The
One. (2001). Cert 12. Director - James Wong. Writer - Glen Morgan. Starring - Jet Li, Jason Statham, Delroy Lindo &
Carla
Gugino.
Premise -
There is more than one universe, in-fact we live in a multiverse. Hundreds
of parallel dimensions co-existing. When a rougue multiverse agent
discovers that killing your double in another dimension increases your
strength and intelligence he kills all of his doubles, leaving only one
left. When it
comes down to these kind of flicks the acting, story, etc. is mostly
secondary to the quality of the action sequences and the effects work.
Happily both are of the highest standard in The One. Some of
the action set-pieces are of the eye-popping variety. Slo-mo, wire work
and bullet-time are the order of the day. Li kicks some major ass here,
usually on wires and usually in bullet-time. Jet Li is
a consummate martial artist and his talents are taken to the next level as
he tries to succeed where the likes of Arnie (Last Action Hero), Jean
Claude Van-Dammit (Double Impact) and Jean Claude Van-Dammit (Replicant)
have failed. Li spends an inordinate amount of time in the movie either
acting with, or fighting with himself. This is done seamlessly and only
the extra features on the DVD reveal where CGI or a stunt double is used,
it's impressively implemented. It's
impressive to think that only a few years ago Li went to America to make
Lethal Weapon 4 and new little or no English. Now he is staring in his own
films and actually outperforming some of his co-stars. Then again, when
your co-star is the untalented lunk Jason Statham, that's not much off an
achievement. Elsewhere
is Delroy LIndo as a sort of low rent Morpheus and the delicious Carla
Gugino who seems to be recreating her role in Snake Eyes in the early
stages of the film. She comes into her own as the film progresses and she
plays different versions of herself (trust me it makes sense). Writer and
Director Glen Morgan and James Wong (Who previously made Final
Destination) are veterans of both The X-Files and Space:Above And Beyond
so they are familiar to the Sc-Fi genre. They seem to relish working in
the genre and it is clear from the behinds the scenes material on the disc
that they put a lot of work into storyboarding the film
meticulously. That said
the film seems to borrow from any number of other films. Take your pick,
influences from Highlander, The Matrix and Total Recall are there to
see. However
like I said the quality of the action sequences is fantastic and The One
is a first rate popcorn flick. Highly
entertaining.
|
7/10 for The One. Poster Quote - Pull the other one. |