|
The Movie: Movie : The One In Hollywood there is an unwritten release schedule template that dictates what types of film's get released during which periods in the year. There's no questioning the importance of these decisions as releasing the right film at the wrong time will cause the box office to suffer and with movies costing as much as they do to make nowadays maximizing box office profits is very important. In general the holiday months are the busiest with the summer being unofficially dubbed the time for big blockbuster spectacles with little story and lots of action. The winter is generally known as the breeding ground for Oscar hopefuls and more serious fare that people like myself are clamoring for. There are of course exceptions to the rule because counter programming is never a bad thing. After all ideally the studios want to get the whole family to spend a night at the theaters with father and son at an action movie and mom and daughter at a romantic comedy. This year's November-December slate looks to be pretty talent heavy with directors such as Ron Howard, Steven Soderbergh, Cameron Crowe and Chris Columbus all releasing their new opuses. Star talent doesn't stop with the directors though as Russell Crowe, Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts appearing in the above films. It's truly looking to be a pretty good couple of months for movie fans which will lead to lots of ticket sales and money being put back into the struggling economy. The battle at the box office will be a tough one and movies will either make or break it during the ever crucial opening weekend period. One thing that is for certain films that are unsuccessful will be gone in an instant as the battle for screens will be heating up as each studio tries to get their product out there for the masses. One such film that will be gone just as fast it arrived is "The One", the latest Jet Li feature. "The One" is set in an altered version of our present day. Instead of one universe life takes place in the multiverse, a set of parallel worlds each vastly different in environment and quality of life. In total the multiverse consists of 125 different worlds. It is explained that a variation of each human exist in each of these worlds. One human, a criminal by the name of Yulaw (Jet Li) has learned of an ancient prophecy that allows him to become a supreme being if he kills all other versions of himself. After each death he will become stronger and more powerful. When we first join Yulaw he has already killed 123 of his alter egos and has broken free from jail. The last remaining variant is Gabe a mild mannered Los Angeles county sheriff who is thinking of starting a family with his wife T.K (Carla Gugino). Like Yulaw, Gabe has also been gaining an enormous amount of strength as of late as the power that is unleased during a killing is spread amongst the remaining variants. Gabe begins to see Yulaw and his wife and friends tell him it's only in his mind but he is convinced that what he's seeing is very real. Hot on Yulaw's heels are multiverse agents Roedecker (Delroy Lindo) and Funsch (Jason Statham). A veteran and the hot headed newcomer. They manage to persue Yulaw and aid Gabe against him. Ultimately, after a number of fights, it comes down to the final showdown. "The One" was a movie I was really hoping would work. Despite the obvious "Matrix"-influenced scenes in the trailer this movie had what I thought was the makings of an action blockbuster. Instead of an exciting, over the top, mind bending sci-fi actioner. "The One" plays out like a poor imitation of the best moments of far superior films. The first sign of a problem occurs even before the opening credits are over with a voice over explaining the premise of the film. If you miss the first 60 seconds your going to be lost for a good 10 minutes before you figure out what's going on. I wasn't paying as much attention as I usually do during the credits as I had just returned to my seat after meeting a late arriving friend who managed to get there just in time. This threw me for a loop but I managed to figure it out. The problems continue on and begin to escalate in nature with the actions scenes. These scenes which are important to a film of this genre seem tired, boring, unoriginal, confusing and repetitive. When a film's key scenes are problematic you know something is drastically wrong with the feature. Not only have the fight sequences been done before but they've been done better. There is just no originality here and sometimes they serve no real purpose other then to distract people away from their watches ever so slightly. These scenes also suffer from being repetitive. in not only design and execution but in the case of the first major action sequence (a jailbreak) the fact that it's repeated in only a slightly altered form twice within the first 10 minutes. Why director James Wong (Final Destination) decided to use footage seen mere minutes prior a second time I'm not entire sure. Perhaps to pad the running time of his already very short film. The film's fights aren't easy to follow either as no distinction is made between the good and bad Li is made. The acting in action movies has never been particularly good. Aside from the occasional well acted action movie films in this genre aren't liable to earn any nominations come Oscar time. After all just look at the stars who frequent these pictures Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sly Stallone, Kurt Russell, Vin Diesel and to a lesser extent Bruce Willis aren't exactly the type of guys you'll see headlining a movie adaptation of Shakespere. Still as acting in action films goes the performances in "The One" are laughable at best. This isn't all the actors fault though as most of the blame can be attributed to the total lack of character development. Jet Li pulls double duty throughout most of the film and even appears as a 3rd character early on in the proceedings. As Yulaw/Gabe Li covers both ends of the spectrum with one being pure good and the other pure evil. It's that cut and dry, there's no moments where you think one could be the other. It's also hard to tell whos-who during the fight scenes. Ex "Spin City" star turned action hero Carla Gugino is adequate in the token female wife role. Make no mistake there's even less depth to her character then there is in Li's characters. Gugino who recently appeared as a female spy in the excellent "Spy Kids" looks pretty bored throughout her limited screen time. Delroy Lindo adds a certain something to every role he does but even his presence here is laugh worthy. Also appearing is Jason Statham who is best known for his roles in Madonna beau Guy Ritchie's films. Writer/Director James Wong and writer Glen Morgan know how to write a compelling story but for whatever reason are unable to do so here. Their last project was the horror film "Final Destination" which I enjoyed for it's fresh and interesting approach at the genre. In addition to that film Wong and Morgan are responsible for some of the best early X-Files episodes and as such aren't strangers to the science-fiction genre. Here they aren't so lucky as "The One" is nothing more then a string of unoriginal scenes set along a story thinner then a strand of dental floss. One of the things that concerned me initially before the screening was the listed running time of just under 90 minutes. In general most good action movies tend to closer to two hours then 90 minutes. In hindsight the best thing this film had going for it was it was over before I could really hate it anymore. The pacing was pretty consistent and it didn't seem like years whereas it easily could've. At the end of it's barely 90 minute running time the film does have a semi cool scene but the events leading up to that aren't nearly as interesting. Recycled action, effects and one of the poorest story lines I've ever seen make for a lousy "The One". In a season that's set to bow two highly awaited book adaptations in "Harry Potter" and "The Lord of the Rings" on to a record setting number of screens "The One" will be ushered out with the trash as quickly as it came in. Which is a good thing as less people will have to sit through it to find out just how lame this One truly is. Movie Rating : 5/10 Reviewed November 5 by Mark McLeod |