Director:
Andrzej Bartkowiak Year:
2003 Rating: 6.0
The thing for Jet Li fans is that you have to come
into this not really thinking of it as a Jet Li film. Just think of it as
a crime-action film with good guys and bad guys and a Chinese guy and take
whatever you can out of it. In most ways this is basically a B action film
with a large budget. The listing of staff credits feels as long as War and
Peace. And though this got stomped on by most critics and Jet Li fans
when it came out, it isn't really that bad. Or at least no stupider than
most Hollywood action films of this type. So ya, it's dumb as hell and over
the top but it rarely slows down and zips along faster than a speeding bullet
from the opening scene till the end. Cradle 2 the Grave I guess. Jet had
appeared with DMX back in 2000 in Romeo Must Die with the same director,
Andrzej Bartkowiak.
Though Jet gets top billing, the film really belongs to the rapper DMX who
sadly passed away in 2021. And he is fine in this. The writers at least give
him a personality. I think they saved money though by not giving Jet one.
He is the silent type. The non-smiling type. The stoic Chinese man. But he
gets involved in a lot of action and it is choreographed by Corey Yuen. Maybe
not his best work with a lot of wire work but do we expect anything else.
It is always a pleasure watching Jet Li one on one against someone and he
does a lot of that. When he goes up against a platoon of cage fighters though
and kicks all their butts it is getting into idiocy of another kind. He never
changes expression as he beats people up. Or any other time.
A gang led by DMX is breaking into a bank vault through the subway. He has
the beautiful Gabrielle Union, Anthony Anderson and Drag-on with him. There
are a ton of diamonds in the vault boxes but their assignment is to steal
some black diamonds. They get them and also a call from Jet who tells them
to leave the black diamonds for him. Not a chance. He turns out to be a Taiwanese
intelligence agent and the black diamonds are actually some form of plutonium
in which each one can blow up a city. There are 50 of them. Why they are
in a vault who can say. Taiwan developed them but now wants them destroyed.
Bad mistake Taiwan. They would come in handy today. Dollars to donuts that
if this was shown in China, Jet was working for them.
Another gang - arms sellers - want the diamonds too and they have the dashing
Mark Dacascos leading them. I always prefer him as a villain to a good guy.
On his team he has the lovely Kelly Hu and Johnny Nguyen who has starred
in some good Vietnamese action films. At one point Kelly goes up against
Gabrielle and I have to admit I was rooting for Kelly - my Martial Law girl.
Everybody wants these black diamonds and are willing to kill for them. I
can't even recall if I saw this before - I don't think so but these American
Jet Li films are pretty forgettable. I give him credit though - more than
any other Hong Kong star or director he has been able to jump back and forth
between the two film industries - and China's as well. Get the big money
in Hollywood, make better movies back home. It makes me happy for his wife
Nina Li, who was one of my favorite Hong Kong actress in the 1980s and 90s.
Oh hell, I forgot. Tom Arnold is in this playing the same character he always
plays - a version of himself. Fast talking and smarmy. I am almost allergic
to him.
