The One

Hey! Why'd this film get such a low rating?

I hope it's not due to the drama / arty types. I swear they walk into an Arnold Schwartzenegger film and start critiquing the dialogue or the deep cinematic reflections on life. I think they may have formed a false expectation. Action movies don't aim for that stuff, so it's a little unfair to then expect it.

Mostly stuff blows up in "The One", and I'm totally OK with that, being an action movie buff. What's weird is that you know they're using lots of wires and some of the stunts are a little overdone. But forget the fictional character's skill -- just the skill you'd need as a stuntman or stuntwoman making this movie to perform some of these stunts is truly impressive!

Let me warn you that the plot is a pretty stupid, and while billed as a science fiction film it really is not. However, it's nowhere near as bad as sub-intelligent flicks "Independence Day" and "Mission Impossible". It was more like "Mission Impossible 2". And lots and lots of stuff blows up.

Compared to Jackie Chan, Jet Li's films have more action, but it's stunt-like rather than natural, more of an "edge" (including blood and gore), less comedy, and he speak better English. I still prefer Jackie. If you're new to martial arts films, ease yourself in with accessible Jackie Chan action/comedies "Shanghai Noon" or "Twin Dragons".

Who should see this film:

-- action movie buffs and borderline action movie types

who will trade over-violence for under-plotting.

And don't drag along your SO.

-- sci-fi movie buffs who don't form expectations of real sci-fi

and like action flicks

-- I can't think of anyone else.

I'll give "The One" an 8 out of 10.

I've seen Van Damme movies that all have the same genetic plots get higher ratings, but this movie is fun and has low ratings. It has a pretty cool plot and some nice ideas. Acting and the script is a little silly, but it's an action flick. Definitely worth a watch.

After watching most of the recent action movies, I left the theatre with a headache brought on by incredibly tight/shaky shots and edits so fast that any hope of seeing anything is lost. This movie takes a step back from that. It isn't entirely devoid of those annoyances, but is much better than most. In fact, at times, you can even see a whole string of punches and blocks without a cut or a shake! Of course there is the inevitable wire work, that combined with the necessary special effects to allow Jet Li to fight himself. But for once there is an excuse other than "because we can".

The story is pretty simple. A murdering criminal is killing all the copies of himself in all the other "universes". Each time one dies the life force/resonant string thing, gets divided amoungst the survivors. Of course this leaves a ton of questions that aren't addressed at all in the movie, but I can live with that since those are more topics for debate after having fun at the movie. That is one of the strengths of the movie, the progressively more intense action. As the movie progress, rather than trying to deal with any question the viewer might have, the pace and intensity of the movie goes up. The final action sequence is probably ten minutes long all told, which, to me, is a sign of a true action movie, as opposed to movies with action.

Overall I give it a 8/10 for fans of the genre. If you aren't particularly interested in sci-fi/martial arts, especially if you have a problem with wire work and blue-screens, then you might want to skip it.

This is a cracker of a film. It has a cool story with plenty of fight scenes to easily entertain the most jaded viewer for an hour and a half.

The movie has a real smooth feel to it. The visuals, effects and cinematography, look like they have had plenty of money spent on them. So its pleasing on the eye.

The fights (the core of any Jet Li movie) are sanitised compared to some of his other material, opening it up to younger audiences. Yet they are teaming with cool moves and excitement.

The most relevant aspect of this movie is none of the above. Its the feel of the film. The film is fun and will put a smile on your face :)

This is a movie definitely worth renting, but not worth buying unless its the Special Edition DVD or its VHS for under 10 bucks. Th fights were sweet,although looked slightly cheesy. it looked like they tried to achieve the matrix type effects but didn't have a good enough budget. The Acting was OK. They stuck some good actors in with some bad ones so that kinda screws up the whole feel for the movie. The storyline is quite simple and somewhat intriguing. There are many universes, you look quite similar in everyone and your all connected by a wave of energy. every time one of you dies, the energy of that you that died goes to the remaining yous. One man has killed all of himself but one. Th movie basically starts here. Yulaw is about to get banished forever but stops his universe travel and goes to the last universe left, ours. Lately Gabe law has been getting stronger but he doesn't know why.

Whenever they go from one universe to the next, they break up into little puzzle pieces and they didn't do a very good job for the visuals on those.

My rating a 3/5 Stars