Jet Li is an incredible martial artist but so far he’s managed to disappoint me, as he uses wires and computers to enhance his scenes, which often becomes redundant and goofy. The only two movies that I’ve enjoyed from him so far are “Lethal Weapon 4” and “Kiss of the Dragon” which was possibly the best action movie I’ve seen in years. Li is solid in his role performing with finesse. He gives great personality switches throughout the film and kept me entertained throughout the entire story.
In the future we would have mastered the art of traveling to alternate realities where we are the same person but different personas with different lives. A different persona of Gabe Law is the evil Gabriel Yulaw, a man who has discovered that if you kill off yourself in the different reality, you absorb their life force and become more powerful. Now, he is intent on killing every one of his personas and become the most powerful being in the universe, he will become the only being, he will become “The One”.
Carla Gugino is very good supporting character often providing the damsel in distress role as Yulaw’s wife. Jason Statham acts as the hunter for Yulaw, but he is sadly under-used which I wasn’t fond of. I’m a big fan and he has great potential. The action scenes are pretty cool especially the scenes where the soldiers are falling in slow motion, and I also loved the climax. However, there are moments of blandness which is sad for a movie with such an original idea, cool action scenes, and great action stars.
The romance between Li and Gugino is also far-fetched and lacked any chemistry to keep me interested. The fight scenes are over the top, and lack any originality, relying too heavily on computer effects. All in all, “The One” is an entertaining, raucous, and enjoyable popcorn flick that will kill a good hour and a half. Just don’t expect a masterpiece.