The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been on the trend of exploring an ambitious concept in its movies with the “Multiverse.” It started in some of the original comic stories, but now it’s really been used to capitalize on a bevy of crowd-pleasing moments. Other movies, such as Everything Everywhere All at Once, also use the multiverse to explore the different branches of life created by a single act. Even properties like Mortal Kombat are getting in on the game. While the “parallel universe” plot device has been used in many sci-fi stories in the past, back in 2001, a little action movie attempted to introduce the idea of the “multiverse” to a mainstream movie audience. Today, we take a look at Jet Li’s The One and see how it holds up with its own take on the concept.
Ok, so let me start this off by being real. The One is not exactly a movie that many people look back at fondly. It was massacred by critics and doesn’t have a notable following. Even Jet Li fans tend to hold it to a low regard with the rest of his filmography. However, there still surely is a number of people out there who either enjoy this movie as nostalgia, a guilty pleasure, or perhaps they genuinely get something out of it. Put me down in the “guilty pleasure” camp. As a Jet Li fan, it was somewhat refreshing to see a different kind of project for him, and no matter how hard it stretched to make him fit these roles, to see a Jet Li vs Jet Li fight certainly brought curiosity to martial arts fans. Did the ends justify the means? Well, maybe, maybe not.
The One has a short runtime, and the story is brief enough to be more like a two-part episode of a sci-fi show. So, it makes sense that it comes from X-Files creatives James Wong and Glen Morgan. The TV veterans would break into movies with their hit horror film, Final Destination, which was equally high-concept. However, the Final Destination series obviously had more lasting power.
The logic established and the universe built in The One felt somewhat fresh but definitely seemed like it was still in its infant developmental stage. The beginnings of something interesting are there, but it doesn’t feel realized enough, and it all seems to be at the service of just leading to the big end fight. This is why it also makes sense that they originally wanted this movie to star The Rock, cause the film’s story plays like a wrestling arc, where the ultimate payoff is the main event bout between the main rival characters.
They get to throw in some cute jokes about how universes differ, such as a fun list of Jet Li variants. One of the universes showcases Los Angeles as being the U.S.’s cleanest city, and there’s a timely joke about how one universe had Al Gore as president following the 2000 election controversy.
In the film’s plot, many iterations of every person exist simultaneously in the multiverse. When a variant of a person breaks the balance and kills another iteration in another universe, their life energy is divided amongst the survivors and increases attributes like strength and speed.
The movie starts off with a switcheroo. Instead of a heroic introduction of Li, we see him as a prison inmate being taken into transportation. And hey, look at that! Li shares the scene with Breaking Bad’s Dean Norris! While this prisoner is taken out into the parking garage, it’s not long until he’s killed. Then, it’s revealed that another Jet Li assassinated him, and this one is fully equipped with super strength and super speed. He then takes out a whole SWAT team with Drowning Pool’s “Let the Bodies Hit the Floor” blasting in the background.
This Jet Li variant is the villain of the film — Gabriel Yulaw. He has discovered that if he dwindles down all the versions of him from other universes, he will become incredibly powerful. Now, he hops from universe to universe to kill off other variants. He believes that when he is the only one left in existence, all the life energy from the others will turn him into a god.
The only way people travel to other universes in this movie is through a random wormhole that opens up, but these wormholes can be tracked, just like the weather. And they make multiverse travel look like the most painful thing ever. Multiverse jumping has been deemed restricted and is policed by a special group of law enforcement. While Yulaw tracks down the other variants, he’s being hunted by Multiverse agents played by Delroy Lindo, who previously worked with Li in Romeo Must Die, and Jason Statham, who became a frequent co-star of Li in future projects.
Yulaw comes to the point where only one variant is left, and this Jet Li is the film’s hero – Gabe Law. Gabe lives in our universe and is an officer of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department. He also has a loving wife named T.K., played here by Carla Gugino. The film implies that Gabe and T.K. have noticed how he has developed amazing abilities lately. When he faces the evil Yulaw, Gabe starts having an existential crisis but starts to figure out that this all has to do with the changes he’s been feeling. To make matters worse, Gabe becomes a fugitive after his Sheriff buddies see Yulaw kill multiple people.
Eventually, the good Gabe gets pushed to his limit and goes out for Yulaw’s blood. Everything leads up to the finale, where there’s nothing left to do but fight! It looks like a fighting game screen when they finally square off.
This project was an interesting choice for Li for his fourth English-language film. Li’s American debut in 1998 was explosive as the villain in Lethal Weapon 4. While many felt that the movie may have underwhelmed, it’s almost unanimous that Li was the best part, and this would even be the first time he played a bad guy. His next American project was Romeo Must Die, a modern, hip-hop take on the rival family’s plot, but fans of Li found the action too reliable on wirework and not up to standard. His next follow-up, Kiss of the Dragon, was admittedly a response to the fans and had him return to more grounded martial arts fighting.
His frequent fight choreographer, the late great Corey Yuen, worked with Li again for the fight scenes on The One. And they used this movie as an opportunity to do something unique. In keeping with the theme that the variants have different personalities, they added an extra layer to the two Gabes. Instead of using just general kung fu for both, the villain Yulaw uses a style called Xing Yi Quan, which is more direct and aggressive, while the hero, Gabe, uses Bagua Zhang, which uses open palms and a more circular form of motion. It’s also kind of a throwback to old-school martial arts films where characters fought to see whose style is superior.
So, how’s the big fight, you might wonder? It doesn’t compete with Li’s more coveted scenes, like the fights in Fist of Legend or the Once Upon a Time in China movies, but it has interesting ideas. Gabe fights aggressively in the first round, but he gets his ass handed to him by Yulaw cause he’s fighting on tilt; then, in the second round, Gabe adapts and starts using his Bagua Zhang style to counter Yulaw’s offensive moves. There are sci-fi aspects incorporated into the fight since both have superhuman abilities. These high-flying elements would be seen by audiences of the time as aping off The Matrix’s visuals, which came out just a few years before. What’s ironic is The Matrix fights were choreographed by Jet Li’s other frequent collaborator, Yuen Wo-Ping.
In this movie, Li joins the likes of Van Damme and Jackie Chan as an action star, acting against a double of himself. However, in The One, there are extensive scenes of Li fighting against his variant. Special effects have come a long way, but this didn’t have the budget of something like The Matrix with only a price tag of just under $50 million. So, the production tried varying methods of face replacement and split screens for the many shots of the two Gabes in combat. The results sometimes left a lot to be desired.
While there isn’t much substance to this movie, there are some nice character moments with Jet. As Gabe, it’s cool to see him in a loving marriage, which is a rarity in his movies. It also doesn’t hurt having Carla Gugino as the wife. And when he thinks he’s going crazy, Jet pulls out some pretty good dramatic acting and shows a better command of his English than other movies he’s been in.
Jet has proven in the past that he can be an amazing bad guy, but Lethal Weapon 4 knew better how to utilize him. He had an air of mystery in that film since he didn’t speak much and was like a bomb ready to explode. They tried to make him a mustache-twirling, monologuing villain in The One, but it wasn’t nearly as effective. Delroy Lindo is always reliable as he plays Yulaw’s former partner, which gives his character a bit of a dramatic background. And where else could you watch Jet Li fight Delroy Lindo?
Statham was coming off of John Carpenter’s Ghosts of Mars when he appeared in this movie, and it wouldn’t be long before he reunites with Corey Yuen for his breakout action movie, The Transporter. Unfortunately, he doesn’t get to do anything noteworthy here. With his hair and snarky personality, he comes off as a lower-rent Bruce Willis in this. Carla Gugino has little to do here, but her chemistry with Jet is incredibly wholesome. She even gets to have her own evil variant as Yulaw’s girlfriend.
The One earned nearly $80 million worldwide, which made it a modest hit, but it’s mostly been forgotten. Especially now that the multiverse is being done by bigger franchises, but if this movie may be known for something, it’s the ending where Jet Li delivers the line, “I am Yulaw! I’m nobody’s bitch! You are mine.” Then, he fights a horde of prisoners as Papa Roach’s “Last Resort” blasts.
