DVD Reviews:  Cradle 2 The Grave

Starring DMX and Jet Li, Cradle to the Grave is an absolute delight to watch. Revolving around the story of a diamond robbery gone wrong, DMX and his friends are a group of professional thieves and this heist looks to be the big one. Naturally enough, things go awry (or else we wouldn’t have a movie really, or even this review) and when Fait (DMX) has his daughter kidnapped, he goes on the warpath with his friends to recover his daughter. 

Things are complicated throughout this film as every party involved in it thinks that Fait and co. has the diamonds when this is not the case. Things get even worse when it’s discovered that the stones are not in fact the black diamonds, but a new form of plutonium that is weapons grade. When it has a certain amount of special charge applied to it, the stone actually increases in destructive capacity making it one of the deadliest things known to man.  

Jet Li stars as a Taiwanese cop who has been sent to recover the stones that have been stolen from his country by a rogue cop who was part of Jet Li’s team. In the search for the stones, the two guys join forces with some great results and awesome fight scenes. I had forgotten how well Jet Li acts in fight scenes and this show was set to reinform me of how good he was. DMX also has what it takes when it comes time to kick some cinematographic butt. 

One of the things amongst all the others was the fact that this film was also a very funny one. Whilst I am sure that it wasn’t really billed as a comedy action flick, there are more than just a couple of laughs to be had, and yes they are deliberate as opposed to having some really bad areas that generated a chuckle. In particular, if you want to laugh out loud, make sure that you watch the entire running of the credits at the end of the movie, as it is guaranteed to make you smile. 

The nice thing about the title is that although it is pretty much a no brainer movie, it’s also a very entertaining piece of work that will have you watching from start to finish, engrossed in the story and action. To watch Jet Li fight is like watching poetry in motion and absolutely amazing to boot. The scenes in this movie are well choreographed and look brilliant on the screen. 

As far as picture and sound quality is concerned, this DVD is fully up to snuff and looks great and sounds better. Being an action film, scores and sound do play a big role and greatly accentuate the viewing experience. The picture is crystal clear and is wonderful to watch. Whilst there is not a great deal done in the way of new cinematography, there are plenty of dynamic angles used to best do justice to the type of film. 

The movie is worth the purchase and will be one that is watched time and again. I strongly doubt that it will win any awards but really with this sort of film that is besides the point. It’s just a good solid piece of somewhat predictable entertainment.