Subject: Review: One, The (2001)

From: Annette Cardwell <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 03 Nov 2001 04:18:47 -0000

THE ONE
A film review by Annette Cardwell
Copyright 2001 filmcritic.com

Jet Li has joined the dubious ranks of those martial arts stars playing
opposite themselves in a film -- including Jackie Chan and Jean Claude
Van Damme.  But instead of playing a long-lost twin brother to himself
as in the other films, Li's actually himself squared -- another version
of Jet from a different parallel "universe."  That's right: Only Jet Li
can kick Jet Li's ass.

James Wong and Glen Morgan, the guys who brought us the cheesy but
mildly entertaining Final Destination (as well as the wonderfully
gruesome X-Files episode "Home"), flex their sci-fi/kung fu action
muscles with The One.  With Jet Li on board, the action side is in great
shape.  Unfortunately, they come up pretty emaciated on the sci-fi
front.

The biggest problem is that The One's script is just awful -- from
premise to storyline to dialogue.  The premise -- which is spoon-fed to
the audience via narration before the opening credits -- explains that
many versions of us live in alternate universes that make up the
"multiverse."  When one of our versions dies, the energy between all our
selves is divvied up.

To take advantage of this, Yulaw (Jet Li) has come up with the evil plot
to travel through dimensional wormholes to other universes to kill off
all his other selves.  As each one dies -- as he puts it in the most
broken of English -- he can "feel myself growing faster, stronger,
smarter."  Hot on his trail are two literal time cops (Delroy Lindo and
Jason Statham of Snatch). T hey must stop him from killing the last
version of himself (an L.A. cop named Gabe) which would make Yulaw "the
one."

Believe it or not, the story plays out even worse than it sounds -- full
of holes and questionable logic.  Never mind the fact that the
ridiculous number of movie clichés included here -- even the suspenseful
searching of a garage where a teetering lamp turns out to only be a
cat.  But if you really want clichés, look to the dialogue where you'll
see every line coming a mile away.  In the final fight scene between the
two Jets, the bad Jet delivers quite an old groaner: "There can only be
one."

The acting is also pretty dismal, especially poor Statham, who was so
much fun as the hapless boxing promoter Turkish in Snatch, mired here in
a laughable role and an absurd New York accent.  Jet Li's career may be
the only one to get a boost, mainly since most of his role revolves
around a handful of awesome fight sequences.

Nearly as impressive as Li's moves are the special effects that give
already incredible fights extra voltage.  The filmmakers take the Matrix
slow-mo bullet thing a few steps further, almost to the point of abuse. 
But, man, is it cool to watch.  And, scenes exhibiting Li's superhuman
strength -- especially one where he picks up a police motorcycle with
one hand and slams it down on a cop like a trash can lid -- are equally
visually fun.

However, much beyond that FX eye candy and an occasional clever joke
related to inter-dimensional travel (like a jab at one universe which
has a President Gore), there's not much substance to The One.  But I've
got to give the filmmakers props as well as an extra half star just on
the basis that they cast American Movie's Mark Borchardt in a minor
role.  Glad to see that guy's getting some work.

RATING:  **1/2

|------------------------------|
 \ ***** Perfection             \
  \ **** Good, memorable film    \
   \ *** Average, hits and misses \
    \ ** Sub-par on many levels    \
     \ * Unquestionably awful       \
      |------------------------------|

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Director: James Wong
Producer: Glen Morgan, James Wong, Steve Chasman
Writer: Glen Morgan, James Wong
Starring: Jet Li, Carla Gugino, Jason Statham, Delroy Lindo.

http://www.sony.com/theone

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X-Language: en
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X-RT-TitleID: 1110343
X-RT-SourceID: 178
X-RT-AuthorID: 3595
X-RT-RatingText: 2.5/5