Cradle 2 the Grave combines the power and beauty of Eastern martial arts, the grittiness of Western street fighting and some of the most intricate, spectacular stunt sequences ever filmed. “The fights in this film are fresh and unique,” promises Silver, who uses the phrase “hip-hop kung fu” to describe the film genre he and Bartkowiak have pioneered with Silver Pictures’ trilogy of hip urban action pictures, Romeo Must Die, Exit Wounds and now Cradle 2 the Grave. “One of the most exciting things about working with Jet is that he does all the fighting himself, which makes sequences completely authentic and the audience knows that. At the same time, DMX’s music is incredibly powerful and he brings that power and authenticity to the screen. When you see his fight scenes, you believe that he is a street fighter.”
Another key player in creating Cradle’s dynamic fight sequences is legendary martial arts director Corey Yuen (Lethal Weapon IV, Romeo Must Die). “Corey is a giant talent, and he and Jet are always looking for something new to make the fights exciting and original,” Silver says.
“We wanted the fighting in Cradle to be very brutal and real, rather than highly stylized, so we decided to limit our wire work,” Silver continues. “The fight choreography in this movie is less fanciful than it is grounded in the reality of physical combat, so the fighting doesn’t feel as theatrical as it does tough and hard.”
For weeks prior to production, Li and Yuen developed and choreographed the film’s numerous intense and intricate fight scenes. “Corey and I have the same philosophy about action movies,” says Li, who has worked extensively with Yuen in Hong Kong and the U.S. “The character and the story are more important then the punches.”
Li and Yuen’s choreography for the brutally fierce Cradle fight sequences are driven by character and an understanding of the actors’ diverse fighting styles. “We examined each of the characters and the different situations they confront and then designed a variety of moves and fighting styles to suit them,” Yuen explains. “The characters not only have their own personal fighting style, they also apply specific moves to specific situations. They have to use different types of martial arts for different purposes: to stop someone, to injure or to kill.”
At the outset of production, Yuen and Li established an original fighting style for Li’s character Su, the enigmatic Taiwanese Intelligence agent whose one-handed prowess proves he is without equal. “The first fight sequence we shot was when I mix it up with Drag-On in the subway,” recounts Li. “Corey choreographed this quick series of moves, but I had nothing to do with my left hand, so I put it in my pocket and only used my right hand to fight. Andrzej liked it, so we decided to make it Su’s signature style. He only fights with one hand except when he’s going for the kill, at the end of the film when I take on Ling in the ring of fire.”
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