The One

release year: 2001
genre: sci-fi/action
viewing setting: theater, 11/2/01
what I expected: martial arts mayhem
what I got: more sci-fi and dialogue than mayhem

synopsis: There are 124 parallel universes, and a guy from one of them is killing the alternate versions of himself and gaining power. There's one other of him left...in our universe.

impressions: Basically entertaining mix of science fiction, gun action, and martial-arts fighting action. The premise was interesting, with all remaining instances of a person growing stronger/faster/smarter when one of them was killed. This movie was a little to Matrix-y for my tastes - I hate that kind of action scene. One other problem, not related to the movie itself, had to do with the audience. It had a couple of crying babies and talking children, but the biggest issue was that about half of the people in the theater with me either thought the movie was really happening, were too stupid to understand it without a lengthy explanation of each scene, or both.

acting: Jet Li is known for his fighting, but he can act well enough, especially considering that he's recently learned English. Both guys who played the dimension-cops (Delroy Lindo and the other one) did pretty good jobs, as did the woman who played Jet Li's wife.

final word: Entertaining, worth seeing; possibe repeat viewing for serious Jet Li fans.

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