skippythegator Reviews

Cradle 2 the Grave (2003)

Forgettable film

[21 March 2003]

Poor directing was the death of this film, despite its potential. Imagine Jet Li and Mark Dacascos, two of the most prominent names in martial arts movies today, doing an action movie together: their talent should have made for a far more spectacular outing than the sorry mess this film was.

DMX, while possessed of some charisma, simply does nothing with it in this film. Wrong role, probably - his performance doesn't elicit the least bit of sympathy, which is critical for the father figure he's playing.

The pacing was rather abrupt as well, lacking finesse. I'd call it abuse of tempo.

Sorry, I don't think I will watch any future films by this ham-fisted director.

Daredevil (2003)

good enough to kill time with, but not much more

[6/10 · 24 February 2003]

The action was okay but the storyline was a bit shallow. Some emotional moments saved the film from being a relatively mindless slug-fest. Some good special effects were used rather well to put the viewer in Daredevil's shoes.

All in all, not a bad way to kill a couple of hours, but not what I'd call a good movie.

***SPOILER ALERT***

The playground fight was amazingly senseless. Come on, it's the kind of thing that happens only in adolescent boys' macho fantasies ;) and in this scene, Ben Affleck's fighting was below par. Jennifer Garner's was somewhat better, but not quite good enough to make us believe in her as Elektra the assassin. And to think Jeff Imada was the fight choreographer!

Ditto with the first fight scene in the bar. I realize DD would definitely try to put out the lights but it still made for a murky, barely visible fight.

***END SPOILER***