The One

After watching most of the recent action movies, I left the theatre with a headache brought on by incredibly tight/shaky shots and edits so fast that any hope of seeing anything is lost. This movie takes a step back from that. It isn't entirely devoid of those annoyances, but is much better than most. In fact, at times, you can even see a whole string of punches and blocks without a cut or a shake! Of course there is the inevitable wire work, that combined with the necessary special effects to allow Jet Li to fight himself. But for once there is an excuse other than "because we can".

The story is pretty simple. A murdering criminal is killing all the copies of himself in all the other "universes". Each time one dies the life force/resonant string thing, gets divided amoungst the survivors. Of course this leaves a ton of questions that aren't addressed at all in the movie, but I can live with that since those are more topics for debate after having fun at the movie. That is one of the strengths of the movie, the progressively more intense action. As the movie progress, rather than trying to deal with any question the viewer might have, the pace and intensity of the movie goes up. The final action sequence is probably ten minutes long all told, which, to me, is a sign of a true action movie, as opposed to movies with action.

Overall I give it a 8/10 for fans of the genre. If you aren't particularly interested in sci-fi/martial arts, especially if you have a problem with wire work and blue-screens, then you might want to skip it.

The One is a martial-arts flick with strong sci-fi concepts. But the bottom line remains high-kicking action, and Jet Li delivers.

Li also shows his acting ability in this film. He displays that he can do more than one personality.

As Yulaw, he's a cold-blooded killer who lashes out with sudden fury and insolent superiority. As Gabe, he's a dutiful lawman and devoted husband. (Sin City's Carla Gugino plays his wife.) In the middle are Multiverse cops played by Delroy Lindo (Domino, Romeo Must Die) and Jason Statham (Crank), who lead a super supporting cast.

Director James Wong and his co-writer, Glen Morgan, are X-Files veterans who know their sci-fi. Choreographed by Cory Yuen (also of Li's Kiss of the Dragon), the best fight has Li battling himself, with each character using different techniques.

The One is one film whose far-out concept works.

This is a movie definitely worth renting, but not worth buying unless its the Special Edition DVD or its VHS for under 10 bucks. Th fights were sweet,although looked slightly cheesy. it looked like they tried to achieve the matrix type effects but didn't have a good enough budget. The Acting was OK. They stuck some good actors in with some bad ones so that kinda screws up the whole feel for the movie. The storyline is quite simple and somewhat intriguing. There are many universes, you look quite similar in everyone and your all connected by a wave of energy. every time one of you dies, the energy of that you that died goes to the remaining yous. One man has killed all of himself but one. Th movie basically starts here. Yulaw is about to get banished forever but stops his universe travel and goes to the last universe left, ours. Lately Gabe law has been getting stronger but he doesn't know why.

Whenever they go from one universe to the next, they break up into little puzzle pieces and they didn't do a very good job for the visuals on those.

My rating a 3/5 Stars

A disappointing mix of The Matrix (1999), Highlander (1986) and Men in Black (1997). The script and the plot twists are far-fetched and cheap, not to mention the pathetic dialogues. Although the budget is about $ 50 million according to IMDb, nevertheless the producers have failed to hire a real script-writer. What a pity!

This is a cracker of a film. It has a cool story with plenty of fight scenes to easily entertain the most jaded viewer for an hour and a half.

The movie has a real smooth feel to it. The visuals, effects and cinematography, look like they have had plenty of money spent on them. So its pleasing on the eye.

The fights (the core of any Jet Li movie) are sanitised compared to some of his other material, opening it up to younger audiences. Yet they are teaming with cool moves and excitement.

The most relevant aspect of this movie is none of the above. Its the feel of the film. The film is fun and will put a smile on your face :)