Take The Matrix, combine it with Sliders and The Highlander, and you've got the latest Jet Li entry into North American action movies, The One, an entertaining but badly made piece of work.
Jet Li stars in dual roles: the bad guy, Yulaw, and the good guy, whose name escapes me right now. Yulaw wants to kill the good-guy so as to become "The One" and, essentially, become a god.
Oh yeah, and there's also this point about there being 124 multiverses (versus one universe), and a mirror of every person in each one of these pocket universes. Should one of these people kill their mirrors, then the power of the man killed is transferred to all of his survivors. Now, there are a few theories: either the last one alive will be akin to a god, or the universe will destruct (there's another, but I've forgotten it seeing as its been over a month since I last saw it).
Yulaw is banking on the god theory.
The movie's concept isn't all that great, to begin with. Intriguing, yes, but not all that good. Plus, not much is done with it. Instead of multiverse travelling going on a fair amount, it's only two to three times. It could have been about tracking a killer through pocket universes, but it isn't. It's about trying to stop him without killing him.
Then the fights. These aren't nearly impressive, just an excuse to show off some decent special effects. Think I'm kidding? Take into account that Yulaw is one kill away from god-status. He is, therefore, will-nigh invincible (ie: exceedingly strong, quick, etc etc etc). Thus almost all of the fights are as boring as hell except for the final fight between the two Jet Lis, which is so overrun with computer effects that it's almost just as boring to watch as the regular fights.
I won't even give the horrible writing the time of day, let alone the satisfaction of having something said about in this review outside of this one sentence.
If it's so bad, you ask, then why 2.5 out of 5 stars? Simple: it's bad, but it's entertaining, quite possibly the most entertaining of Jet Lis North American-made flicks yet. Not saying it's his best-made, but certainly the most entertaining (you know, so bad that's it actually good?).
End result? See it on cheap night, or matinee, or if someone else is buying. Other than that, I suggest that you wait for it to come out on video.