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Overall Rating
 Awesome: 11.94%
Worth A Look: 26.87%
Average: 29.85%
Pretty Bad: 23.88%
Total Crap: 7.46%
5 reviews, 37 user ratings
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| One, The |
by Brian McKay
"A sci-fi kung-fu mish-mash of dreck"
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"The One", Jet Li's latest kung-fu cookie cutter vehicle, does not possess one original idea, or even one truly memorable fight scene. The entire premise ("plot" may be too strong a word) is an amalgamation of ideas stolen from "Highlander", "The Matrix", "Time Cop", and "The Terminator". Of course, one doesn't go to a kung-fu movie for story, but for the ass-kicking. In that department, however, "The One" falls equally short.In "The One", master criminal Yulan Law (Jet Li), is traveling between parallell universes (124 of them, to be exact. How they came up with that number in a universe of infinite possibilities is beyond me). He traverses these universes by using some kind of wormhole technology that literally tears you apart before putting you back together (Imagine a "Star Trek" transporter designed by the Marquis de Sade). As he arrives in each new universe, he tracks down his doppelganger living there and kills them, so that he can absorb the life energy that was previously distributed evenly among them. With each double he kills, he grows stronger, gaining superhuman strength and speed as well as the apparent ability to slow time. He is pursued by a pair of "wormhole police" (or whatever they're called), one of them played by Delroy Lindo. Why an actor of his caliber is slumming in this piece of shit, I couldn't say. Guess he and Jet stayed tight after making "Romeo Must Die" together.
Only one double is left to kill - an L.A. county sherriff who has noticed that he is also getting stronger, although he has no idea why until Law shows up. The normally stunning Carla Gugino plays his wife, and after seeing her in "Spy Kids", I must say she looks pretty drab in this one. Jet Li still can't act, although at least his English appears to be getting better. There are a few cool scenes, like Yun Law playing whack-a-cop with a pair of police motorcycles, but most of the fights are dull, familiar territory. The final battle, where the two Jets finally duke it out in a factory (why do these movies always end in a factory?) is silly and drawn-out, with both Jet Lis doing a lot more posing and posturing than actual fighting. The use of stand-ins is obvious and the resolution is ludicrous.Jet Li came on strong to American audiences with "Romeo Must Die". Unfortunately, he has yet to make a follow up that is nearly as competent. Even his old Hong-Kong stuff is more entertaining than this, bad voice-dubbing and all.
link directly to this review at http://www.efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=4739&reviewer=258
originally posted: 11/27/01 05:40:42
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USA
02-Nov-2001 (PG-13)
UK
N/A
Australia
10-Jan-2002 (M)
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