Sci-fi action films don't come any more simplistic than this offering from James Wong (writer

and director of the highly entertaining Final Destination). Aware that the sole purpose of this
sort of "high concept" crowd-pleaser is to provide maximum entertainment, Wong goes all out to
deliver an exhilarating, nonstop adrenaline rush, unfettered by misplaced intellectual pretension.
Once the preserve of Schwarzenegger and Stallone, the testosterone-charged lead role is here
claimed by Hong Kong action star Jet Li. He gets to battle himself in his portrayal of two martial
arts whirlwinds - one, a killer moving between parallel universes in order to murder his alter
egos; the other, a Los Angeles police officer who's the last intergalactic double and next intended
victim. Wong is a celluloid magpie, mixing the style of Total Recall and Timecop with the fights
and special effects of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragonand The Matrix. While this means there's
no real innovation or surprise, it does ensure that jaw-droppingly extreme set pieces punctuate
this wildly over-the-top but effective joy ride.
SUMMARY

An evil genius embarks on a perilous journey through a multitude of parallel universes in a bid to
become all-powerful by killing every other version of him. However, he reckons without the
intervention of a maverick cop determined to prevent his bid. Futuristic martial arts adventure,
with Jet Li in multiple roles alongside Carla Gugino, Jason Statham and Delroy Lindo.
CAST & CREW

Gabriel `Gabe' Yulaw/Lawless Jet Li

Ethan Funsch Jason Statham
Traci `TK' Katherine/Massie Walsh Carla Gugino
Harry Roedecker/Attendant Delroy Lindo
Aldrich/`A' World Inmate No 1 James Morrison
Yates Dylan Bruno
D'Antoni Richard Steinmetz
Woo Archie Kao
Director James Wong

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The One
 North American release poster

Directed by James Wong

Steve Chasman
Glen Morgan
Produced by
Charles Newirth
James Wong

Glen Morgan
Written by
James Wong

Jet Li
Carla Gugino
Starring
Delroy Lindo
Jason Statham

Music by Trevor Rabin

Cinematography Robert McLachlan

Edited by James Coblentz

Production New Line Cinema

 Revolution Studios
company Columbia Pictures
Hard Eight Pictures

New Line Cinema (US) / Sony Pictures

Distributed by
Releasing (international)

November 2, 2001
(US)
Release date
December 24, 2002
(international)

Running time 87 minutes

Country United States

Language English

Budget $49 million[1]

Box office $72.7 million[1]

The One is a 2001 American science fiction superhero action film directed by James Wong,
written by Wong and Glen Morgan, and starring Jet Li, Carla Gugino, Delroy Lindo, and Jason
Statham. The film was released in the United States by New Line Cinema on November 2, 2001,
and received mixed critical reviews.

The film deals with the concept of multiverses and interdimensional travel, following a rogue
police officer (Li) who travels to parallel realities in order to kill other versions of himself to
become a mythical super-being known as "The One". Li plays a dual role as two separate
versions of himself.

Contents

 1Plot
 2Cast
 3Production
 4Background information
 5Soundtrack
  6Reception
o 6.1Critical response
 7Home media
 8References
 9External links

Plot[edit]

Gabriel Yulaw (Jet Li), once an agent of the Multiverse Authority (MVA), an agency that polices
interdimensional travel via wormholes, seeks to hunt down all variations of himself in alternate
universes. By killing all 124 of his other selves (becoming the last version) and absorbing their
life energies, Yulaw believes he will become a godlike being called "The One". After killing
Lawless, the 123rd variation of himself in the Anubis universe, Yulaw is soon captured by MVA
agents Rodecker (Delroy Lindo) and Funsch (Jason Statham) and taken back to MVA
headquarters in the Alpha universe. During a trial where he's sentenced to life in the Stygian
penal colony in the Hades universe, Yulaw manages to escape and teleports to the Charis
universe to hunt the last variation of himself.

The last known variation, Gabriel (Gabe) Law, works in the Los Angeles County Sheriff's
Department. For two years he has been experiencing increases in strength, speed, and mental
ability, but neither he nor his wife, T.K. Law (Carla Gugino), can understand why. While
transporting a prisoner for the department, Gabe "feels" Yulaw's presence just before he attempts
to kill Gabe. Yulaw escapes, but is followed by Gabe, who inhumanly leaps over a very high
wall. Landing on the other side, Gabe is shot and wounded by Yulaw. As Yulaw is about to
finish him off, he's interrupted by Rodecker and Funsch.

Gabe realizes that Yulaw is identical to him in every way. Unfamiliar with the interdimensional
travel concept, he finds Yulaw's appearance shocking. After checking into the hospital, Gabe is
ambushed by Yulaw, which Rodecker and Funsch again foil. Yulaw deters them from shooting
him because if he is killed, then Gabe would then be left as the One. Dressed alike and identical
to each other, Gabe and Yulaw's battle confuses Gabe's police colleagues. Both Gabe and Yulaw
manage to escape the hospital.

Rodecker is faced with a dilemma: they have to capture Yulaw, but they cannot kill him or allow
Gabe to be killed because whoever survives will become the One, which could potentially have
catastrophic damage to the multiverse. Funsch insists that Yulaw, as the instigator, must be dealt
with in a more aggressive manner. Rodecker makes a fateful decision to "go way off procedure"
and they both split up. Rodecker pursues and fights Yulaw and is killed when Yulaw breaks his
neck. Funsch catches up with Gabe and explains the multiverse and Gabe's abilities to him.
Yulaw hides in Gabe's residence where T.K., believing him to be Gabe, attempts to protect him,
but she senses that he is not her husband. Gabe arrives, only to have Yulaw force him to watch
while he kills her. Funsch finds Gabe and they team up to find Yulaw at the next wormhole.

Gabe and Funsch arrive at an industrial plant, where they encounter and fight Yulaw. While
Funsch is easily defeated, the final battle between Gabe and Yulaw takes place. The two fight
evenly for a moment, but with Yulaw being more superior than Gabe, Yulaw quickly overpowers
and nearly defeats Gabe. Remembering his own martial arts form, Gabe uses his own abilities,
gains the upper hand and wins. Gabe gets caught in the wormhole along with Yulaw and Funsch
as they return to the MVA headquarters. Yulaw is transported immediately to the Hades universe
after a failed attempt to switch places with Gabe. The MVA then prepares to send Gabe back to
his own universe where he will be arrested and put in prison for the crimes Yulaw committed.
Recalling an earlier conversation with Gabe, Funsch sends him to a different universe where
Gabe can have a normal life again, beginning with when he first met T.K.

Meanwhile, Yulaw, now in the Stygian penal colony, declares he will still become the One. The
camera pulls back showing Yulaw standing at the top of a ziggurat, battling dozens of men.

Cast[edit]

 Jet Li as Gabriel "Gabe" Law / Gabriel Yulaw / Lawless

 Carla Gugino as T.K. Law / Massie Walsh
 Delroy Lindo as MVA Agent Harry Rodecker / Gas Station Attendant
 Jason Statham as MVA Agent Evan Funsch
 James Morrison as Officer Bobby Aldrich and 'A' World Inmate #1
 Dylan Bruno as Officer Yates
 Richard Steinmetz as Officer D'Antoni
 Cynthia Pinot as Girl With Briefcase
 Steve Rankin as MVA Supervisor
 Dean Norris as Sgt. Siegel
 Harriet Sansom Harris as Nurse Besson
 Tucker Smallwood as Prison Warden
 Archie Kao as Woo
 Doug Savant as Cop (uncredited)

Production[edit]

Originally the film was to have starred with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, before Li assumed the
lead role.[2]

The hospital scenes were filmed at the North Hollywood Medical Center.[citation needed]

The documentary Jet Li is 'The One' on the special features section on the DVD explains that
both Gabriel Yulaw and "Gabe" Law use martial arts that represent their personalities. Yulaw
uses Xingyiquan (The Shape-Will Fist), characterized by aggressive linear movements, while
Gabe uses Baguazhang (The Eight Trigram Palms) which uses subtle, circular movements. These
martial arts are confirmed by their own personalities as Yulaw is very direct, not caring whom he
hurts, while Gabe believes life goes in a circle, perfectly balanced.

Background information[edit]

As part of the promotion for the movie, there was an official website for the fictional Multiverse
Authority called the "MVA Mainframe". Although the site is now defunct, it provided detailed
background material on the storyline and some of the characters, including some that were not in
the film.

Soundtrack[edit]

The score was composed by Trevor Rabin and was released on December 11, 2001,[3] but no
soundtrack album was released. Noted songs in the film were Drowning Pool's Bodies and
Sinner. Down with the Sickness by the band Disturbed, Awake by Godsmack, Train of Dreams
by Jesse Dayton and two tracks by Papa Roach of Blood Brothers and Last Resort.

Reception[edit]

The One grossed $19,112,404 (an average of $6,604 per screen) in its opening weekend in North
America, opening at #2, and eventually grossed $43,905,746. In other territories, the film
grossed $28,783,380, making for a worldwide total of $72,689,126.[1]

Critical response[edit]

The film received mostly negative reviews. Based on 86 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes
as of August 2019, 14% of critics have given the film a positive review, with an average rating of
3.94/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "The One plays more like a video game than a movie
and borrows freely from other, better sci-fi actioners, burying Jet Li's spectacular talents under
heaps of editing and special effects."[4] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 25
out of 100 based on reviews from 21 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[5]
Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "B" on scale of A to F.[6]

Roger Ebert gave the film 1.5 out of 4 stars, calling it "brainless high-tech action without
interesting dialogue, characters, motivation or texture."[7] Robert Koehler of Variety wrote: "The
combo of cheesy effects and martial arts choreographer Cory Yuen's unimaginative staging
results in something that's martial artless."[8][9][10][11]

Loren King of the Chicago Tribune gave a favorable review quoting that the movie delivered
"the high-octane sequences starring martial-arts expert Jet Li with precision and well-crafted
pace." Giving a score of 3 out of 4.[12] Sean Axmaker of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer also gave a
favourable review noting that James Wong "manage to create a fun, inventive, mischievously
tongue-in-cheek showcase" giving a B- score.[13]

Home media[edit]

The home video release of The One took place on August 19, 2002. The DVD release contained
audio commentary, interviews with James Wong, Jet Li and some more.[14] Almar Haflidason of
the BBC reviewed the DVD release giving a score of 4 out of 5.[14]
There is a vast question lurking at the center of "The One" and the question is: Why?
Assuming there are 124 universes and that you existed in all of them and could travel
between them, why would you want to kill off the other 123 versions of you? This is, I
submit, a good question, but not one discussed in any depth by Yulaw (Jet Li), the villain
of the film. Jet Li also plays the film's hero and one of its victims, but neither of them
understandably knows the answer.
The film opens with a narration informing us that there are parallel universes, and that
"a force exists who seeks to destroy the balance so that he can become--The One!"
Apparently every time one of your other selves dies, his power is distributed among the
survivors. If Yulaw kills 123 selves, he has the power of 124. Follow this logic far enough,
and retirement homes would be filled with elderly geezers who have outlived their
others and now have the strength of 124, meaning they can bend canes with their bare
hands and produce mighty bowel movements with scornful ease.

What does Yulaw hope to accomplish with his power? He might, the narrator suggests,
become God--and thus, if killed, might bring all of creation to an end. A guy like this,
you don't want him getting in fights and taking chances. But the God theory is
theologically unsound, because God works from the top down and didn't get where He is
by knocking off the competition. Maybe Yulaw is just a megalomaniac who gets off on
being able to beat up everyone in the room. Maybe one of the differences between a
good martial arts movie, and one that is merely technically competent, is that in the
good ones, the characters have a motivation, and in the others, life is just a competitive
sport.
Yulaw defeats Lawless, one of his other selves, fairly early in the film, and then zeroes in
on Gabe, who is a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy. Gabe knows nothing of the
multiverses, but is, under the rules, as strong as 60, or is it 61.5 , men, and so, a good
match for Yulaw. Meanwhile, Yulaw is pursued from his home universe by Roedecker
(Delroy Lindo) and Funsch (Jason Statham), agents of the Multiverse Bureau of
Investigation. His wife, woman, girlfriend or sidekick in all of these worlds is played
by Carla Gugino.
The possibilities with this plot are endless. Alas, the movie is interested only in fight
scenes, and uses the latest in computer-generated effects to show the various Jet Li
characters as they throw enemies into the air, dodge bullets, hold a motorcycle in each
hand and slam them together against an opponent, etc. The final epic confrontation
features Jet Li fighting himself. Both are wearing black jumpsuits at the start of the
fight, but the evil Jet Li shows consideration for the audience by stripping down to a
blue top, so we can tell him apart from the good Jet Li
This titanic closing fight, by the way, may use cutting-edge effects, but has been written
with slavish respect for ancient cliches. It begins with the venerable It's Only a Cat
Scene, in which a cat startles a character (but not the audience) by leaping at the lens.
Then the characters retire to a Steam and Flame Factory, one of those Identikit movie
sets filled with machines that produce copious quantities of steam, flames and sparks.
Where do they have their fight? On a catwalk, of course. Does anyone end up clinging by
his fingertips? Don't make me laugh.
The movie offers brainless high-tech action without interesting dialogue, characters,
motivation or texture. In other words, it's sure to be popular. Seeing a movie like this
makes me feel bad that I applied such high standards to last week's "Donnie Darko,"
which also deals with logical paradoxes, and by comparison, is a masterpiece.