Starring: Jet Li, Carla Gugino, Delroy Lindo, Jason Statham

Directed by: James Wong   Written by: James Wong, Glen Morgan

The Story: I'd like to think that there are a multitude of parallel universes out there for real. I'd like to imagine that there's another me in one of them that's really rich and has a lot of women and a big freaking house with a pool. Then I like to dream that I could travel to his world and meet him. And then kill him and take his friggin'' place! I guess that makes me as insane and evil as the villain in this movie, Yulaw.

Yulaw hails the Earth of an alternate universe where the greatest difference from our Earth seems to be that they've developed the technology to travel between universes. Of course, such travel is highly restricted and protected by an elite force of Multiverse Agents. Yulaw in fact was a multiverse agent until he went nuts. Its kind of strange that the movie uses the term "Multiverse" to describe the parallel universes because according to this movie there are 124 universes...yeah, that's kind of "Multi" but most sci-fi fans like myself think of the Multiverse as infinite. Anyway, Yulaw once was forced to kill his own alternate self in the line of duty and discovered that by doing so the life-force of his victim was transferred to him, making him stronger and faster. He then set out to eliminate all of his alternate selves and become the only ONE, which theoretically will give him Godlike power or maybe destroy all of reality. Yulaw doesn't know which will happen, but he's betting its the god like power thing and takes his chances.

Even though there are only 124 universes and not an infinite number, Yulaw racks up an impressive body count. When we first see him he's wasting alternate self 123! But his former partner, Roedecker and another agent, Funsch, are on his trail. They manage to capture him and bring him back to their home universe to stand trial. Yulaw is sentenced to exile in the "Hades Universe" (all the universes have cool ass names) but escapes at the last minute and travels to our universe to kill the last of his alternate selves....Gabriel Law. Roedecker and Funsch follow him.

Gabe Law is a police officer all around good guy. He has a lovely wife, T.K. Yulaw attempts to kill him while he's working on a prisoner transfer but the timely arrival of Roedecker and Funsch plus his bullet proof vest keep him from biting the dust for good. But Yulaw sure didn't travel all this way to have his last victim survive so easily. Gabe though is pretty calm for a guy that just saw his duplicate trying to kill him. None of the other cops got a good look at Yulaw, so Gabe only tells T.K. about his doppelganger. T.K. is worried about her husband because he has been feeling strange lately. As she tells him, "People get older, not faster and stronger.". You see, unbeknownst to Gabe at this point whenever Yulaw kills one of their alternate selves the life force is divided amongst the survivors. So now Gabe shares the same power that Yulaw does. Only he thinks he may be ill in some way. Now that's a pessimist. If I started feeling stronger and faster and doing fantastic feats like these two I wouldn't be all sulky thinking "Man, I must be really sick!". I'd be more like "YEAH, Baby! I'm DA MAN!". T.K. talks Gabe into getting an MRI to see if he really is sick or not, and naturally, Yulaw, skulking in the shadows follows them to the hospital so he can kill Gabe. (plot point: Gabe has to remove his wedding ring for the MRI, and the camera lingers on the pale circle of skin on his finger.) Also lurking in the shadows though, are Roedecker and Funsch. When Yulaw makes his move the two MV Agents are there to save him, chasing Yulaw off. Unfortunately some innocent hospital staff become victims of Yule's rampage and the police, seeing Yulaw on the cameras think that Gabe has gone mad. Gabe runs and Funsch and Roedecker split up. Roedecker will try to find Yulaw and Funsch will tail Gabe in case Yulaw shows up.

This movie is pretty quick to give some fast exposition. Roedecker manages to catch up with Yulaw and that's really when we get a lot of the back-story of how Yulaw killed his first alternate self in self defense and how by killing his doppelgangers he becomes stronger, etc. You'd think that knowing his adversary has the power of 123 guys or whatever, Roedecker would just shoot Yulaw. Especially when a possible outcome of Yulaw succeeding in killing Gabe could be the obliteration of the Multiverse. But noooo.....Yulaw gets the upper hand and kills Roedecker. No big shock. Yulaw then poses as Gabe and kills T.K. in cold blood. Funsch explains to Gabe what's really going on. Now Gabe is pissed off...after all, his hottie wife just got snuffed. Feeling he has nothing left to live for Gabe agrees to help Funsch find and capture or kill Yulaw. Gabe wants Yulaw dead, even if it means Funsch may have to kill him too. (remember the whole possible end-of-everything stuff? It applies to Gabe if Yulaw dies)

It doesn't take too much brain power to realize that eventually Gabe and Yulaw will face off in a super powered kung fu battle. Hell, that's what we expect...nay, demand....from a movie like this. What I wish though, is that this climactic battle didn't take place in the obligatory big ass factory with catwalks and pipes and stuff. it looked like something from Banjo-Kazooie! But all big climactic battle take place in factories, so I wasn't too surprised. Gabe manages to beat Yulaw just as the dimensional window opens. He, Yulaw and Funsch are transported back to Funsch's universe. This time the Multiverse Agents aren't going through with a trial. They grab Yulaw and plop his ass down in the chair meant to send him to the Hades Universe. But wait! They've actually grabbed Gabe! Luckily, Funsch notices the imprint of the wedding ring on Gabe's finger and switches them at the last minute. The bureaucrat in charge then orders Gabe to be sent home, but Funsch argues that if they send Gabe back to Earth...well, our Earth...he'll be locked up forever since the authorities think he killed T.K. and a few cops. He then sends Gabe to another alternate Universe where T.K. is still alive. Happy endings for all! Or is it? In the Hades Universe, Yulaw quickly becomes Top Dog of the prison there by kicking everyone else's ass. He exclaims that he will the ONE. Only a sequel will tell that tale.

The One was better than I expected it to be. Jet Li is a lot of fun to watch and I hope he gets some roles that will let him demonstrate his athletic prowess some more. The movie has little of characterization. It kind of jumps right into the action, only fleshing out the players as much as they need to be fleshed out. And trust me....I didn't miss the highly obvious similarities to Highlander. ("There can be only one!" to "I will be THE ONE!").

Best Lines: "After this there will be only one!"- Yulaw to Gabe before the big fight. By the way Guys, Christopher Lambert and Adrian Paul want a word with you.

Are you kidding me?

1.) Only 123 Universes? Man that's not a whole lot. Maybe I'm just greedy. I first heard of multiple universes from reading Marvel's "What If" comic books and that old Star trek episode where Kirk and the gang visited their evil doppelgangers (a story that DS9 drove into the ground by using about four or five damned times. For that matter there's a short story called "The Drifter" that ST: Next generation copied in an episode featuring Worf).

2.) Any doctors out there? If there are please don't be a big drip like the doctor that treats Gabe. Boy, she was just a drag. My mind reels with the thoughts of how I would have cursed her ass out.

3.) I'll give credit where credit is due. Usually in movies or TV shows where an actor has to play multiple characters its obvious that there are doubles and split screens involved. This movie doesn't look as cheesy. Thank the stars for modern technology, huh?

4.) I guess being power-mad makes you really stupid. Yulaw went around trying to kill Gabe in the most elaborate ways he could think of. Me? I'd have just waited for Gabe to be on the toilet or something or getting into his car and then blown him away. Think about it. There are a lot of easy ways I could kill my double without a lot of hub-bub. Wait for the guy to come out and get the Sunday paper of the lawn and bust a cap in 'em....or cut the brake lines on his car. Put some poison in his beer (that would definitely get me if my double came to waste yours truly!). That's just off the top of my head. A truly evil power mad dimension hopper could probably do a lot better.

Nudity and Sex: none

Huh?:

Hey! Funsch's plan of sending Gabe to a universe where T.K. is still alive was a great thing to do but...but...there was never any indication that the dimensional porthole had any temporal capabilities. Wouldn't this alternate T.K. be married to the alternate Gabe in that universe? Oh, wait, Yulaw, killed all of the other alternate Gabes, so wouldn't Alt-T.K. be upset at seeing a double of her deceased hubbie? Well, maybe, this Alt-T.K. never even knew Gabe in her universe...I can buy that. But that still doesn't explain how Funsch would know what universe to send Gabe to in and arrange it so he could meet Alt-T.K.. Its not like he had more than 45 seconds to think of it either.

This is a little too metaphysical for me.....Gabe has to fight himself! I've had some real knock down drag out fights with myself too, but not in the flesh. Usually its all in my mind, like when "aw, f*ck it" me has to fight "this is a stupid idea" me over a decision. ("Aw f*ck it" me wins way too often)

The Final Judgment: This movie was definitely better than an episode of Sliders. (A show with an interesting premise, but still it bored me to tears) Jet Li fans and sci-fi fans will enjoy it. Hey, its not supposed to be the pinnacle of movies its supposed to be fun. The One is quickly paced, never boring and as I said Jet Li is great to watch. I can only wonder on what they'd call the sequel...The One II? Perhaps the Second One...hmmm....