The One (2001 film): Difference between revisions

The One
The One
	The One Hong Kong film poster
Directed by	James Wong
Written by	Glen Morgan; James Wong
Produced by	Steve Chasman; Glen Morgan; Charles Newirth; James Wong; Todd Garner; Lata Ryan; Tom Sherak; Greg Silverman; Happy Walters
Starring	Jet Li; Delroy Lindo; Jason Statham; Carla Gugino
Cinematography	Robert McLachlan
Edited by	James Coblentz
Music by	Trevor Rabin
Production; companies	Revolution Studios; Hard Eight Pictures
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	November 2, 2001;
Running time	87 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$49 million
Box office	$72,689,126 (worldwide)

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The One is a 2001 American science fiction action film directed by James Wong. The film stars Jet Li, Delroy Lindo, Jason Statham and Carla Gugino. The film was released in the United States on November 2, 2001.

Plot

Gabriel Yulaw (Jet Li), once an officer of the "Multiverse Authority" (MVA) that polices interdimensional travel (via detecting wormholes), seeks to hunt down all variations of himself in alternate universes. By killing all four of his other selves (becoming the last version), and absorbing their life energies, he believes he will become a godlike being called "The One". Yulaw is briefly captured by MVA agents Rodecker (Delroy Lindo) and Funsch (Jason Statham), only to escape from captivity during the trial sentencing him 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 prisoner for the Sheriff's Department, Gabe "feels" Yulaw's presence just before he attempts to kill Gabe. Yulaw escapes, but is followed by Gabe,who inhumanly leaps a very high wall. Landing on the other side, Gabe is shot and wounded by Yulaw. As Yulaw approaches Gabe to finish him off, they are interrupted by Rodecker and Funsch.

Gabe realizes Yulaw is identical to him in every way. Not knowing about interdimensional travel, Yulaw's appearance is shocking. After checking into the hospital Gabe feels Yulaw's presence again. There is another fight, which Rodecker and Funsch again foil. Yulaw deters them from shooting him because if he is killed, then Gabe would then be left as the only "One". Dressed alike and identical in every way, Gabe and Yulaw's battle confuse Gabe's police 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 her husband. 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 wormhole.

Yulaw, Gabe and Funsch arrive at the industrial plant, where the final battle between Gabe and Yulaw takes place. When Gabe eventually wins, all three are caught in a wormhole and taken back to the MVA headquarters in the Alpha Universe. Yulaw is transported immediately to the prison colony universe after a last attempt to switch places with Gabe. The MVA then prepares to send Gabe 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 he will still become the One; standing at the top of a Ziggurat in the Hades universe, Yulaw battles hundreds of fighters as the credits roll.

Cast

Jet Li as Gabriel Yulaw/Gabe Law
Jason Statham as MVA Agent Evan Funsch
Delroy Lindo as MVA Agent Harry Rodecker, Gas Station Attendant
Carla Gugino as T.K. Law, Massie Walsh
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.^[3]

The hospital scenes were filmed at the North Hollywood Medical Center.^{[citation needed]}

In the documentary Jet Li is 'The One' on the special features section on the DVD, both characters Gabriel Yulaw (played by Jet Li) and his alternate universe counterpart Gabriel Law, or "Gabe" (also played by Li) use martial arts which represent their personalities. Yulaw 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 Yulaw is very direct, not caring whom he hurts while Gabe believes life goes in a circle, perfectly balanced.

Background information

As part of the promotion for the movie, there was an official website for the fictional Multiverse Authority called the "MVA Mainframe". Although the site is now defunct, it 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

The Multiverse Authority (MVA) was created in the "Alpha Universe". A prominent U.S. Senator and member of the Senate Parallel Universe Technology Committee named Marcos Rodríguez championed the original Quantum Tunneling Research Project and was instrumental in raising the necessary funds. However, shortly after the first successful Quantum Tunnel jump, Rodríguez was indicted on charges of campaign finance fraud and accepting kickbacks from government contractors. Before he could be brought to trial, Rodríguez 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, Rodríguez 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.^[2]

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.^[4]

Soundtrack

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

Drowning Pool – "Bodies"
Drowning Pool – "Sinner"
Disturbed – "Down with the Sickness"
Godsmack – "Awake"
Jesse Dayton – "Train of Dreams"
Papa Roach – "Blood Brothers"
Papa Roach – "Last Resort"
Linkin Park – "Papercut"

References

^ "The One (2001) – Box office / business". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved February 27, 2011.
^ ^a ^b "The One (2001)". Box Office Mojo. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved February 27, 2011.
^ Fuchs, Cynthia (2001). "The One review". PopMatters. Archived from the original on February 27, 2011. Retrieved February 27, 2011.
^ "The One (2001)". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved February 27, 2011.

External links

Template:James Wong and Glen Morgan

[1] "The One (2001) – Box office / business". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved February 27, 2011.

[bom-2] "The One (2001)". Box Office Mojo. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved February 27, 2011.

[3] Fuchs, Cynthia (2001). "The One review". PopMatters. Archived from the original on February 27, 2011. Retrieved February 27, 2011.

[4] "The One (2001)". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved February 27, 2011.

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 ==Plot==
-Gabriel Yulaw (Jet Li), once an officer of the "Multiverse Authority" (MVA) that polices [[Dimension|interdimensional]] travel (via detecting [[wormhole]]s), seeks to hunt down all variations of himself in [[Parallel universe (fiction)|alternate universes]]. By killing all of his other selves (becoming the last version), and absorbing their life energies, he believes he will become a godlike being called "The One". Yulaw is briefly captured by MVA agents Rodecker ([[Delroy Lindo]]) and Funsch ([[Jason Statham]]), only to escape from captivity during the trial sentencing him to life in a penal colony.
+Gabriel Yulaw (Jet Li), once an officer of the "Multiverse Authority" (MVA) that polices [[Dimension|interdimensional]] travel (via detecting [[wormhole]]s), seeks to hunt down all variations of himself in [[Parallel universe (fiction)|alternate universes]]. By killing all four of his other selves (becoming the last version), and absorbing their life energies, he believes he will become a godlike being called "The One". Yulaw is briefly captured by MVA agents Rodecker ([[Delroy Lindo]]) and Funsch ([[Jason Statham]]), only to escape from captivity during the trial sentencing him 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 prisoner for the Sheriff's Department, Gabe "feels" Yulaw's presence just before he attempts to kill Gabe. Yulaw escapes, but is followed by Gabe,who inhumanly leaps a very high wall. Landing on the other side, Gabe is shot and wounded by Yulaw. As Yulaw approaches Gabe to finish him off, they are interrupted by Rodecker and Funsch.