"The One" is about as dumb as sci-fi / action movies come, although it's built on an amusing premise. The world we live in is just one in a multitude of universes, and a bad guy named Gabriel Yulaw (Mr. Li) has been rampaging through over a hundred of these alternate universes, murdering every single alternate version of himself. What he wants is the power that comes from being the only copy of himself in existence. Standing in his way is nice-guy L.A. cop Gabe Law (Mr. Li again), as well as a pair of Multiverse agents (Delroy Lindo and Jason Statham) who aren't very good at what they do.
'X-Files' veterans and "Final Destination" series creators Glen Morgan & James Wong (the latter also directs) concocted this frenetic bit of over the top nonsense. It's one of those movies that tries to make up for its silly writing by devising one major action set piece after another, and by rarely slowing down its forward momentum. It's entertaining to a point, but after a while it becomes hard to care about anybody or anything here. The visual effects are plentiful, but they're mostly quite ropey. A case in point: the bad Jet Li picking up two motorcycles (!) and crushing a cop between them.
Li does remain watchable throughout. If you're a fan (or simply a die hard action movie junkie), you may be satisfied. But other people will be left wanting, since the central idea is not explored in any real depth. (Even counting the end credits, this only runs about 88 minutes long.) The supporting cast is decent (Lindo, Statham, Carla Gugino, James Morrison, Dean Norris, Tucker Smallwood, Steve Rankin, etc.), but they've been better utilized in other things.
Overall, you get to see the goods when it comes to Li's fighting skills, so the movie works in that regard, at least.
Good soundtrack, though.
Five out of 10.
