Way before everyone and their gramma and their alt-universe gramma were doing multiverse movies, Jet Li co-starred alongside himself in The One. As it turns out, the only person who could really challenge Jet Li… is Jet Li.
In The One, evil Jet Li aka Gabriel Yulaw has found a way to traverse the different universes so he can kill off his parallel selves and get their power, Highlander-style. He finally meets his match when he’s down to his last alternate version of himself, Gabe Law. Who will win and how can we tell when they look exactly alike?
The One packs plenty of action, but despite the core of the film promising a battle between superpowered Jet Lis, it’s lacking in the “cheer out loud, jump on the couch, punch your friend in the arm” kind of excitement. While the action is pretty much nonstop, and the soundtrack is pumped in a 2001 kind of way, there’s an over-reliance on special effects (which are mostly awful in a 2001 kind of way). Jet Li’s real-life martial arts skills come off as fake and unrealistic thanks to the copious CG and wire work. Also, Jason Statham’s in this and he barely gets to do anything! What a waste of that Stat-Ham!
Jet Li and Jason Statham Vs. Evil Jet Li sounds like a dream matchup, but unfortunately I just couldn’t get excited about what was happening. This might be worth a look for nostalgia reasons but it’s not one to seek out.
Time Until Action: ~ 4 ½ minutes
Baddies: Gabriel Yulaw
Best Kill: Yulaw (evil Jet Li) picks up a pair of motorcycles, one with each hand, and claps them together like he’s a seal clapping for a treat, smashing a cop in between them.
Best Explosion: Yulaw (evil Jet Li) is strapped to a chair, about to be sent to a very bad parallel universe. The room is set up like an execution with an audience on the other side of the glass. A woman (Carla Gugino) in the crowd lets loose a small mouse with a fuse hanging out of its butt. The guard notices the mouse just in time for the fuse to ignite and detonate, blowing up the glass barrier (and the mouse!) and freeing Yulaw.
Action Rating: 3 Parallel Universe Jet Lis, out of 5
This is the Action Flick Chick, and you’ve just been kicked in the ass!
Totally agree with your review. I watched this movie about 5 or 6 days ago and tweeted about how it isn’t the best Jet Li movie but solid. Oh and by the way this is your buddy (even though you don’t know me) @THE_Blerman on Twitter.
It’s also two internal styles, xingyi (evil Yulaw) versus bagua (not-evil Yulaw). He didn’t know bagua before the movie, but picked it up pretty well for such a short amount of time. I love the last line. “Wow, did Jet Li just say that?”
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Martial Arts:
A long running staple of the martial arts movie is the idea that any style can be countered with another and any fighter, regardless of physical strength, can be defeated with strategy. In this one, xingliquan 形意拳 is defeated by baguazhang 八卦掌, 2 of the 3 main internal fighting styles of the Wudang school. It’s not so much that he suddenly learned a new style sitting in a jail cell. It’s implied that he’s always known the style and has just come to the realization that it’s “the one” (see what I did there?) to use. This is similar to how a boxer will change his style mid bout to gain an advantage or a sports team watches plays to exploit a weakness or overcome their own.
Wire Work:
Yep, the wire work looks fake but wire work is inherently fake. The problem in this film is that it becomes distracting. With any super human ability combined with martial arts, there will inevitable be wire work involved. Some of the fake-ness may be a result of overly depending on CGI. In the decades prior, Asian films have perfected the art of smooth wire work but it’s been poorly executed in this film. Even the motorcycle crushing scene looks very fake in the sense it looks artificial even within the confines of the movie’s logic. Examples of good wire work would be “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon”, “Hero” (a more recent Jet Li gem) and “The Matrix” (the first one of course).
In general, Jet Li’s foray into Hollywood funded films has been a rough one. His martial arts prowess is definitely showcased but usually of a blunt object rather than a surgical instrument. The fight choreography hasn’t been his best work and definitely doesn’t show his true range. For years I had thought he’d simply reached the end of his prime physical years but this wasn’t the case. Films that he did later like Hero, is much more reminiscent of his earlier series such as “The Swordsman” or “Once Upon a Time in China”. Hopefully, we haven’t seen the end of Jet Li.
So. What you’re saying is that it’s Jet Li doing what Jet Li always does? Perhaps if the twist at the end was that he was actually a mutant sunflower I’d feel more inclined to watch this, but sounds pretty much like a cliche pumped out of the “machine” ;P
i adore action movies and my idol is none other than Gerard Butler. this guy actually rocks“
Has it been 10 years already? Jet Li, Jason Statham and Delroy Lindo. How can this movie not be good? 😉 While the story has some flaws it’s still entertaining and the choreography is excellent.