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Guilty Pleasures – The One

2 min read
5

Jet Li crossing dimensions to murder himself while an underpowered Jason Statham tracks him down in order to prevent him becoming a god and ruling all of time and space.

No, it’s not an awesome dream, it’s a film, that actually happened, and it friggin’ rocked!

There is not one universe, but there are many, which is a multiverse. Supposing you are just one person, there are many other versions of you in the other universes, there are ways to travel, but only a police agency,MVA, can travel only for police procedures. Gabriel Yulaw is a former MVA agent, who killed another version of himself in self-defense.

It made the other versions of him stronger. When Yulaw found out about this, he became power-hungry killing the 122 other versions for two years. After killing Lawless and getting captured by his former partner Roedecker and a new MVA agent Funsch, Yulaw managed to escape the prison and is trying to kill his last target, Gabe Law who is a police officer.

He is also at Yulaw’s strength. Roedecker and Funsch now have to arrest Yulaw before he can kill Gabe. There is a possibility that the universe could die or make Yulaw invincible. After encountering Yulaw for the first time…

What if you discovered the most dangerous man in the universe was you? We’d probably bump fists, shout “DUUUUDE” and then proceed to wreak all kinds of havoc, but hey, that’s just me.

When it comes to action movies, the idea of an evil doppleganger always sell, as Jean Claude Van Damme would back up, based on his filmography. But even though The One has a great premise let down by a shakey story, it’s also something of a rarity.

It was released in an age when the directors behind films thought that it was a great idea to flash bright lights at their cameraman and work while undergoing a fit, resulting in shakey-cam visuals that nauseate more than they entertain.

But as an action film, The One is pretty rock-solid. It’s got Li in fine physical form, using his heightened skills to outrun cars, kick all kinds of ass and use everything around him as a weapon. Seriously, when’s the last time you saw a man get pulverised with a motorcycle? Li did that, by using the damn thing as a makeshift club!

Statham is also in good company here, as he assumes a role that is less ass-kick and more devious, as he hunts down Yulaw with his senior partner, played by Delroy Lindo, a character that is a week away from retirement, based on his ultimate fate.

But what I love most about the film, are those gleaming instances of slow to fast-motion action, something that I wished that I could have seen more of.

I don’t ask for too much in my action films, and The One delivered on the few that it made for me. Also, it’s got one of my favourite endings in action movie history, scored to the tune of a classic Papa Roach song.

For me, that was just the icing on the parallel dimension cake.

 

Last Updated: August 22, 2012

5 Comments

  1. Hey, I also liked this movie a LOT.
    Jason S is cool in my books, and the storyline was kinda cool.

    One thing though, they send ‘that’ Jet Li to the prison planet and he goes all apeshit with the inmates, but aren’t they afraid that he gets killed and the ‘real’ Jet Li becomes THE ONE??

    Reply

    • Darryn_Bonthuys

      August 23, 2012 at 07:51

      I think in that dimension, stranding a super-powered Jet Li on a planet of people who want to do horrible things to his mouth is considered humane.

      Reply

  2. Kervyn Cloete

    August 23, 2012 at 06:22

    Yu-Law is no one’s bitch!

    Reply

  3. James Francis

    August 23, 2012 at 08:52

    I felt that it was two-thirds of a movie, lacking something at the end. Still, it was fun and I kinda wish they made a sequel…

    Reply

    • Kervyn Cloete

      August 23, 2012 at 11:39

      You’re right. The last act isn’t as good as the first two, but it’s still a pretty fun ride.

      Reply

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