The One

Movie Name: The One
Year of Release: 2001
Director: James Wong
Starring: Jet Li, Carla Gugino, Delroy Lindo, Jason Statham, James Morrison, Dylan Bruno, Richard Steinmetz, Steve Rankin, Tucker Smallwood, Harriet Sansom Harris, Dean Norris, Darin Morgan, Rom Zimmerman, Joel Stoffer
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 4
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Synopsis and Review

"The One" was a vehicle to further cement Jet Li's ascension in the North American market, which started with his supporting turn in Richard Donner's "Lethal Weapon 4", which was quickly followed by lead roles in "Romeo Must Die" and "Kiss of the Dragon". The narrative of the film focuses on Gabe Law a deputy sheriff in LA, who is married to the lovely T.K.. Hot on his trail is another version of himself by the name of Yulaw, who was once an agent part of MVA who police cross-dimensional travel. Yulaw has been killing all different versions of himself across different universes, and absorbing their energy to himself, all with the intent of becoming "The One". His goal is to do the same with Gabe. Agents Roedecker and Funsch are pursuing him and their goal is to both stop Yulaw and also save Gabe from that fate. Gabe in the meantime has also noticed he has been gaining increased strength and speed. Funsch eventually explains to Gabe what is happening, though they're both unable to save T.K. from Yulaw's killing spree. As Gabe and Funsch eventually fight Yulaw, they're sucked in by a wormhole which drops them at the MVA headquarters. 

Coincidentally enough, James Wong's "The One" tackled the topic of Multi-verse well before Marvel came along and planted that narrative device across most of their films. Wong who started his feature  directorial career with "Final Destination", but had an already well established screenwriting career beforehand, has plenty of interesting items to work with in this film (namely this notion of a multiverse police department who keeps an eye on what's taking place across multiple universes). However and while the concept of multiverse allows for interesting permutations with the same characters, this film in particular falls somewhat short since we never get much of an understanding of who Gabe or Yulaw actually are. And while the suggestion of "The One" is supposedly enticing, that narrative mechanism or ploy is never fully explored or explained. This film did have the potential to be an enticing B-movie, one where the characters are briefly explained and where their motives are swiftly rendered, but sadly the director chooses to focus more on action and fighting scenes, which as well staged as they are, don't necessarily add color or detail to what is happening, at least not in the same way some of Jackie Chan's films have been able to do (such as "Police Story" for instance). In the end we're left with some stilted dialogue options, and plenty of action scenes which do illustrate Jet Li's acrobatic skills and very little beyond that. The always underrated Carla Gugino and Delroy Lindo manage to salvage whatever there is from their scenes, while the production design team (headed by David L. Snyder) is underwhelming, with some of the choices bringing to mind some of the Farscape sets. It's watchable and instantly forgettable.