By EWAN McDONALD
(Herald rating: * *)
... or Cradle 2 The Video, because that's where it went, real fast. Director Andrzej Bartkowiak trades heavily on his first, more successful chop-socky flick, Romeo Must Die, with a great deal of assistance from martial artist Jet Li and not a lot from his
co-stars or crew.
Fait (DMX, the rapper), a master thief, assembles a team including Daria (Gabrielle Union), safecracker Miles (Drag-On) and getaway driver Tommy (Anthony Anderson) to break into a bank vault in LA and steal a cache of black diamonds belonging to the Taiwanese government.
They're rumbled by Su (Li), a Taiwanese intelligence officer, who tips off the local cops and tries to recover the stash.
It becomes a tug-of-war when a multi-national crook, Ling (Mark Dacascos), and his partner, Sona (Kelly Hu), turn up and plan to acquire the jewels without bothering to go to the stores on Rodeo Drive.
They kidnap Fait's daughter; Fait is happy to cut a deal, but an evil, jailed crime baron (Chi McBride) has lifted them. Ling steals them from him.
Fait and Su team up to get the stash, the girl and in the meantime save the world from a weapon of mass destruction that will be powered by the diamonds.
You gotta love the creativity of the scriptwriters in these flicks. Either that or find out what they're on.
Li's stunts are great. Absolutely nothing, nothing else, about this movie is.
DVD features: movie (101min); 5 short features, Ultimate Fighting Champions, Choreography of the Camera, The Descender Rig, Time Lapse Montage, Rear Projection; DMX music video; trailers; cast and crew filmography.
