Paul Andrews Cradle 2 the Grave is set in Los Angeles & starts as a team of professional hi-tech thieves lead by Anthony Fait (DMX) carry out a daring robbery on a top security underground vault used to store valuable diamonds. Fait & his team are after very specific black diamonds which he has been told by his contact are worth a fortune (& all the other millions of $'s worth of diamonds aren't?). However it seems that the black diamonds are in fact mini nuclear weapons that evil Taiwanese baddie Yao Ling (Mark Dacascos) wants to sell to the highest bidder & kidnaps Fait's young daughter Vanessa (Paige Hurd) to try & blackmail Fait into giving them back but the black diamonds have been stolen so he doesn't have them. Fait has no option but to team up with Taiwanese secret service officer Su (Jet Li) in order to get Vanessa back & get the black diamonds & save the world...Directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak this is the third & final film in his loosely connected action trilogy coming after Romeo Must Die (2000) also staring Jet Li & the Steven Seagal flick Exit Wounds (2001) which also starred the man named after a make of bike DMX, oh I'm sorry that's BMX isn't it? Right where do I start? First of all I have to admit to rather enjoying Cradle 2 the Grave for what is, basically a loud flashy Hollywood action flick that ignores realism & plot & goes for the wow factor. There are a couple of things that really stand out about Cradle 2 the Grave for me, first the story is so poor & weak it's untrue. There's no real plot to speak of, just a loosely connected precession of overblown ever more outrageous action set-pieces. The second thing are those action set-pieces which are often marvellously entertaining, from quad bike chases through Los Angeles to spectacular fight scenes to exploding helicopters to daring heists to shoot-outs to all sorts of vehicular mayhem & carnage the one thing that Cradle 2 the Grave delivers is on the action front. How can I hate a film that has so many cool action scenes & moves along like a rocket? I can't. Sure the story is secondary, the character's are bland apart from Tom Arnold's funny performance as Archie & there are some seriously questionable moments storytelling wise (someone killing an inmate in prison & then just walking out, how did DMX get out of the car park after his escape by quad bike through Los Angeles since it was surrounded by police & DMX knows where the black diamonds are because he can 'feel' it) but it's entertaining & passes 100 odd minutes. Keep watching as the end credits play since there's a comedy sketch between Tom Arnold & Anthony Anderson just like they did at the end of Exit Wounds & actually end up making a cheeky little reference to that film & director Bartkowiak.Like most of Jet Li's US output there's plenty of martial arts fights & I would have thought there would have been plenty of wire removal during post production. The fights are well choreographed & often look very flashy. There's car chases, plenty of crashes, bangs, shoot-outs, explosions & action scenes. The film has a fairly light hearted tone with some comic relief & it's nowhere near as gritty or violent as say a Die Hard (1988) for instance. The film looks very flashy with nice camera moves & angles, the hip-hop rap style music irritated me though.According to the IMDb this had a budget of about $25,000,000 which doesn't sound a lot by Hollywood blockbuster standards at all, in fact there's a lot of action on screen here for a relatively low budget if that is the case. Apparently main villain Mark Dacascos was cast in Cradle 2 the Grave after a poll on Jet Li's website asked fans to vote who they would like to see Li fight & Dacascos won which is somewhat surprising. I would have voted for Pee-Wee Herman! Li isn't a great actor & when he isn't fighting he just sort of stands around here & barely says a word. A special mention for Tom Arnold here who puts in a very funny performance.Cradle 2 the Grave is a very entertaining Hollywood action flick & if that's what your looking for then I suppose it delivers in spades but if your looking for any sort of tight exciting story or character's to care about then forget it. Overall I liked it.

freakfire-1 Yes, you heard it right. A movie with Jet Li, DMX, and Tom Arnold. And yes, of the three, Tom Arnold was the worst. He tried to be funny, but sometimes he just didn't fit in - just like Christ Rock in Lethal Weapon 4.The premise is simple. A new 'stone" stored in a bank vault is a new sort of way to carry nuclear material. One group accidentally runs across it while in a heist, another tries to kill for it, and Jet Li tries to stop them both.Problem when thinking about this movie was that: nuclear material, no matter how sophisticated it is made, will still give off nuclear radiation. Yet, it is treated almost like any other valuable rock with almost no safety precautions.Then there is the dumb ending, with Jet Li taking the rocks and a non-conclusion on all the robberies by DMX and his crew. Fortunately, Jet Li is a good actor and an even better action star, so he good to keep the action nice. But everything else was average at best. "C+"

lastliberal DMX (Exit Wounds, Romeo Must Die), Anthony Anderson (Exit Wounds, Romeo Must Die), and Tom Arnold (Exit Wounds) join forces together again in a funny vehicle for Jet Li to demonstrate his acting and martial arts ability. These three were last together with Steven Segal in Exit Wounds. They had the gorgeous Eva Mendes with them at that time, but here she was replaced by the equally gorgeous Gabrielle Union.Jet Li was as impressive as ever, especially in the final battle with Mark Dacascos. Gabrielle Union held her own in a fight with Kelly Hu (X-2). Arnold and Anderson provide the humor, as they did before. Li seems to get better and better as an actor to complement his martial arts ability. All-in-all, a great movie.

Juan_from_Bogota Good action, martial arts, weapons and enjoyment; but a story hard to believe. (1) A thief that exposes everyday to death and prison, and in the night he is a good father. (2) The alliance of a thief and a Police inspector with sudden mutual confidence. But well, thinks remarkable of this film are Faith Thief's team (Anthony Anderson and Gabrielle Union), that are so coordinated in the movie, Tom Arnold, always funny; and great, really great fights by Jet Li and Mark Dacascos. A movie with a lesson, you can be a really bad guy outside, but a beloved father also in your home (like The Goodfather?), well, the conclusion is as always, left to you!ABOUT THE MOVIE: This is a story really hard to believe, about Faith (DMX), an expert high-tech thief, who with his team of thieves: Tommy (Anthony Anderson), Odion (Michael Jace) and Daria (Gabrielle Union) stole some black diamonds that were more valuable than he even tough; his daughter (Paige Hurd) is kidnapped by the owners of this diamonds that result to be a dark Asian mafia leaded by Ling (Mark Dacascos) with some deadly members as Sona (Kelly Hu); Faith then allies with Su, a Taiwan Inspector, expert with martial arts (Jet Li) who had the purpose of capturing this mafia also and recover the special stones. The two start a quest for the stones, the mafia boss and his daughter. They meet Archie (Tom Arnold) who with some contacts and knowledge of streets, help them in their mission.5/10