Review of Cradle 2 the Grave (2003) by Deb S — 20 Sep 2009
One rapper said to another "You know what man? I like to watch kung fu movies sometimes". To all listening it was a seemingly innocuous comment but not to Hollywood producer Joel Silver. All he heard was the dropping of silver coins on a box office table.
"Cradle 2 The Grave" is the limping end of this brief action phenomenon and it plays out more like a bumbling farce than the badass action film it thinks it is. It has some incredibly bizarre moments and a lot of awkwardness.
Gabrielle Union's strip scene just looks really uncomfortable and all of Tom Arnold's 'wigga' jokes fall flat. Even Jet Li looks like he can't believe he's sunk this low. Mark Dacascos and Kelly Hu don't know what they're doing and Anthony Anderson is on auto-pilot spouting out awful improvisations (the post-credits sequence with him and Tom Arnold beggars belief) that add nothing to the film.
It's just bad, bad filmmaking but of the joy of that is, it's really enjoyable. The cage fight, the quad chase, the Jet Li and Mark Dacascos fight, they're all pretty good and somehow manage to raise a smile.
It's ridiculous but it is fun. Born 2 the life. True 2 the code. Bad 2 the bone.
This review of Cradle 2 the Grave (2003) was written by Deb S on 20 Sep 2009.
Cradle 2 the Grave has generally received mixed reviews.
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