MasterChugs Theater: 'The One'
Jet Li has joined the illustrious dubious ranks of those martial arts stars playing opposite themselves in a film--including Jackie Chan and Jean Claude Van Damme. But instead of playing a long-lost twin brother to himself as in the other films, Li’s actually himself squared--another version of Jet from a different parallel "universe." That’s right: Only Jet Li can kick Jet Li's ass. Borrowing from the Many Worlds interpretation of Everett's Relative-State Formulation of Quantum Mechanics, The One showcases a scenario of what happens when events in these different universes become intertwined.
The setting for this plot is a "multiverse" consisting of many parallel universes (using the Everett interpretation, there are an infinite number). The first Universes that discovered this "fact" went about creating a police force to ensure no abuse occurs by traveling from one universe to another through "quantum wormholes." Yulaw (Jet Li) is a former officer in this force who discovers that his strength increases when he kills a version of himself from another universe. He then goes about killing the 123 copies of himself that are known to exist and their strengths flow to him and his one remaining counterpart, Gabe (Li again), in the 124th universe (arguably there are more than 125 Universes, but a Yulaw-like personality does not exist in them).
Gabe, a regular cop in a universe similar to ours, is unable to explain his sudden increase in strength. That is until Yulaw comes after him. Aided by two of the Multiverse police, Roedecker (Delroy Lindo) and Funsch (Jason Statham), Gabe must stop Yulaw before Yulaw becomes "the one" standing, which would allow him to gain an enormous amount of power and rule the multiverse as a despotic god.
The acting is also pretty dismal, especially poor Statham, mired here in a laughable role and an absurd New York accent. Jet Li’s career was the only one to get a significantly believable boost (Hero, anyone?), mainly since most of his role revolves around a handful of awesome fight sequences. Nearly as impressive as Li's moves are the special effects that give already incredible fights extra voltage. The filmmakers take the Matrix slow-mo bullet thing a few steps further, almost to the point of abuse. But, man, is it cool to watch. And, scenes exhibiting Li’s superhuman strength--especially one where he picks up a police motorcycle with one hand and slams it down on a cop like a trash can lid--are equally visually fun.
However, much beyond that FX eye candy and an occasional clever joke related to inter-dimensional travel (like a jab at one universe which has a President Gore and another where President Bush proposes a health care system), there’s not much substance to The One. But I’ve got to give the filmmakers props just on the basis that they cast American Movie's Mark Borchardt in a minor role. It was good to see that guy getting some work.
Recommended, but leave your brain at the door ... but make sure to bring an extra pair of eyes. Just in case.
The setting for this plot is a "multiverse" consisting of many parallel universes (using the Everett interpretation, there are an infinite number). The first Universes that discovered this "fact" went about creating a police force to ensure no abuse occurs by traveling from one universe to another through "quantum wormholes." Yulaw (Jet Li) is a former officer in this force who discovers that his strength increases when he kills a version of himself from another universe. He then goes about killing the 123 copies of himself that are known to exist and their strengths flow to him and his one remaining counterpart, Gabe (Li again), in the 124th universe (arguably there are more than 125 Universes, but a Yulaw-like personality does not exist in them).
Gabe, a regular cop in a universe similar to ours, is unable to explain his sudden increase in strength. That is until Yulaw comes after him. Aided by two of the Multiverse police, Roedecker (Delroy Lindo) and Funsch (Jason Statham), Gabe must stop Yulaw before Yulaw becomes "the one" standing, which would allow him to gain an enormous amount of power and rule the multiverse as a despotic god.
The acting is also pretty dismal, especially poor Statham, mired here in a laughable role and an absurd New York accent. Jet Li’s career was the only one to get a significantly believable boost (Hero, anyone?), mainly since most of his role revolves around a handful of awesome fight sequences. Nearly as impressive as Li's moves are the special effects that give already incredible fights extra voltage. The filmmakers take the Matrix slow-mo bullet thing a few steps further, almost to the point of abuse. But, man, is it cool to watch. And, scenes exhibiting Li’s superhuman strength--especially one where he picks up a police motorcycle with one hand and slams it down on a cop like a trash can lid--are equally visually fun.
However, much beyond that FX eye candy and an occasional clever joke related to inter-dimensional travel (like a jab at one universe which has a President Gore and another where President Bush proposes a health care system), there’s not much substance to The One. But I’ve got to give the filmmakers props just on the basis that they cast American Movie's Mark Borchardt in a minor role. It was good to see that guy getting some work.
Recommended, but leave your brain at the door ... but make sure to bring an extra pair of eyes. Just in case.
Labels: MasterChugs Theater
posted by Chris 'Chugs' Taylor at
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