The basic premise of The One is actually pretty elaborate and could have been spun out in numerous different ways.
Most of them probably would have resulted in better films than this.
In short there are apparently numerous parallel universes running simultaneously, in each of these exists another version of you. Each time one of these variants dies that person's essence, vitality, strength and abilities is immediately absorbed into the remaining 'yous'.
It turns out that a man named U-Law (Jet Li) has discovered this and has set about destroying all other versions of himself 'Highlander' style until there can be only (the titular) One.
There are a grand total of 125 U-Law variations.
He has killed 123 Only Gabe Law (also Jet Li) remains.
Now apparently this mustn't be the first time someone came up with this fiendish theory of Law domination, as inter-dimensional travel is strictly policed, and a team of agents has been tailing the ever-stronger U-Law for some time, lead by the duo of Jason Statham and Delroy Lindo.
Once it is evident that only one remaining Law stands in between U-Law and his domination they decide to short cut the procedure and head straight to his dimension – to cut U-Law off at the pass – so to speak.
Gabe Law is actually different in all ways from U-Law, he is in fact not that naughty at all, but a cop, happily married to his loving wife TK. He also is struggling to come to come up with reasons as to why he feels about 61.5 X stronger lately Gabe understandably takes the news that he is being hunted by himself from another reality with the proverbial pinch of salt, until U-Law shows up and starts blazing away.
Now with the two remaining Law variants having approximately 50% of the strength of 123 guys each, The One has every excuse for indulging in some over the top action sequences, and it has these in spades. Unfortunately it is also lumbered with some bad angst ridden neu-metal (disclosure: some of which I liked), wire work galore in the often terrible fight sequences, and some lamentably dated 90s CGI.
Delroy Lindo does his best to remain interested and Statham's performance is most notable for an awful US accent (which perhaps explains why in every subsequent film he has essentially played each character as himself), and Jet tries as hard as he can to make it easy to differentiate the two 'Laws' from each other, but it's fair to say he mostly fails because he in real life I am positive that Jet Li is simply a nice guy – he just doesn't do 'surly' well at all. It is also a huge (and repeated) failing by the US filmmakers to ignore Li's natural abilities and athleticism in favour of obvious wire-work and el-cheapo computer assisted enhancements.
Final Rating – 5.5 / 10. The One should have been so much better, there is a solid film in this premise which probably exists in a parallel universe somewhere, but alas in ours this variant is teen-friendly wannabe tough mindless pap.
By the way if you can bear it the best line in the film is actually the last, though it is hilarious in a way that likely differs from the intent of the filmmakers.
Most of them probably would have resulted in better films than this.
In short there are apparently numerous parallel universes running simultaneously, in each of these exists another version of you. Each time one of these variants dies that person's essence, vitality, strength and abilities is immediately absorbed into the remaining 'yous'.
It turns out that a man named U-Law (Jet Li) has discovered this and has set about destroying all other versions of himself 'Highlander' style until there can be only (the titular) One.
There are a grand total of 125 U-Law variations.
He has killed 123 Only Gabe Law (also Jet Li) remains.
Now apparently this mustn't be the first time someone came up with this fiendish theory of Law domination, as inter-dimensional travel is strictly policed, and a team of agents has been tailing the ever-stronger U-Law for some time, lead by the duo of Jason Statham and Delroy Lindo.
Once it is evident that only one remaining Law stands in between U-Law and his domination they decide to short cut the procedure and head straight to his dimension – to cut U-Law off at the pass – so to speak.
Gabe Law is actually different in all ways from U-Law, he is in fact not that naughty at all, but a cop, happily married to his loving wife TK. He also is struggling to come to come up with reasons as to why he feels about 61.5 X stronger lately Gabe understandably takes the news that he is being hunted by himself from another reality with the proverbial pinch of salt, until U-Law shows up and starts blazing away.
Now with the two remaining Law variants having approximately 50% of the strength of 123 guys each, The One has every excuse for indulging in some over the top action sequences, and it has these in spades. Unfortunately it is also lumbered with some bad angst ridden neu-metal (disclosure: some of which I liked), wire work galore in the often terrible fight sequences, and some lamentably dated 90s CGI.
Delroy Lindo does his best to remain interested and Statham's performance is most notable for an awful US accent (which perhaps explains why in every subsequent film he has essentially played each character as himself), and Jet tries as hard as he can to make it easy to differentiate the two 'Laws' from each other, but it's fair to say he mostly fails because he in real life I am positive that Jet Li is simply a nice guy – he just doesn't do 'surly' well at all. It is also a huge (and repeated) failing by the US filmmakers to ignore Li's natural abilities and athleticism in favour of obvious wire-work and el-cheapo computer assisted enhancements.
Final Rating – 5.5 / 10. The One should have been so much better, there is a solid film in this premise which probably exists in a parallel universe somewhere, but alas in ours this variant is teen-friendly wannabe tough mindless pap.
By the way if you can bear it the best line in the film is actually the last, though it is hilarious in a way that likely differs from the intent of the filmmakers.