The One (2001)

User Rating:

5.5/10   

Director:

James Wong

Writers (WGA):

Glen Morgan (written by) &
James Wong (written by)

Release Date:

2 November 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

What if there was a killer traveling through parallel worlds...and he looked just like you? [taken from the trailer]

Plot:

A sheriff's deputy fights an alternate universe version of himself who grows stronger with each alternate self he kills.

Plot Keywords:

Police | Escape | Prison | Arrest | Police Officer

Awards:

4 nominations

Cast

Jet Li	...	Gabe Law / Gabriel Yulaw / Lawless
Carla Gugino	...	T.K. Law / Massie Walsh
Delroy Lindo	...	MVA Agent Harry Roedecker / Gas Station Attendant
Jason Statham	...	MVA Agent Evan Funsch
James Morrison	...	LAPD Officer Bobby Aldrich / 'A' World Inmate #1
Dylan Bruno	...	Yates
Richard Steinmetz	...	D'Antoni
Steve Rankin	...	MVA Supervisor
Tucker Smallwood	...	Prison Warden
Harriet Sansom Harris	...	Nurse Besson
David Keats	...	MRI Technician
Dean Norris	...	Sgt. Siegel
Ron Zimmerman	...	Rotten Ronnie
Darin Morgan	...	Hugo
Mark Borchardt	...	Cesar

Also Known As:

Jet Li's The One (UK)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for intense action violence and some language.

Runtime:

87 min | Germany:85 min (cut version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Germany:16 (cut version) | USA:PG-13 (certificate #38092) | Iceland:14 | Iceland:16 (video rating) | Malaysia:18SG | South Korea:12 | Philippines:PG-13 | UK:15 | Canada:14A | Finland:K-15 | France:U | Germany:18 | Hungary:14 | Netherlands:12 | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | Singapore:PG | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Edison Generating Station, Redondo Beach, California, USA

Company:

Revolution Studios

Trivia:

As T.K. prepares to leave to see Gabe in the hospital, the TV in the background is playing a scene from Final Destination (2000) which was written and directed by 'Wong, James', the director and co-writer of The One. Also, when Funsch is entering in new coordinates for Gabe, the computer flashes up "Destination Final"...

Goofs:

Continuity: When Yulaw kills T.K. he shoots her on the right side, when she is seen lying on the ground she has a wound on the left side.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Narrator: There is not one universe. There are many: A multiverse. We have the technology to travel between universes, but travel is highly restricted and policed. There is not one you. There are many. Each of us exists in present time, in parallel universes. There was balance in the system, but now a force exists who seeks to destroy the balance so he can become The One.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Forbidden Kingdom (2008)

Soundtrack:

Last Resort

A fun movie

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.