The One Information

The One is a 2001 American action film directed by James Wong and starring Jet Li, Delroy Lindo, Jason Statham and Carla Gugino.

Plot

A superhuman criminal named Gabriel YuLaw (Jet Li), once an officer of the "Multiverse Authority" (MVA) that polices interdimensional travel (via detecting wormhole openings, which can be predicted like the weather), seeks to hunt down and kill all other variations of himself in alternate universes. By killing all of his other selves, (and thus becoming the last version of himself) and absorbing their life energies into himself, he believes he will become "The One", a godlike being. YuLaw is briefly captured by MVA agents Rodecker (Delroy Lindo) and Funsch (Jason Statham), only to escape from captivity during the final phase of his sentence to life in a penal colony.

The last known alternate, Gabriel (Gabe) Law, works in the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. For two years he has been experiencing increases in strength, speed and mental ability but neither he nor his wife, T.K. Law (TK) (Carla Gugino), can understand why. While transporting a snitching prisoner for the Sheriff's Department, Gabe "feels" Yulaw's presence just before he attempts to kill Gabriel Law. Yulaw escapes, with Gabe giving chase and leaping a very high wall " which is humanly impossible. Upon landing on the other side Yulaw faces Gabe and shoots him, but not fatally. Going in for the kill, Yulaw is interrupted by Rodecker and Funsch.

Gabe Law sees Yulaw, who is identical to him in every way. Being unfamiliar with interdimensional travel between universes, Yulaw's appearance is incomprehensible. At the hospital again Gabe feels Yulaw's presence. There is another fight and Rodecker and Funsch again intervene. Yulaw deters them from shooting him because if he is killed, then Gabe will pose a problem because he would then be left as the only "One". Dressed alike and identical in every way, Gabe and Yulaw's battle confuse Gabe's Sheriff Department colleagues. Both Gabe and Yulaw manage to escape the hospital.

Rodecker is faced with a dilemma: they are chasing two superhumans, they cannot kill either one. Funsch insists that YuLaw, as the instigator, must be dealt with in a more aggressive manner. Rodecker makes a fateful decision to "go way off procedure" and split the team. Rodecker pursues Yu Law and is killed. Funsch catches up with Gabe and tells him about the multiverse and why he has become stronger. Yulaw finds Gabe's residence where TK, believing it is Gabe, attempts to protect him, but she senses he is not really Gabe. Gabe arrives only to have Yulaw force him to watch while he kills her. Funsch finds Gabe and they team up to find Yulaw at the next occurrence of a wormhole " an industrial plant.

Yulaw, Gabe Law and Funsch arrive at the industrial plant, where the final battle between Gabe and Yulaw takes place. where Gabe is ultimately victorious, but all three are caught in the wormhole and travel back to the MVA headquarters in the Alpha Universe. YuLaw is transported immediately to the prison colony universe after a last-ditch attempt to switch places with Gabe. The MVA then prepares to send Gabriel back to his own universe where he will be arrested and put in prison for the murders Yulaw committed, but Agent Funsch instead sends him to a universe similar to Gabe's past via another wormhole, after Gabe told him about the events which led up to him meeting his wife. Yulaw, now in the penal colony, declares his intent to still become the one; standing at the top of a Ziggurat in the Hades universe, in order to prove his capability of becoming the one, YuLaw commences to battle oncoming waves of hundreds of provoked fighters approaching the Ziggurat as the credits roll.

Cast

• Jet Li as Gabriel "Gabe" Law / Gabriel Yu-Law / Lawless
• Carla Gugino as T. K. Law / Massie Walsh
• Jason Statham as MVA Agent Evan Funsch
• Delroy Lindo as MVA Agent Harry Roedecker / Gas Station Attendant
• James Morrison as Officer Bobby Aldrich / 'A' World Inmate #1
• Dylan Bruno as Officer Yates
• Richard Steinmetz as Officer D'Antoni
• Cynthia Pinot as Girl With Briefcase
• Steve Rankin as MVA Supervisor
• Tucker Smallwood as Prison Warden
• Archie Kao as Woo
• Doug Savant as Cop (uncredited)

Production

Originally the film was to have starred The Rock, before Li assumed the lead role.

The hospital scenes were filmed at the North Hollywood Medical Center.

In the documentary Jet Li is 'The One' on the special features section on the DVD, both characters Gabriel Yu-Law (played by Jet Li) and his alternate universe counterpart Gabriel Law, or "Gabe" (also played by Li) use martial arts which represent their personalities. Yu-Law uses Xingyiquan (The Shape-Will Fist), characterized by aggressive linear movements, while Gabe uses Baguazhang (The Eight Trigram Palms) which uses subtle, circular movements. These martial arts are confirmed by their own personalities as Yu-Law is very direct, not caring whom he hurts while Gabe believes life goes in a circle, perfectly balanced.

Marketing

As part of the promotion for the film there was an official website for the fictional Multiverse Authority called the "MVA Mainframe". The site, which is now defunct, provided detailed background material on the storyline and some of the characters, including some that were not in the film. Below is the information from the site.

History of the Multiverse Authority (MVA)

The MVA was created in the "Alpha Universe." A prominent U.S. Senator and member of the Senate Parallel Universe Technology Committee named Marcos Rodriguez championed the original Quantum Tunneling Research Project and was instrumental in raising the necessary funds. However, shortly after the first successful Quantum Tunnel jump, Rodriguez was indicted on charges of campaign finance fraud and accepting kickbacks from government contractors. Before he could be brought to trial, Rodriguez was able to access the prototype Quantum Tunneling Device and jump into the "Beta Universe." Due to the infancy of the technology, by the time he could be tracked, Rodriguez had already arranged the death of his Beta Universe "parallel universe version," also a U.S. Senator and had assumed his position.

A former Texas Border Patrol agent named Kyle Browning was hired to head security for the Quantum Tunneling Project and accompanied researchers on many of the first jumps. When one of the researchers made an unauthorized jump to escape from a tax fraud scandal, Kyle Browning successfully retrieved her.

The MVA was formed to address the problems of the new technology and the criminals who were abusing it. Kyle Browning was made Head Field Agent and set in place many of the practices and procedures still used in the tracking and apprehension of criminals in other universes. He also coined the term "parallel universe retrieval," meaning not just the capture of criminals, but the act of escorting them back to the Alpha Universe for trial.

Some time after its creation, the MVA appealed to all major technology producing Alpha Universe countries to contribute personnel and resources to the growing organization.

The MVA's basic mission is to prevent Quantum Tunneling from becoming a tool of crime and to apprehend all those who use it to escape justice and/or alter the affairs of parallel universes.

Field agents of the MVA are divided into two interrelated groups. One group specializes in simple retrievals of Alpha Universe criminals who have used Quantum Tunneling to escape to another universe. The other group tracks criminals who commit "inter-universal crimes" such as smuggling or the termination of one's parallel universe versions.

Reception

The One grossed $19,112,404 (an average of $6,604 per screen) in its opening weekend in North America, opening at #2, and eventually grossed $43,905,746. In other territories, the film grossed $28,783,380, making for a worldwide total of $72,689,126.

The film received mostly negative reviews. Based on 84 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an overall approval rating from critics of 14%, with an average score of 3.9/10.

Soundtrack

The score by Trevor Rabin was released, but the soundtrack was not.

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3. Disturbed " "Down with the Sickness"
4. Godsmack " "Awake"
5. Jesse Dayton " "Train of Dreams"
6. Papa Roach " "Blood Brothers"
7. Papa Roach " "Last Resort"
8. Linkin Park " "Papercut"