User reviews

I've seen Van Damme movies that all have the same genetic plots get higher ratings, but this movie is fun and has low ratings. It has a pretty cool plot and some nice ideas. Acting and the script is a little silly, but it's an action flick. Definitely worth a watch.

After watching most of the recent action movies, I left the theatre with a headache brought on by incredibly tight/shaky shots and edits so fast that any hope of seeing anything is lost. This movie takes a step back from that. It isn't entirely devoid of those annoyances, but is much better than most. In fact, at times, you can even see a whole string of punches and blocks without a cut or a shake! Of course there is the inevitable wire work, that combined with the necessary special effects to allow Jet Li to fight himself. But for once there is an excuse other than "because we can".

The story is pretty simple. A murdering criminal is killing all the copies of himself in all the other "universes". Each time one dies the life force/resonant string thing, gets divided amoungst the survivors. Of course this leaves a ton of questions that aren't addressed at all in the movie, but I can live with that since those are more topics for debate after having fun at the movie. That is one of the strengths of the movie, the progressively more intense action. As the movie progress, rather than trying to deal with any question the viewer might have, the pace and intensity of the movie goes up. The final action sequence is probably ten minutes long all told, which, to me, is a sign of a true action movie, as opposed to movies with action.

Overall I give it a 8/10 for fans of the genre. If you aren't particularly interested in sci-fi/martial arts, especially if you have a problem with wire work and blue-screens, then you might want to skip it.

Hey! Why'd this film get such a low rating?

I hope it's not due to the drama / arty types. I swear they walk into an Arnold Schwartzenegger film and start critiquing the dialogue or the deep cinematic reflections on life. I think they may have formed a false expectation. Action movies don't aim for that stuff, so it's a little unfair to then expect it.

Mostly stuff blows up in "The One", and I'm totally OK with that, being an action movie buff. What's weird is that you know they're using lots of wires and some of the stunts are a little overdone. But forget the fictional character's skill -- just the skill you'd need as a stuntman or stuntwoman making this movie to perform some of these stunts is truly impressive!

Let me warn you that the plot is a pretty stupid, and while billed as a science fiction film it really is not. However, it's nowhere near as bad as sub-intelligent flicks "Independence Day" and "Mission Impossible". It was more like "Mission Impossible 2". And lots and lots of stuff blows up.

Compared to Jackie Chan, Jet Li's films have more action, but it's stunt-like rather than natural, more of an "edge" (including blood and gore), less comedy, and he speak better English. I still prefer Jackie. If you're new to martial arts films, ease yourself in with accessible Jackie Chan action/comedies "Shanghai Noon" or "Twin Dragons".

Who should see this film:

-- action movie buffs and borderline action movie types

who will trade over-violence for under-plotting.

And don't drag along your SO.

-- sci-fi movie buffs who don't form expectations of real sci-fi

and like action flicks

-- I can't think of anyone else.

I'll give "The One" an 8 out of 10.

Jet Li has been able to come out with some good action movies like "Romeo Must Die", and "Kiss of the Dragon", but there is no doubt this has been his best movie so far. I absolutely love the plot for this movie. It's sci-fi, it's action, and above all it's pretty original. Jet Li is the best martial artist in the world. The actual fight scenes in Kiss of the Dragon may have been better, due to the fact little to no CGI's were used, but The One is a much better movie overall. What makes this movie work even more is the great selection of music. How can it get better than seeing Jet Li kick the not out of people while Drowning Pool's "Let the Bodies Hit the Floor" is playing in the background? Other artists in the movie include Disturbed, and Papa Roach so you can get a pretty good idea of what the fight scenes are like. This isn't a best picture, though I'm surprised it wasn't nominated for effects. But in an overall enjoyment grade, I'd say this was one of my five favorite movies of 2001.

This is a cracker of a film. It has a cool story with plenty of fight scenes to easily entertain the most jaded viewer for an hour and a half.

The movie has a real smooth feel to it. The visuals, effects and cinematography, look like they have had plenty of money spent on them. So its pleasing on the eye.

The fights (the core of any Jet Li movie) are sanitised compared to some of his other material, opening it up to younger audiences. Yet they are teaming with cool moves and excitement.

The most relevant aspect of this movie is none of the above. Its the feel of the film. The film is fun and will put a smile on your face :)

If you like action sci-fi movies, you will enjoy this 'One'. It's very well filmed, though the effects are not too original - mostly going on the path open by 'Matrix'. It has a well written script, with some logic for a change. It is not too long, so that it does not get boring. It's simple, and does not pretend to take us into any psychological or philosophical track.

Of course, if you do not like the genre, all the above will be minuses, and you should avoid the movie. I can stand one of these, from time to time. 7/10 on my personal scale.

Seriously, this movie is just an advertisement for Nu-Metal, yeah remember what was back in the late 90's to mid 00's? Spiky black hair, big baggy pant, two note riffs, black makeup, piercings and of course, dreadlocks!!!

Every single scene that involves a car chase, shootout, explosion, or fight scene has a nu-metal band playing loudly. We have Disturbed blasting, there is a lot of love for Drowning Pool and Papa-Roach in this movie for some reason. I mean the first Papa Roach album is good and that is pretty much it, same with Drowning Pool. It does become a music video at most points.

The story is dumb as hell, but Jet Li tries his best. Jason Statham is also good as this one note "tough" future cop. Also love to Delroy Lindo dude! Man it is weird seeing Statham with hair, it looks sprayed on or something. Glad he went the bald route.

The action is just okay but the use of slo-mo for the final fight really sucks, and this movie is probably Jet Li's 2nd worst American film. War is his worst.

5/10.

I really liked The One for the action alone. It's only about 85 minutes long so don't expect a riveting story or some intricate plot because it's not there. The movie establishes its purpose in the beginning and that's pretty much it...no twists, no new discoveries, no heart-warming scenes that's gonna make you care for anyone. The movie is wall to wall action and rarely stops. This is a straight up action film with a sci-fi setting. It's science fiction without the science..Demolition Man style with with martial arts thrown in. Jet Li plays both the good guy and the villain and his villain role steals the show until the final fight scene. The Jet vs. Jet fight scene is amazing and shows that Jet is the man when it comes to martial arts and what he does can't be imitated. "good" Jet's BaGua Zhang fist style is beautiful for lack of a better term. "bad" Jet's Xinyi style is very brutal so it's not really graceful, just straight forward attack. Honestly it made the Matrix fight scenes look silly by comparison.

The wife and multiverse cop characters could have been developed better but they served their purpose. The movie certainly could have been longer and the soundtrack works in some parts and not in others...too much alternative for my taste. Those are the only problems I have with The One. It leaves you wanting more. If it's a box office hit it definitely has room for a sequel. Overall I thought it was a good movie for eye candy and action/martial arts junkies.

I didn't want to write this movie off on the reviews and critics in the western world, I mean how wrong have they been about Asian cinema that has now become a staple diet of the Hollywood remake monster? Plus Jet L is pretty damn cool, and he's made some interesting movies in Asia. So with an open mind I was surprisingly averaged out by this movie.

There are good points. The story is very clever, using M-Theory as a base to bring forward the plot that there are multiple universes each with their own versions of worlds, and most likely you. Each time one of you is destroyed the rest share the energy and power amongst them. The idea that someone might try and purposely become the only version of themselves in all the Universes to find out if they become a God.

There's also Jet Li, and he's not a bad actor and pretty nimble as a martial artist, plus Jason Statham who is an all round good actor. As for the special effects, some of them are really cool, a mixing of bullet time, and slow motion with normal speed, very cool to watch in places.

The bad points? Well Statham's accent is appalling, and some of the effects aren't as comparable as others, so it's quite apparent that money was spent on some of the main shots and not on others that were probably deemed as too short on screen or they just plain ran out of budget.

A big sore point for me is the close cropped camera action that Hollywood has long favoured, something that Jackie Chan has often talked about. Filming fight scenes close up serves two purpose. It gives greater emphasis on a single punch or movement, making it look harder and more real than it really is, and it also hides what is going on around the camera lens. For example people holding a fake arm or the face of a stunt double, etc.

What Chan always said was that he tried to open out the camera and show the audience what was going on, let them see the people fighting properly rather than a close up of a face and a fist, cutting to someone falling into frame. Showing the whole picture is more effective, and it's more impressive.

So the close cropped shots were just more annoying than anything, you failed to see the impressiveness of Li's fighting skills, and you found it hard to see some of the action. Slow the cuts down and pan out the camera Hollywood Directors! The biggest problem was the story though, despite having such a strong base on which to build, they seemed to loose the sense of the plot and concentrate on the action scenes. There are some serious plot building and explanatory moments that are just totally overlooked and covered in the space of a few sentences, yet these could have formed some excellent and complex character development.

It just all held together too weakly, and not enough was made of the story. All in all, not a great movie and it's potential was badly spoiled.

This is a movie definitely worth renting, but not worth buying unless its the Special Edition DVD or its VHS for under 10 bucks. Th fights were sweet,although looked slightly cheesy. it looked like they tried to achieve the matrix type effects but didn't have a good enough budget. The Acting was OK. They stuck some good actors in with some bad ones so that kinda screws up the whole feel for the movie. The storyline is quite simple and somewhat intriguing. There are many universes, you look quite similar in everyone and your all connected by a wave of energy. every time one of you dies, the energy of that you that died goes to the remaining yous. One man has killed all of himself but one. Th movie basically starts here. Yulaw is about to get banished forever but stops his universe travel and goes to the last universe left, ours. Lately Gabe law has been getting stronger but he doesn't know why.

Whenever they go from one universe to the next, they break up into little puzzle pieces and they didn't do a very good job for the visuals on those.

My rating a 3/5 Stars

Jet Li and Jet Li star in this goofy sci-fi flick about a power-hungry sociopath Yulaw (Jet Li) who goes dimension-hopping on a killing spree focused on his alternate universe counterparts. As Yulaw finally comes to what I must assume is our universe to kill the last remaining version of himself - Gabriel Law - both his and his counterpart's strength, intelligence and agility have been increased to superhuman levels by the deaths (quickenings?) of previous counterparts. Predictably, the pace is furious and deadly. Many people are caught up in the violence of the ensuing battle, and , of course, since the honest, hard-working and altogether decent Gabe Law appears to be responsible for all of it, he becomes a wanted fugitive. Besides being pursued by this earth's police, both men are also sought by an inter-dimensional police force seeking to imprison Yulaw on a far-off prison planet.

Gabe Law is a likable character who works as a prison guard and has a loving wife. The few minutes of character development permitted by the furious pace of this film are what makes it work. And although the plot seems a bit like a pastiche of recent sci-fi clichés, at least the combination of clichés assembled for The One is original.

Recommended for sci-fi action and martial arts fans.

I can't understand why all the Matrix fans are claiming a special effect as their own and that no other movie can make use of it.

The Matrix copied the Chinese movies that used those pulleys to keep the actor in mid air after jumping and doing all those kicks before they land back on the ground. And using those pulleys to fly backwards thru the air after getting hit.

I think that once a technique or special effect has been created then everyone's allowed to make use of it.

This is a nice movie to watch. Jet Li's English is such an improvement on his past efforts and you can feel the affection in his voice when he talks to/ about his wife. Jackie Chan, as wonderful as he is, still hasn't mastered English to Jet Li's level.

The action was great. I'm not looking for realism in a sci-fi movie. I had no expectations. Just watched to see what I'd get - and for the 1.5 hours, I was entertained. It's a simple story, simple concept.

I wish people would go to see this movie and not try to compare it to Matrix. Matrix itself is not innocent of "borrowing" special effects already used in other movies. As for the "there can be only one" theme, look back to the old days of Astroboy. There was that robot war thing where they had to kill each other so there would be only one winner. Big deal.

I will definitely be buying the DVD. But then again, I do have most of Jet Li's movies on DVD :-)

"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.

In multiverse, Jet Li was in 123 characters. He killed all of them to gain their power to be ultimate except one, which one was equal to him. The story idea is interesting but we feel that story has been wrapped in a hurry. It must be in two or three parts. At least one sequel is must. However movie is watchable. Jason Statham and Jet Li are well fitted in their roles. Actions from Jet Li are brilliant. This movie is for those who loved martial art and science fiction. Overall watchable at once.

The One is a martial-arts flick with strong sci-fi concepts. But the bottom line remains high-kicking action, and Jet Li delivers.

Li also shows his acting ability in this film. He displays that he can do more than one personality.

As Yulaw, he's a cold-blooded killer who lashes out with sudden fury and insolent superiority. As Gabe, he's a dutiful lawman and devoted husband. (Sin City's Carla Gugino plays his wife.) In the middle are Multiverse cops played by Delroy Lindo (Domino, Romeo Must Die) and Jason Statham (Crank), who lead a super supporting cast.

Director James Wong and his co-writer, Glen Morgan, are X-Files veterans who know their sci-fi. Choreographed by Cory Yuen (also of Li's Kiss of the Dragon), the best fight has Li battling himself, with each character using different techniques.

The One is one film whose far-out concept works.

The plot: Evil Jet Li learns that if he kills all the Good Jet Li doubles in the multiverse, he will steal their life energy and become a god.

As far as silly B movies go, the concept certainly has promise. It promises that someone will attempt to explain this absurd plot to the hero with a straight face. It promises that there will be non-stop violence. It promises that half of Los Angeles will be destroyed as Evil Jet Li goes on a rampage. But, mostly, it promises that there will be a showdown between Good Jet Li and Evil Jet Li. Probably in a factory, and probably with a countdown of some kind.

Yes, you do get the showdown. That's probably worth 2 points right there. And I like some of the actors, so that's another bonus point. But this is a terrible movie. It's made for 12 year olds who think that professional wrestling is too intellectual. I guess I'm partly to blame for feeling so disappointed in this film, because I didn't realize it's rated PG-13. That should have been a major warning sign. I saw Jason Statham's name and assumed it'd be a violent free-for-all.

The other major problem with this film is that it's seriously dated. It rips off The Matrix's action sequences, which is actually kind of jarring when you're watching this in 2022. It's like when you're watching a comedy released a few years ago, and the people speak almost entirely in catchphrases that had already started to become dated and unfunny. Or suddenly realizing that a early 2000s film's soundtrack consists entirely of nu metal.

The sad thing is that I probably would have liked this film a lot better if it had been made another 10 years earlier. In the mid-1990s, this film would have probably starred starred Rutger Hauer or Lance Henriksen (or both if we were really lucky). These guys could sell an absurd plot. If Rutger Hauer tells you that an alternate universe version of you is hunting you down, you don't waste time arguing with him. You get in his car and leave the city.

In this film, that role mostly went to Delroy Lindo, who I think was a good choice. The problem, though, is that you need to own the movie if you're going to pull this off. You can't just be charismatic and passionate. You have to steal every scene in the movie. Without Rutger Hauer as Roy Batty, what would Blade Runner be? It'd be an above-average science fiction film remembered for its set design and direction. With Rutger Hauer as Roy Batty? A masterpiece. Now, you believe in those replicants.

Jason Statham is not really the best choice to tell someone that their evil twin from another dimension is hunting them down, but with the right script and director, I think that could be a really funny movie. This isn't really that movie. The direction and writing were quite poor, and Statham would need a really weird person to work off of so that his bizarre warnings come off as the sane person. So, it would pretty much have to co-star Henry Rollins.

If all you're looking for is to kill 90 minutes on Netflix, it's possible this will work. It won't punish you for looking away from the screen and concentrating on something else for a few minutes. And you get to see two superpowered versions of Jet Li fight each other in a climactic battle. But I'm not sure why you'd choose this movie when there are so many better choices.

The story is kind of forgettable. It's the premise that sounds promising. A what if ... there was more to it, than we know. Add to all that some amazing action and you have the movie "The one" with Jet Li.

Jet Li who is very good in this movie, as is Jason Statham. The latter also an action regular is just a supporting player here, but that doesn't mean that he can't show what he's made of. Still as you can guess the main attraction lies within Jet Li and his performance ... especially action-wise ... That should be your reason to watch this movie! If you expect some art-house/drama movie, than you're completely wrong here! Go watch something else, because here it's all about the action ... and the action scenes are good, so I can only recommend this title!

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.

Imagine that there are 123 universes, on each of those universes you have a planet, and on that planet lives a Jet Li. One of those Jet Li's (lets call him Evil Jet:) finds out that when he kills one of the others, he becomes stronger, faster, quicker, to put in a wrong perspective, he becomes "upgraded" - But the skills are equally shared among all the living Jet Li's. With me so far?:)

So Evil Jet has killed 121 Jet Li's, but has to kill one more Jet (let's call him Good Jet:), and by doing so he becomes in a way God, be becomes The One.

Sounds nice? Well it is, The One challenges The Matrix in my opinion, especially the opening scene, the first thing that came into my mind was "WOW!! Awesome, I want to be able to do that". I've seen a lot of Jet Li movies throughout the time, and this is one of his best (of the US made).

If you are a fan of Martial arts, heavy whopping combat scenes, and especially fan of Kung Fu - this is a movie that you have to see. You may get a bit disappointed because it has some of the similar F/X that were used in matrix, only difference is that this is Master Jet, we are talking about. (He'll whop Neo anyway:)

As you may have figured Evil Jet is trying to kill Good Jet, so with some logical thinking, you can imagine the final combat scene :)

I hope you like is as much as I did. One of my favorite Master Jet -movies, 10/10 ..

Plot, sequences, direction, script and action all was pretty good, the major issue was Jet Li acting ability in this, everyone else performed well, but Jet clearly could not act well, probably due to having a major double role.

I give this a 6 but had the potential for an 8.