Just perfect...

Fresh and Exciting

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

A rogue Multiverse agent goes on a manhunt for versions of himself, getting stronger with each kill. With only one version remaining, he races against the clock to finish him and become "The One." If you love seeing Arnold Schwarzenegger having a friend clone in The 6th Day and JCVD going against his murderous self in Replicant you're going to love 'The One' just as much. I mean this movie was clever, well executed, well acted and with some pretty cool special effects plus the Jet Li v.s Jet Li fight? Was freaking cool definitely see it.. (A+)

The weakest link in The One is, sadly, Jet Li. While his fighting is fun to watch, his acting is horrible. It stars with an interesting idea, but it mostly jumps around from fight scene to fight scene without much development. The visual effects are fun in parts, but dated in others. Also, they needed to utilize Jason Statham more.

The multiverse-premises as potentially plot-hole full as they are, in the shadow of star trek and some before it, particularly when it comes to the combinations of short-time escapes involving teleportation/matter-materialization , are sometimes of two main kinds of films, when in film - stinkers that have far too much self-importance with convolutions of plot-devices/premises that end up one way or another disappointing as the conclusion approaches/the film ends, usually with too much major-strings orchestral music , OR ones, that have a minimum of travel through sci-fi potentials-upon characters - in adversity - what the characters go through because of the sci-fi that wouldn't in a similar film set without it, that although often with less grandiose/over-importances , often have shallow characters in limited kinds of plot-development opportunity instead - not too many things of sci-fi-opportunities happening to the same character in one film 'principle' that makes ones that do, too absurd , then, too far away from the ordinary person.This film is more-so the former, but in an absurdly limited plot wherein there is, after, the realization aimed for, a vague sense of one-ness per the too-easy to understand title ... a sci-fi premise that WOULD affect everyone (or so the producers/writers would like to think/hope ), but because of the poor writing/editing , then is so pathetically narrowly aimed at a fraction of a fraction of a prison-acting-convinced-by-religion 'person', that it is totally discard-able , and should be resigned to the show-someone-and-see-how-they-react-then-throw-it-away category of not film , but exposure-content guised AS, film.The power-mad ambitions of the who is making these things? question posed by the chooser of content or freedom-giver of slaves in a sci-fi apocalypse, where people cannot help but consume exposure-content , 'genuinely' hoped to affect the people en mass ... *spit*.Pityfully over- confident if not not delusional , such aims ... as well as totally disrespectful of people's capacities to protect themselves mentally / choose content when OMG ... AWARE ... of such content being amongst other choices in the DVD bin.Seems powerful , but its hopelessly unaware of how something that might work upon prisoners in controlled conditions , does NOT work , in public / in such a freedom of choice - freedom of a beggar , is still a freedom in which to choose, etc.Don't try to connect with THAT guy , he's unappreciative, the dismal street-bug , with a surprisingly high resistance , from it being AROUND them , in the city , all the time , in contrast to protected , family and home , loving people , needing protection.Patronizing and if not delusional , then hopelessly out of date , in contrast to no-nonsense type films like the Tower ... people already not worth our time ... heads-explode. classic.Also has unnecessary prison-sadist content best worth FF past / cutting from the end.Also contains a obvious Judau-Christian reference that aims to pretend as though the sci-fi dimensionality theories of the over-excited in astrophysics , have somehow been there all along ... the comb-over of "god" , being in multiverses 'already' ... which as intolerable as it already is ... is so obviously placed on stage , as of the 'beleifs' , of the authority figures in charge of the technology (not theological-learning ) , that you'd have to be blind to miss it.Unnecessary hero-survives another close-shave moment action scenes beyond real-isms of the anti-hero, and impatiently-thought out / cheap camera-work at times, as well as annoying focus upon characters rather than whole scenes per newer hand-held-camera-work-period viewpoints, and a on-and-off audio with constant drumming-affects-heartbeat BS anxiety testing stimulations 'designed' , by the kinds of directors that think they are somehow 'preppers' , for ACTUAL care/treatments , as perceived only, by the INexperienced / over-sentimentalist.Little sentimentality itself, tho - skippable.On the positive side , some OK chase/fight scenes , but of the annoying neo-wrestlers can't be moved commercial-wrestling-franchises type standing-taking-damage gullibility-guff.The limit on the number of dimensions coming into the world/s of the setting is solid tho , perhaps because of the limited plot per my initial paragraph , but to its credit , the limits placed on the characters , particularly the difficulties of the two dimension-jumping police characters in contrast to the anti-hero , is done well enough to maintain enough consistency to follow that part of the plot without difficulty / character value in those two, perhaps, at most.If really not wanting to have to think too much when wanting to watch a sci-fi blast and feel temporarily invulnerable for a moment, and this seems to work for you , then maybe id think for that kind of rating, a 4 maybe a 6 at most, for a bonus star or two for the indirect extra-dimension jumping police's need to have to do some lateral thinking / quick thinking , in contrast to predictable patrol areas , usual amounts of different kinds of crime allocations of officers at different stations experience, etc etc - potentially imagination-expanding.Apart from that , little remains in comparison with much better sci fi.

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.