If popcorn-picture auteur John Carpenter made martial arts flicks, they'd be just like "The One" -- an unabashedly cheesy, B-grade sci-fi amusement park ride.
The One (2001)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:83
Fresh:11
Rotten:72
Average Rating:3.9/10
Consensus: The One plays out more like a video game than a movie and borrows freely from other, better sci-fi actioners like the The Matrix. Also, Jet Li's martial arts abilities are buried under the editing and special effects.
Runtime: 87 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
Synopsis: THE ONE is based on the futuristic premise that there is more than one universe: there are many parallel universes, each of which contain a slightly different version of every person who has ever... THE ONE is based on the futuristic premise that there is more than one universe: there are many parallel universes, each of which contain a slightly different version of every person who has ever lived. Yulaw (Jet Li) is a rogue agent from the Multiverse Bureau of Intelligence who has learned that, by traveling from one parallel universe to another and killing the alternate versions of himself, he gains his counterparts's strength, speed and intelligence. After killing one hundred and twenty-three parallel versions of himself, Yulaw has gained almost unstoppable power--and there is only one version of himself left, Gabriel Law (Jet Li), a Los Angeles cop. Yulaw travels to the universe that houses his nemesis, followed by a pair of agents intent on stopping him from killing Gabe and either gaining near-Godlike powers, or destroying the fabric of all existence. Gabe is confused to find himself being hunted and shot at by himself, but with the help of his wife, T.K. (Carla Gugino), and the Multiverse cops (Delroy Lindo and Jason Statham), Gabe engages Yulaw in a series of spectacular fights to become the One. Glen Morgan and James Wong, creators of FINAL DESTINATION and several memorable episodes of THE X-FILES, direct this mind-bending martial-arts extravaganza. [More]
Starring: Jet Li, Carla Gugino, Delroy Lindo, Jason Statham
Starring: Jet Li, Carla Gugino, Delroy Lindo, Jason Statham, James Morrison, Tucker Smallwood, Mark Borchardt
Director: James Wong
Director: James Wong
Screenwriter: James Wong, Glen Morgan
Producer: Steven Chasman, Glen Morgan
Composer: Trevor Rabin
Studio: Columbia Pictures
Reviews for The One
A joyless affair -- neck-snapping violence, endless blather trying to explain the 'science' behind what is happening and guns, guns and more guns.
The action is fun and ultraviolent, the story is satisfactorily ridiculous and the acting is nonexistent.
For a while, it seemed Jet Li could be the next Mel Gibson, but instead, he's becoming the next Jean-Claude Van Damme.
When one actor plays both hero and villain, the viewer knows that what is being shown is not an authentic dance.
Confusing plot holes, cut-out characters and cretinous dialogue undercut the visual feast.
Fans of Li's Hong Kong films may just be embarrassed; how can you mount a defense for an actor this bad in two roles?
We watch good Jet battle evil Jet ... and the difference between the characters boils down to... blank and slightly less blank.
The pace and inventiveness -- the epilogue is surprisingly touching -- and the eye-popping moves of Jet Li make it easy to hang on and enjoy the ride.
Now here's something you don't see everyday: a movie title that matches the number of stars most critics are going to give to it.
Eighty minutes of dreck for seven snappy minutes of Jet Li going mano-a-mano with himself? I want more.
I got a kick out of the old-fashioned stunt work sprinkled with “Matrix” like action and wire-work a la “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.”
An utterly negligible martial-arts flick--cheap-looking, clumsily written, and not even very well staged, fight-wise.
While the general public may not expect much from a Jet Li film, you might think a movie created by Glen Morgan and James Wong (X-Files and Final Destination) would be a little less lame.
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