Cradle 2 the Grave - My Impressions

[Despair]

Well, I liked it alot Sure its not going to win any awards, not was it flawless, but it was fun to watch, and thats pretty much, what I was looking forward to. To have a good time, and see 2 of my favorite movie fighters meet in a battle.

Jet Li was cool in C2TG. His stylish look, when we see him for the first time, with those sunglasses and smirk smile. The way he handled himself, and fought with only using one arm and his legs. When he started fighting with both hands, you knew he means business, and he was as deadly as in Kiss of the Dragon, though his bodycount is much lower than of that film.

Mark D was excellent as usual. I loved the scene when he makes his entrance, looking all suave and procedes to kiss Kell Hu And even though he didnt get alot of screen time with his character, and only had 2 or 3 action scenes, he looked formidable. Damn, he was soo fast when fighting Jet, and those kicks he did were really cool, and when Jet knocked him down, he landed and slid while holding stance. Very cool. I hope that he will finally get more respect and more big screen roles, as he REALLY desrves to be a prime action star. He has the acting skills, very good looks, and his martials skills are one of the best in the business. Its a crime he is soo neglected.

I never had problems with DMX in his other film, and nor I do here. He played his part and performed very well in the fights and other stunts. I think he has decent acting skills, and looks good in action. I dont think I would have gone to see this movie just because of him, but as partner to Jet he was fine.

Both Kelly Hu and Gabriel Union were hot, and Union even performed a little streeptease dance, and looked good while doing it. Too bad Hu didnt do the same Both did well as their characters, and enjoyed their end fight as well.

I dont like neither Tom Arnold nor Anthony Anderson as stand alone comedians, but their tag team comedy duo worked great here(and in Exit Wounds as well). Not all of their jokes worked, but some were pretty funny, like their closing credit routine. And it was too funny to see those 2 rinding a tank, and participating in a gun battle. Anderson was also very funny, when he had to flirt with gay security guard to distract him.

The director, Andrzej Bartkowiak did a good job, and I didnt feel that movie lost the speed, or become boring. It was much better outing than his Romeo Must Die, and as good as Exit Wounds(I love EW, but many people hate it with the passion )

Now lets talk about most important part of the film - Action Unlike HK films, fighting scenes in many US martial films fall victims of bad direction and editing, and many people were afraid that C2TG would also have bad or dissapointing fight direction. But its not the case here. Sure, The Hated method of fast cutting was still used, but fighting was shown much clear, than in teams previous effort Romeo Mus Die. Cory Yuen choregraphy was top-notch, and I liked how the fight scenes were more brutal and realistic, and didnt rely on wire works. I personally not a big fan of wire-fu, and prefer more real and deadlier fight choreography, like in Li's previous films Kiss of the Dragon, or The One. At the end, 3 major fights were taking place, and view was cutting between them. I had no problems seeing the moves the fighters made, nor the editing was too fast for me to follow. To see Jet Li and Mark Dacasscos fight, was my dream, and now it came true, and was good too C2TG had mostly martial arts action, and there were amost no gun play. There are few car chases/stunts, especially a very exciting and neatly shot ATV chase, that starts on the streets of LA, and later takes it to its rooftops. Jet Li's fight against a group of UFC fighters was also standout. Kudos to Jet for using a midget announcer as a weapon

There were plenty of flaws, but what movie doesnt have them? The plot of Nuclear weapons was hokey, and so was some of the dialog. I wish there were more bad guys for Jet to take on, since the final assault on the bad guys hideout, was little underwhelming, especially with only 2? guards on the perimeter. And I also wish fight scenes were longer, and Mark D had more screen time. Since I'm big gun play fan, I would've loved to see more gun action on screen as well.

Still, I'm glad that movie ended up being enjoyable, and while it would be worth seeing just for Jet vs Mark fight, its good to know, that there were plenty of other elements that made it fun to see.

[Korian]

I liked it alot as well. One of my favorite Jet Li Movies but I agree Mark and Jet should have gotten more screen time. DMX played his part well.












Major Spoiler*******************************************




At first I wasn't too thrilled with the way Li killed off Mark D. The effect of the capsule entering his mouth was cool but the whole effect after, I dunno I guess I was hoping for a slightly better death scene. Still loved the fight in the ring of fire tho.



End Spoiler****************************************

[Despair]

Well, I think they went for a gruesome death for the villian, along the lines what Jet did to Tchecky Karyo in Kiss of the Dragon. I thought it was a nice effect, but some people might think it looked too goofy.

Still, they had a great fight before that scene and thats what really matters

[Will]

Sounds good Despair I might check it out next weekend.

[Glock17]

Now I am very interested in seeing this movie, thanks Despair!

[TaiMaiShu]

I'll try to see it sometime this week.

[Despair]

No problem guys Hope that you'll like it. Its not the greatest movie, but we had fun watching it. Action and fight scenes are nicely done(still some people might be too damn picky ), and there are some comedy thrown in as well. Plus fine ladies are easy on the eyes

[Dolemite]

I'm seeing ths movie this week for sure. Thanks for the impressions, Despair.

Originally posted by Despair
he REALLY desrves to be a prime action star. He has the acting skills, very good looks, and his martials skills are one of the best in the business. Its a crime he is soo neglected.

While I don't personally find Mark D as attractive as you do , I do agree that he should be a much bigger star than he is. He's awesome. And I also agree that Kelly Hu is a very hot woman. I didn't know she was in this movie...

[Dolemite]

Okay, I finally saw this movie last night, and I thought it was decent. Jet Li, Mark D and Kelly Hu were all great (damn, Kelly is hot- I really have to rent the Scorpion King). DMX is the worst actor ever (his action scenes were fine, though). Overall, the film was entertaining, though it needed more fight scenes, less DMX, and more Jet Li and especially more Mark D, as he was barely in it. And it really needed a Kelly Hu nude scene. The action scenes that were there were pretty exciting, however.

Originally posted by Despair
and see 2 of my favorite movie fighters meet in a battle.

Eh, the fight was a little dissapointing. Mark's kicks were insane, but I thought the fight should have been longer, and more balanced. Mark didn't hold the advantage for any real amount of time.

Jet Li was cool in C2TG. His stylish look, when we see him for the first time, with those sunglasses and smirk smile. The way he handled himself, and fought with only using one arm and his legs. When he started fighting with both hands, you knew he means business

I agree totally. I loved the whole one-handed thing, and when he took out the other hand in the cage, I got psyched. Jet was very cool in this movie.

Mark D was excellent as usual. I loved the scene when he makes his entrance, looking all suave and procedes to kiss Kell Hu And even though he didnt get alot of screen time with his character, and only had 2 or 3 action scenes, he looked formidable.

Lucky bastard got to kiss Kelly. I, however, have some problems with Mark D, none of them his fault:

1. For the main villian, he was barely in the movie.
2. He killed a man with a lobster. That was pretty goofy.
3. He was in a helicoptor that was hit by a cannon shell, crashed and exploded. Seconds later he poped out of the door of the flaming helicoptor wreckage without a scratch or burn on him and proceeded to kick ass. The guy wasn't even dirty!

Still, it was great to see him in the film, and hopefully he'll show up in movies more often now.

Both Kelly Hu and Gabriel Union were hot, and Union even performed a little streeptease dance, and looked good while doing it. Too bad Hu didnt do the same Both did well as their characters, and enjoyed their end fight as well.

Yup. I was just pissed that Gabriel didn't show any boobage during the striptease. Did I mention that Kelly Hu was hot? I can't wait to see her in X-Men 2.

Overall, decent, but it could have been better.

[Despair]

Lucky bastard got to kiss Kelly. I, however, have some problems with Mark D, none of them his fault:

1. For the main villian, he was barely in the movie.
2. He killed a man with a lobster. That was pretty goofy.
3. He was in a helicoptor that was hit by a cannon shell, crashed and exploded. Seconds later he poped out of the door of the flaming helicoptor wreckage without a scratch or burn on him and proceeded to kick ass. The guy wasn't even dirty!

Still, it was great to see him in the film, and hopefully he'll show up in movies more often now.

He escaped the wreakage untouched, cause he is DA MAN

But I agree that he needs more mainstream films, and bigger exposure. Hopefully now Hollywood will pay more attention to him. Plus he is current about to start his next film, French action adventure The Adventurer directed by Cristoph Ganz of Brotherhood of the Wolf and Crying Freeman fame. I cant wait for that one

Overall, decent, but it could have been better.

Well, Yep.