`Cradle 2 the Grave'.

Byline: Cary Darling

"Cradle 2 the Grave" seems less like it was written than it was scrawled on the back of a dirty napkin during a bar brawl. Fast-paced yet slow-witted and cobbled together like some kung-fu Frankenstein from remnants of every Hollywood and Hong Kong action movie of the past decade, "Cradle" boasts a couple of bravura fight and chase scenes but they're stranded amid the predictable and the pedestrian.

Rapper DMX stars as Fait, a thug with a heart of titanium who just loves his young daughter and doesn't let his crew of thieves carry guns. He's after a load of "black diamonds" that have been smuggled into L.A. Lots of other people want them …