Cradle 2 the Grave is a 2003 American action film directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak featuring martial artist Jet Li and the rapper DMX.
Plot
The film opens with an attempted diamond robbery. A group of criminals, Anthony Fait, Daria, Tommy and Miles make their way to the vault where the diamonds are kept to steal them for a frenchman named Christophe who in turn is working for a mysterious employer. However, when Fait contacts Christophe, the conversation is intercepted by a Taiwanese Intelligence Agent named Su who locates and visits Christophe in order to discover the identities of the criminals.
While trying to find as many diamonds as they can, including a bag of black diamonds, Fait receives a phone call from Su, urging him to leave the diamonds in the vault and warning him that the police are on the way. Fait, however, ignores this warning and the criminals attempt a daring escape past a blockade of SWAT members. While Fait, Daria and Tommy all manage to escape, Miles is intercepted by Su. After a rather uneven fight, Su takes Miles's share of the diamonds but soon discovers that Miles was not in possession of the black diamonds. Fait, meanwhile, visits his friend Archie in order to have the black diamonds appraised. At the San Francisco International Airport, Christophe's mysterious employer Yao Ling, arrives and is informed by his assistant Sona that Christophe has been attacked and that Fait and his gang have taken the black diamonds.
Later that night Fait accidentally meets Su. While with Su, Fait receives a phone call from Yao Ling, who demands the black diamonds to be handed over. Fait, however, bluntly refuses and is subsequently followed and attacked by two of Ling's henchman whom he manages to defeat with the help of Su. Soon after the fight Archie calls to inform Fait that some gangsters visited his workshop to demand the black diamonds as well. After some hesitation, Archie admits he gave the stones to the gangsters in order to save his life. Fait also receives another call from Ling, who has kidnapped Fait's daughter, Vanessa, in order to persuade Fait to give up the diamonds. Fait and Su decide to team up to get both the diamonds from the gangsters and Vanessa from Ling.
Fait visits jailed crime lord "Jump" Chambers, who is most likely the employer of the gangsters who robbed Archie. When Chambers refuses to co-operate Fait decides to visit Chambers' night club in the hopes of finding the stones somewhere in his office. However, the plan goes awry and Fait and the gang have to leave without having found anything. Meanwhile, Su and Archie go to an underground club to see if they can recognise the gangsters who attacked Archie. Because the club does not allow guests, Su is forced to enter as a fighter in the club's fighting ring. During Su's fight, Archie finally finds the man they are looking for, recognising him by the ring he is wearing. Through this informant they find out that the stones are in the bubblebath in Chamber's office in his club. When they return to the nightclub to retrieve the diamonds, they find that the office has already been raided by Yao Ling's men, who have taken the stones. Meanwhile, Vanessa manages to find a cell phone in the van she is locked up in and calls her father. Just before the cell phone runs out of battery power, Vanessa gives some clues as to her location. With these clues the gang quickly realises that Vanessa is being held in a hangar on an airport.
Realising that Yao Ling will want to auction off the stones, which are revealed to be weapons of mass destruction, the group start searching flight schedules to find an airport where a large number of private flights will be landing that night. Eventually finding one airport, the group races to the airport where Yao Ling's auction is already starting. After a fight in which the various members of Ling's team are taken out by Fait and his crew, Vanessa is rescued and Ling killed by one of the stones. When the police starts arriving, Fait promises to end his criminal career in order to lead a safe and happy life with Vanessa.
Cast
UFC cameos
There is a scene involving an underground cage fighting competition. Several of the combatants are successful mixed martial artists from the Ultimate Fighting Championship, including Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddell, and Randy Couture. Vale Tudo Kickboxing champion Hector Echavarria also appears in the cage match.
Box office
The film debuted at number one at the North American box office, grossing $16,521,468 in its opening weekend. However, this accounted for a hefty 47.6% of its total $34,712,347 gross. The film's worldwide gross stands at $56,489,558.
See also
External links
