Film Review | The One

Kiran in The One (2001)

Plot: A rogue Multiverse agent goes on a manhunt for versions of himself, getting stronger with each kill. With only one version remaining, he races against the clock to finish him and become “The One.”

Director: James Wong

Starring: Jet Li, Jason StathamDelroy Lindo

Genre: Action/Sci-Fi/Thriller

Released: April 2002

I know not to expect much from most Jet Li films, there are about two bad films for every good one and assumed that this would be one of the painful to watch ones, but for me, at least this movie where you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover and I left feeling pleasantly surprised.

In the near future, it’s discovered that 125 alternate universes and we have the technology to travel between them. This also means that there are 125 alternate versions of yourself living different lives. When one dies the energy of that person is divided among the remaining copies, this is when a Yulaw (Li) sets about becoming last one by killing all his alternates and thus become the most powerful human in the multiverse. with only inter-dimensional police (Stratham and Lindo) and the last Li left to prevent this Yulaw from becoming “the one”.

First and foremost this remains a real martial arts movie and a science fiction second, which is good as the fight scenes are by far the films strong point, while the CGI was merely passable, this isn’t The Matrix by any means, but it’s a hundred times better than Ultraviolet.

The acting and dialogue are surprisingly good for an action movie, especially Li, who is playing two characters neither in his first language, while the lack of noticeable clichés was a breath of fresh air for me and the film managed to avoid producing too many loopholes and confusing moments, helped by a somewhat simple plot. Once to strip back all of the dimensions hopping antics and the technology, the film is basically one guy trying to kill another, while a group attempts to stop him.

The One (2001)

Mostly made up of early ’00s nu-metal songs, one final note to mention is just how good the soundtrack of the film is.

4 Panda

If you liked: Time Cop, Edge of Tomorrow, Alita: Battle Angel

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