The One

Directed by James Wong, The One follows Jet Li’s Gabe Law as he’s forced to battle an evil doppelganger from a different universe alongside a pair of multiverse cops (Delroy Lindo’s Harry and Jason Statham’s Evan). Filmmaker Wong, working from a script written with Glen Morgan, does an effective job of initially luring the viewer into the increasingly erratic and uninvolving proceedings, as The One kicks off with a slick yet thoroughly engaging opening stretch that effectively establishes the movie’s sci-fi-friendly landscape and assortment of agreeable characters – with, in terms of the latter, Li’s personable, compelling work as both the protagonist and antagonist standing as an immediate (and ongoing) highlight. (This is despite the fact that Wong eventually dresses the two characters in exactly the same outfit, which periodically makes it difficult, to say the least, to tell the two figures apart.) It’s disappointing to note, then, that the picture slowly-but-surely wears out its welcome as it progresses into a midsection and second half devoid of wholeheartedly engaging interludes and sequences, as the emphasis is placed on a series of underwhelming action set-pieces that are exacerbated by a succession of questionable, momentum-killing stylistic choices (eg shaky camerawork during fight scenes, a relentless use of dated nu metal songs on the soundtrack, etc). And although the last shot is admittedly rather memorable, to the extent that one wishes the movie started from there, The One has long-since cemented its place as disappointingly half-baked endeavor that never quite lives up to the promise of its decidedly captivating setup.

** out of ****