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Although
one could argue that renting "The One" and expecting entertainment
is a stupid idea, it really depends upon what kind of entertainment
you're expecting. You can't seriously walk into a film knowing that
it's about multi-dimensional travel + kungfu and starring Jet Li
and expect an Academy Award contender. You should expect
the exact opposite.
To
give you some indication of the quality of "The One" you
should know that it was a film that originally was written for the
Rock but he had to back out of it. And to really know how bad
this film is, you should know that it would have been better
with the Rock in it.
The reason is simple.
Jet Li is the anti-actor. Physically, he's great to watch. A standard
in more than two dozen major and minor martial arts films and a
couple Hollywood films, he's a lot of fun to see kicking, punching
or striking a pose. Everytime he opens his mouth, however, a gigantic
sucking takes place that removes all energy from a picture. Close
his mouth, roll the stunts again and he's just fine.
Such is the problem
with "The One", a movie that is enjoyable when played
at fast speed; one that comes to a crashing halt when anyone is
asked to show an emotion that doesn't involve throwing a punch.
Quick,
shoot the one who has the bad lines
Jet Li plays a handful
of identically charisma-less bad asses in separate universes. At
the beginning of the movie, Li appears as a dangerous prisoner in
a high security prison, incarcerated presumably because over-acting
is a crime in that world. We don't get to know him much because
in the middle of a transfer from jail he's killed by another version
of him from another universe.
This version, named
ULaw, we learn is a multi-dimensional outlaw who is busy killing
other versions of himself in every universe. His goal is to become
the only One, an achievement that will either make him a
God or will destroy all reality. The version he just killed was
one of the last, leaving just ULaw and one other. After escaping
from a multi-dimensional police force (lead in a thankless role
by the otherwise stellar Delroy Lindo), ULaw goes hunting for the
second to last version of himself, an L.A. Sheriff in a universe
that looks kind of like ours.
While Jet plays a sneering
multi-dimensional killer he's watchable though not actually cool.
He even gets a good line or two (or was that only one?). But Jet
Li as Gabe Law, the second to last Law who is a respected police
officer and married to a bland vetenarian, is a giant source of
anti-charisma. Since it is a tenet of movies that any cop with a
good home life is doomed to see it shattered, we initially hope
that any scenes of domesticity will quickly disappear in a shower
of gunfire, but that moment cannot come quickly enough in The
One.
The One has
its share of competent stunts, fights and outrageous special effects,
all of which are already spoiled in the commercials. ULaw and Gabe
Law are blessed with all the strength and uh.. intelligence of their
dead versions and so are a hundred times faster and stronger than
other humans, opening the picture to a selection of Matrix-style
stunts where the action is slowed down except for the movements
of the superhuman actor. Some of this is neat, some of this is a
bit cheap.
More of the
kicking, punching, exploding and cheesy effects would have helped.
Instead, dreaded character development intrudes on what could have
been a fast paced summer distraction. Its as if director James Wong
(a producer of the X-Files) needed to allow everyone in the audience
half an hour to visit the bathroom, answer their cellphones and
meet their neighbours.
When the action begins
again it's a rather lacklustre final confrontation between the two
Laws with the aid of CG effects and body doubles in the seemingly
the same power plant set that appears as the "final battle"
location in every science fiction movie that features bad acting.
If there's another
reason to recommend watching The One, it's in the denouement
where the bad Law is finally transported to a prison planet where,
as one of the two most powerful people in all reality, he gets to
utter a real hoot of a line.
I won't spoil it for
you because it really is worth seeing Li utter it. Now that's acting.
On DVD.
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