The One
Review by By Clint Morris
 Cleverly
conceived but mostly an exercise in recycling, supernatural/sci-fi/action/martial
arts piece "The One", is an all-fighting, all-adrenaline,
fast paced, all-gung ho Jet Li vehicle. A 13-year-old boy's
wet dream if you will.
Hoping you'll forget Van Damme's time-travelling vacation
as the Timecop (1994), Arnold Schwarzenegger's two-timing
stint of The 6th Day (2001) and countless episodes of Sliders,
Director James Wong (Final Destination) uses the 'jumping
through time to catch an alternate version of yourself' gambit
for a backdrop to Jet Li's martial arts skills. Part of it
works. Part doesn't.
10 Years ago, back before the idea was old-hat it might have
worked even better - but then again it would have to be more
of a movie than a video game, which this one plainly is.
Apparently, we live in a multiverse of universes, where carbon
copies of ourselves get around. Super-villain Yulaw (Jet Li)
is travelling through these universes - all 125 of them- wiping
out facsimiles of himself until he's the only one standing.
By the time the movie begins, he's actually clocked up 123
kills - but he hasn't faced wholesome-but-tough Sherrif Gabe
(Jet Li - again) yet. And it's going to take 90 minutes or
so before either Yulaw or Gabe are the titular man.
At the outset, there's too much Jet Li here. As enjoyable
as he is to watch in films - especially ones requiring a lot
of butts to be kicked - sometimes he's too much of a good
thing. Like Van Damme in both Timecop and Double Impact, the
more of the man you see on screen the more you realise he's
not that incredible after all. Or maybe we're just aching
to see another player. Those other players in this case are
Carla Gugino as Gabe's loyal wife T.K, Delroy Lindo and Jason
Statham as time-jumping good guy agents; and the odd supporting
player from TV's "The X Files" (which Director Morgan
helms from time to time).
Besides the fact that two Jet Li's is one too many, the endless
array of special effects and slow motion annoys more than
it does entertain. These kind of effects were great first
time around - say, when The Matrix came out - but a
dozen or so movies later and they're becoming plain annoying.
The long drawn-out finale where our two Li's battle each other
for supremacy - to a backdrop of slower than snail-pace slow
motion and target-view flying bullets - is quite torturous.
It's vin and blatantly nonsensical - and almost ruins what
could have been an otherwise travelable movie.
To see it from a Jet Li fan's point of view though - for
the most part you will find something to enjoy here. Every
single move and manoeuvre of the martial arts master is on
display; and at times, he's enjoyably cheeky - especially
in the villain part (a la' Lethal Weapon 4).
In comparison to his previous two American movies, The
One falls somewhere between Romeo Must Die and
Kiss of the Dragon. But in the end, someone should
have told him when it comes to movies about time-travelling
clones...
... There can be only one.
2.5 out of 5
The One
Cast: Jet Li, Delroy Lindo, Jason Statham, Carla Gugino, Tucker
Smallwood, Dylan Bruno, Dean Norris, Darin Morgan, Doug Savant.
Director: James Wong.
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