The One

December 11, 2004

Rated: PG-13 Runtime: 96 min Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

The One

Jet Li is back in The One. In fact, if you can’t get enough Jet Li, this is definitely the movie for you as he plays both the hero and the villain in the film.

In this movie, we’re presented with the concept that there are many parallel universes that we exist in all at the same time leading different lives. And in this movie, a group has discovered how to jump between universes. Doing so is closely controlled and regulated by a multiverse police force. Yulaw, played by Li, has discovered that everytime he kills another instance of himself in a different universe, the power from that individual is spread amongst the remaining occurences of himself in other universes thus making him stronger, faster and smarter.

He manages to kill all but one of himself, Gabe (also played by Li of course), a police officer in a universe that looks pretty much like our own. And Yulaw is bent on finding out what happens when Gabe is dead leaving him as The One. He’s now extremely powerful, but so is Gabe although he doesn’t know what’s going on til Yulaw shows up to kill him followed closely by the multiverse police.

Ok, so plan on suspending your disbelief and check your astrophysics knowledge at the door. There are a zillion holes in all of this. And those of you really into the multi universe concepts might feel as though the premise is somewhat wasted because all of this really just serves as a fabric to tie together a bunch of fight sequences. But that’s what a martials arts movie is all about afterall. The story borrows elements from many different action and scifi movies, but at least it borrows from good movies.

So ultimately we judge this movie on the action and the fight sequences. Jet Li is normally excellent. This movie features a ton of wire work. Normally I do not like that as it bends reality and the laws of physics too much. However in this movie it is acceptable as the plot explains why he can do these superhuman moves. Li does seem to be just going through the motions at times here, but perhaps that is a function of being your own nemesis.

As you would expect, the movie builds to the ultimate fight with Jet Li trying to whoop his own ass, and that’s what we came to see. Although just about every martial arts movie clichÃ© you can think of is used along the way, the pay off is worth the price of admission. Don’t go in expecting a lot of clever dialog or character building, go for the fight sequences. We give it 4 stars for delivering exactly what it promised.

Posted by Billy Bob | Filed Under 4 Stars, Action, Carla Gugino, DVD, Delroy Lindo, Jason Statham, Jet Li, PG-13