As if there haven’t been enough “Matrix” clones already, here comes another.
According to the expositional voice over at the beginning of “The One,” ours is not the only universe. In fact, there are many universes that make up the “multiverse.” Every human being exists in all the universes simultaneously. If that’s true then there are hundreds of N’Syncs out there in space ? oh, the horror.
If one of these simultaneously existing people die in one universe, then all of his or her strength and intelligence is distributed equally among the rest who are still living. Thus, this bad cop, Yulaw (Jet Li, “Romeo Must Die”), decides to use the quantum wormhole tunnels to travel around the multiverse and kill off all the other versions of himself so that he can be “The One.”
Eventually, he ends up in L.A. pitted face to face with himself as Gabriel, a good cop, who happens to be his perfect match in wit and fighting power.
It’s a very silly premise surely, but narrative is not really the point of an action film. The plot should serve to simply offer an antagonist and protagonist and let them battle each other in well-choreographed, supercharged fight sequences. Also, nifty special effects are a must, as well as a driving soundtrack and fantastic one-liners.
The film is written, directed and produced by James Wong (“Final Destination”). This makes the failure of “The One” an inexcusable travesty. Wong was responsible for writing and directing some of the best and scariest episodes of the early “X-Files.” In just an hour he conjured up terrifying monsters, hand-wringing action and unbeatable sexual tension.
Tragically, “The One” is the mess he makes with a star cast and a huge budget.
In terms of script failure, action movies lose their fun edge when they become offensive. In one scene the camera scans up and down Carla Giugno’s (“Spy Kids”) body so leeringly that it’s past offensive. Later, a female character excuses herself to do “girl stuff.”
Finally, when Gabriel is informed that he is married to a man in one universe he responds with an angry, “Hey!” followed by a threat and some expletives. Mr. Wong, your room is ready for you in the 21st century whenever you are ready to join us.
In terms of action Wong also fails. There’s a distracting subplot of two multiverse agents Roedecker (Delroy Lindo, “Get Shorty”) and Funsch (Jason Statham, “Snatch”) hunting down Yulaw ceaselessly. The talent of these two actors is wasted.
Wong also elects to dress Gabriel and Yulaw exactly the same so that the police and multiverse agents pursuing Yulaw don’t know if he is Gabriel or not. Unfortunately, neither does the audience, which leads to annoying confusion as to what the hell is going on.
The action sequences themselves are impressive but incredibly short. Once the smoke clears the film resumes its attempt at a plot.
“The One” succeeds at special effects, though.
There are some scenes lifted directly out of “Matrix” so shamelessly it’s a wonder that there hasn’t been a lawsuit. These include — but are not limited to — the famous underneath shot of a character leaping across two buildings and the bullet-dodging-in-slow-motion scene.
However, there is also a new, sure-to-be-copied effect involving the mixture of normal and slow motion in one frame. The wormhole travel sequences provide fascinating special effects as well.
“The One’s” tagline is: “Stealing the power of the universes one by one.” It should be “sucking the life out of the multiplexes one by ‘The One.'”
Grade: D
