Jet Li's The One 2001 Action Martial Arts Film

"What Would You do if The Most Dangerous Man Alive Was You?"

Sep 18, 2009

There is not one you, there are many, and each version of you lives a different life. If the combined life forces were absorbed by one person they would become The One

Gabriel Law has inexplicably been growing stronger and smarter in recent years. Now he is about to find out why, and must challenge the most dangerous opponent he will ever face...himself.

Yu-Law (Jet Li) is a superhuman criminal who became superhuman after realising that if he travelled to alternate realities and killed different versions of himself then the life force connecting them to one another would be distributed amongst the survivors. He believes that if he is able to kill the last version then he will absorb all the power and became a god.

There is only one version of him left Gabriel Law (also Jet Li). In his universe Gabriel works for the LA County Sherriff’s Department and is married to his beautiful wife T.K (Carla Gugino) who is growing concerned about why her husband has been getting stronger, smarter and faster.

Yu-Law crosses into Gabriel’s universe and attacks him and other officers. He fails to kill Gabriel and flees the scene, easily reaching 50 mph whilst running, with Gabriel being the only capable of keeping up with him.

Yu-Law was once a Multi-Verse Agent that turned rogue, his former partner MVA Agent Harry Roedecker (Delroy Lindo) and his new partner MVA Agent Evan Funsch (Jason Statham) are sent to make sure Yu-Law cannot become ‘The One’. It seems that becoming a god is only one possibility, if he kills Gabriel then Yu-Law might explode, or implode, and if he does then he might take the universe with him.

Eventually Gabriel and Yu-Law are forced to engage in a battle to decide the fate of the universe and to see which one of them will become ‘The One’

A Sci-Fi Martial Arts Film

The One focuses on the idea of multiple universes in which every person shares the life force of the others. A voice over the opening credits offers the audience an introduction into the multi-verse and how it works. The Alpha Universe has the Multi-Verse Authority to police unauthorised travel between the different universes via wormholes.

Jet Li is on top fighting form as both Yu-Law and Gabriel and actually incorporates different fighting techniques into each character. When portraying Yu-Law he uses Xingyiquan (The Shape-Will Fist) which is characterized by aggressive linear movements, and whilst portraying Gabriel he uses Baguazhang (The Eight Trigram Palms) which uses more subtle movements.

The special effects are top notch and there is a magnificent sequence in which Jet Li (as Gabriel and Yu-Law) fights himself as sparks rain down before them. The sparks are slowed to a fraction of their own speed whilst Yu-Law and Gabriel are fighting incredibly quickly which gives the audience an indication of just how fast the pair are moving.

Jason Statham is on hand to explain to Gabriel (and the audience) exactly what is going on in simple terminology.

The actors and story are secondary to the fantastic effects and flawless martial arts of Jet Li. As usual he does not disappoint. The One gives Li free reign to perform his outstanding martial arts techniques and doesn’t worry about getting tied down with an especially complicated story.

The One is a martial arts film with a good dose of sci-fi thrown in. The audience might wonder as the credits role if there are different versions of themselves in different realities living out different lives, or they might just smile as they enjoy Jet Li kicking some serious ass.

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