hard it is to just let Jet Li and Mark Dacascos(who is very underrated BTW, he just kicks so much ass in the movies he's in) go at it for 10 minutes without cutting to DMX and his horrible attempt at a Jackie Chan comedy scene?

And then there was Kelli Hu vs. Gabrielle Union. To anybody who saw the movie, do I really need to go into how absurd the whole thing was?

ARRRGH!! I knew the movie was gonna be bad and I was even expecting it to be so I just went in with idea I'd be entertained any way. I left the theater longing for The Kiss of The Dragon for chrissakes. At least Jet Li was the focus of that movie and did more.

Don't go see this, see Once Upon a Time in China parts 1 through 3 and you'll be happy.

Sorry, I'm done rambling...I give it :star: out of :star: :star: :star: :star: :star: (that star BTW was for the fact they even put Jet Li and Mark Dacascos together.)

 

[LennyP]

I expected this to be fun, and it was.
Jet Li is first billed but feels like a secondary character next to DMX, though he does have the best scene in the movie.
Imagine a big wrestling-like cage. Imagine about 20 thugs in it. Now put Jet Li in the middle.
When you think back on a movie, it seems exciting and fun, but while watching it, you get numb, it's all out action all the time, that by the end you're so bored and numb you just don't care.
Why I like Ecks vs Sever and put it above all action movies of all time is because it's properly spaced, you get relaxing, touching, quiet moments, before a big action sequence. In Cradle 2 the Grave you don't. Though I'm not sure whether it's a good or a bad thing right? Depends on you.
Another thing this movie could benefit from was a bit more reality, and at least one of the "good guys" could die to add seriousness to it, and satisfaction from the death of the villain.
Everyone is very pretty, wearing nice clothes, driving expensive cars, everything is so obviously set up that you are never surprised by the film. Well, I shouldn't say that, because TOM ARNOLD man!! He RULES! Alright! Now we get to it being an Andrzej Bartkowiak film. His first, Romeo Must Die had Jet Li, DMX, and Anthony Anderson, the big black comedy sidekick guy. Then Exit Wounds had DMX, Anderson, and Tom Arnold, yeah! And now again, Cradle has the expected cast of Jet Li, DMX, Anderson, and Tom Arnold! I just like following this relationship/friendship same casting kind of thing.
Anyway, remember the end of Exit Wounds, during credits, Anderson is on Tom Arnold character's show, just playing off of each other wonderfully, racial jokes, cracking on each other, just fun. Well, the end of this movie puts them together again, till the end of the credits they talk and talk, some Yo Momma jokes, then Tom Arnold starts joking that he's gona make a movie out of these recent events, and they start talking who they should cast: Mel Gibson as Tom Arnold, and like "we should be the stars of this, yeah yeah, 'cause we got the tank and fired that up the ass and blew that thing, yeah yeah!" And then at the very end they make a send up of themselves, it's SO funny I'll put it in a spoiler as it's better if you watch it yourselves in a theater, but it's no spoiler of a movie or anything, so read it if you're curious:
Tom Arnold says, who should we pick as a director... uhh, how about that Polak guy, did you see Romeo Must Die and Exit Wounds? Yeah! Exit Wounds was great man, and remember at the end those two guys, THAT was the best part man! Yeah! What happened to those guys anyway? I heard they're gay.

End of credits, I walked out laughing with a big smile on my face, they made themselves again the best part of the movie and a great way to make people leave the theater, because what you felt last, you'll remember most and think the whole movie was like that.
Anyway, TOM ARNOLD Rules!

As there have been only 2 months so far and there are no better movies to put into my top 10 of 2003, I'll place this at #2, though I'm sure it'll be pushed out by the end of the year.
It's fairly standard and predictable, but has a lot, a lot of very cool action sequences, music sorta fits, not very out of place, lots of fast cutting as always don't seem to harm the fight scenes, and Jet Li has his left hand in his pocket for 85 out of 100 mins of running time.
Now everyone give it up for Tom Arnold and his tank!


Top 10 of 2003 so far:
1. Dark Blue
2. Cradle 2 the Grave
3. ?