Cradle 2 The Grave

Martial arts tough guy Jet Li performs one semi-classic stunt near the start of this otherwise derivative action-heist-kidnap debacle, in which he descends the outside of a tall building by dropping and dangling by his fingertips from floor to floor. The rest of the film becomes a numbing bore as a potpourri of clichéd characters (including a stoic hero, a former partner gone bad, a crook devoted to his young daughter, a vicious crime lord, an alliance between cop and criminal and comic sidekicks) jockey for possession of some black stones. DMX leads a gang of thieves with a “no guns” rule (movie shorthand for “these are good bad guys”) as director Andrzej Bartkowiak (Romeo Must Die) drags us through puddles of mindless violence, with pit stops for a gratuitous striptease and bloody underground kickboxing matches. M.H.