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Jet Lag: 2 Reviews Of "The One" 266

Posted by JonKatz from the two-on-one dept.
If the Matrix successfully fused sci-fi, film noir and martial arts movies, maybe The One will end the shameless, non-stop ripoffs of the martial arts/ balletic combat sequences Neo brought to the big screen for the mass audience. This movie features not one but two Jet Li's, from parallel dimensions (sound familiar?), drop-kicking one another all over the galaxy, and both are stupefyingly boring. People who dodge bullets in slo-mo are getting to be so commonplace they're tiresome. And while we're at it, isn't it high time, so long as we're zipping people around via particle beams, to find a fresher weapon than the .9mm pistol that spews all those hot, clinking cartridges all over the place? Even passionate martial arts movie lovers can skip this one without regret, though two or three of the fight sequences were first rate. (Spoilage warning: plot discussed, not ending.)

These last few years have been good for lovers of martial arts movies, until recently a fringe cinematic genre, and for a new generation of stars like Jet Li. But The One (even the title is a ripoff from The Matrix) will bore even die-hard teen lovers of the form. It's slow, dull and humorless. Maybe it's time for this era to end. Jackie Chan does it a lot better, and with a lot more personality. John Wayne did the square-jaw resolute look a lot better. Li just looks ticked off all the time.

In this movie, the exotic and surprising spirituality of The Matrix is reduced to much incomprehensible gibberish about parallel universes --- the "multiverse" and the efforts of parallel figures -- in this case the two Jet Li's -- to seize control of all the different dimensions and become God of us all. Even the good Jet Li, who plays an LA County Sheriff and family man who is just doing his job and hanging around with his muscle-head buddies, and wants no part of this multi-universe politicking, doesn't exactly exude warmth. The bad Jet Li -- a monster from the parallel dimensions who transports himself through dimensions killing off competitors and look-alikes and agents from Galactic Central -- just glowers a bit more. Watching these Jet Li's square off in a noisy environment of Delta-force clad LAPD officers blasting away in their dark suits and racing unsuccessfully back and forth, traveling via Star Trek-ish time transporters, it's not only impossible to tell the good and bad guy apart at times, but pretty soon, you won't even care.

There are some nice special effects in this movie, and a super sound track that runs from jazz to hip hop to rock and rap, but there is absolutely no plot at all, and 90 percent of the battle scenes seem to take place in parking garages and sewers. They aren't nearly good enough to overcome this Jet Lag. I suppose this is all meant to be dark, but the primary impressions are just "low-budget" and "dull."

Review #2 from the second victim: chrisd

I really like Jet Li and I like science fiction, so *poof* -- a SF movie with Jet Li? A sure winner, right? Well, no. Now, I should point out that I don't expect Fellini from a Jet Li movie. I don't expect good writing, acting, casting, costumes, or even dialogue. I do expect a few things from a good fight movie, mostly good fighting, handy camera work and good lighting, and in an SF movie decent effects.

Unfortunately, "The One" disappoints. If you've seen the trailer or commercial (my way of saying spoiler warning ), there are some very cool things going on here: Jet Li kicking Jet Li's ass, Jet Li whapping people with Harleys, Jet Li flying through the air, walking the walls, jumping tenements in a single bound ... There is a lot of cool stuff going on. I assure you that must be the case, the problem is, they didn't do a good job of letting us see much of it. I don't know what specifically was wrong with the camera or editing work, but it just made you want to crane your head around to see what might actually be happening. Camerawork was one of the great things about "The Matrix." You could see and appreciate what was happening.

As Jon noted, the plot isn't really worth talking about, as there isn't much of one, and ieven that is very familiar. It's lsomething ike this: There are a bunch of universes, see, and so the bad Jet Li has traveled through 123 of the 125 universes killing the other versions of himself, becoming more powerful with every kill. As the parallel Jet Lis are killed, the Jet Lis who survive get more powerful, as the total Jet Liness is spread around into fewer Jet Lis. And so bad Jet Li, now very powerful, must kill good Jet Li (in our universe) to gain ultimate power. (Something Jamie calls the Law of Conservation of Jetliosity) Sound familiar? It should. It has been the plot of a number of science fiction franchises. In a scene near the end Jet Li even says "There can only be one of us."

But really, who cares about the story? This is a fight movie, after all. It should be judged accordingly. Can you picture watching a Jackie Chan movie and saying "gosh, this is really nothing like Sense and Sensibility"? Of course you wouldn't.

But you would want to see Jackie flipping ladders around while downing tequila shots and beating up neo-nazis. And Jackie delivers partly because you can see what he is doing. Jet Li is there, he's working, but the camera work stinks so you can't appreciate what he or his pals in Special Effects are doing. It's too bad -- "The one" could have been a lot more dumb, silly fun.

In short, if you really like Jet Li, go see it, but try to sneak in. One thing you can say about it is that it doesn't suck as much as "Romeo Must Die" did. (which isn't saying much, I know) and the effects when you can see them are kind of fun.
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Jet Lag: 2 Reviews Of "The One" More

Jet Lag: 2 Reviews Of "The One"

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  • See Iron Monkey instead!! (Score:5, Informative)

    by Mudhiker ( 15850 ) on Sunday November 04, 2001 @11:35AM (#2518847)
    At first I was going to go see this, because I've enjoyed some of Li's earlier work (Though not as much as Jackie Chan's ;-) and I enjoy a good bit of kicking and punching. But after seeing the preview in the theatre (Or should I say spoiler...as that's what they all are these days...) I decided that this will be one to let the roommate buy when it comes out on DVD in a month or two.

    Instead, go see Iron Monkey! It's absolutely wonderful Kung Fu and a great story. (IANAMA)
    • Iron Monkey was the best Kung Fu movie that I have seen in the theater.

      Unlike, the crouching animals movie, this one had a plot that worked, and some real fight moves (in addition to many laughable ones).
      • Actually, the "plot" to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, is based on an old Chinese tale. Granted, I'm sure things got spiced up here and there for the big screen, but it was an excellent movie.
        And c'mon guys... Jet Li has done worse movies than "The One"... anyone remember "Martial Arts of Shaolin"? :)

        --
    • I have to agree here. Even though I had to drive 60 miles to see it, Iron Monkey was worth the drive. Ang Lee *ALWAYS* delivers. The kung fu in this movie was excellent, especially the chain whip moves :) I will go see The One, but only because I'm a kung fu flick junkie. :) But if you're a Martial Artist like myself wanting to see EXCELLENT technique, check out Iron Monkey :)
    • A great story? All of the "moral" tones were dealt to the audience in an extremely heavy-handed matter, and all of the characters were close to one-dimensionally good or evil. The plot had as many storylines as a Soap Opera, though they merged much better than one.

      It was ok, but not something I'd watch again. OTOH, I did really like The One, even though I felt it could have had another 10 - 20 minutes in the storyline.

  • oh come on now... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by No-op ( 19111 ) on Sunday November 04, 2001 @11:35AM (#2518849)
    Who *really* sees Jet Li / Jackie Chan / etc movies with any intention of good screen writing, a plot, or any sense of meaning? just enjoy the gags and the moves. if you're poor buy it 3 years later from walmart or steal it or something.

    I see every jet li flick I can, even if I know it's going to "suck", because the man is amazing. then again I guess I have low standards, since I don't even pretend to care about the existence of a plot line. bah.
    • This movie offers brainless high-tech action without interesting dialogue, characters, motivation or texture. In other words, it's sure to be popular.

      • Ebert's Review (Score:3, Informative)

        by talonyx ( 125221 )
        Gee, thanks, Ebert.

        Why don't you at least link to his review [suntimes.com] instead of quoting without attributing it?

        anyways for everyone else go check it out, it's a funny read.
    • > Who *really* sees Jet Li / Jackie Chan / etc movies with any intention of good screen writing, a plot, or any sense of meaning?

      Guess you haven't "Fist of Legend" then.

      Dare I say it, one of the best martial arts of all time.
      • oh, I'm a huge fan of his. Fist of Legend is a wonderful flick, as is "The Enforcer" (at least in my opinion.) I think Jet Li is great, and some of his movies really have a plot and some emotional depth to them. just not all of them. I'm still a loyal fan regardless :)
      • Fuckin' A. That was one incredible movie. Well written, *well acted*, great camerawork, stunning fight scenes. The one with blindfolds was incredible. I need to buy this on DVD, soon.

        I don't usually expect that much from a Jet Li movie either, but even some of the worse ones I've seen- like "Black Mask"- have at least been good trashy fun. What pissed me off about "The One" was that even the fight scenes weren't too great. Jet Li is the type of guy who shouldn't use special effects, and this movie heaped them on. "Kiss of the Dragon" wasn't a very good movie, but at least when he got a chance to give a beatdown he did it without effects, and looked superb.

    • Re:oh come on now... (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Grahf666 ( 118413 )
      Perhaps I went in with low standards, but I liked this one. True, it was a Matrix ripoff a lot of the time, but the parallel universe concept was a neat one. Yeah, it's been done before, but hasn't everything "been done," somewhere before? Perhaps I'm jaded, but it's impossibe to expect true innovation in cinema these days.

      I thought the special effects were pretty good, and the superhuman stunts that Jet Li did were most impressive. The plot was a bit silly at times; a bit more backstory might have helped. But then again, almost every martial arts movie I've seen has had goofy moments. (/me points at the Flying Sleeve of Death in Iron Monkey)

      In the end, for someone who's seen The Matrix a few too many times, The One was well worth the $3.75 I paid to see it.
    • ...just enjoy the gags and the moves.

      That's what I thought going in the theater. Thing is, I have to agree with the reviews I've read here and elsewhere for one simple reason. The movie just wasn't fun.

      Was it Jet Li's flat acting? Bad camera work? I honestly don't know. I do know that when I left the theater from seeing "Iron Monkey" I was walking out smiling and glad I got to see it on a big screen.

      Definitely a movie to wait for DVD on. At least then there might be some entertainment value in how they did some of the special effects.
      • Wow, was it seriously that bad? you seem more on par with how I feel going to these sorts of movies; when someone willing to accept all the usual faults (and to whom bad dubbing is totally transparent and not even a factor) says it sucks, then maybe it does...

        if so, that's a shame. I've always admired Jet Li's amazing skills, and I still wish he hadn't passed on the lead role in Crouching Tiger. that role would have much, much more appropriately fit a 3 time Wushu champion than Yun-Fat Chow (who, let's face it, is best in his shoot'em up roles in John Woo films.)

        ah well, can't have your almond cookies and eat them too...

  • Point-nine-millimeter? (Score:4, Informative)

    by slackbp ( 450197 ) on Sunday November 04, 2001 @11:35AM (#2518851)
    There are no .9mm-caliber firearms. There are, however, lots of 9mm guns. (How do people come up with this stuff?)
    • .9mm is a tiny bullet that makes less noise and has almost no recoil...
    • Nines are fine if you live in the 'hood or are participating in a joint NATO exercise but for good 'ol ease of use and stopping power nothin beats a .357 Magnum S&W.
      • "...and stopping power nothin beats a .357 Magnum S&W."


        I hear that. I was in Vegas once, and my buddies and I stopped at a gun range. Me, being the wuss of the group, got a .22 ruger (spelling?). Ammo for me for the whole day was something on the order of $5. Matt got a .357, and when he fired it, I was standing about ten feet behind him. I could still feel my belt buckle rattle.


        Oh right, the topic of the thread..


        I saw The One on Friday night, and I thought it was a really neat concept, just poorly executed. Did the numbers on all the gauges really need to be in that wierd pseudo-Kanji font?


        The thing that really rubbed me the wrong way was the amount of violence in the film. Yeah, it was an action movie, and starring Jet Li nonetheless. But most of the fight scenes were brutal, rather than well-choreographed. And almost all the violence was directed at cops.


        The Highlander ripoff dialogue at the end made me cringe. And that white multiverse agent was probably the worst actor I've ever seen outside Will Shatner.

        • I saw The One on Friday night, and I thought it was a really neat concept, just poorly executed. Did the numbers on all the gauges really need to be in that wierd pseudo-Kanji font?

          The funny thing is, I have that particular font on my computer (It's called Far East, I believe). These days, quite often, I'll watch a commercial, or a show, or a movie, or something like that and see something written in a font that was downloaded off of one of those free font sites with 6 bazillion popup windows, and recognize it.

          Kinda destroys the 'coolness' factor. And makes it easier for me to duplicate it ;)

      • Well... sorta. One of the reasons nines are so popular with many gangs, especially those that favor drive by shootings, is their penetrating power. A nine millimeter, because it's so much lighter than a .357, or even a 38, will travel faster and have way more energy (remember, KE=1/2*m*v^2), and can thus easily penetrate a car door, for example. Your .357 mag usually won't do that without losing a helluva lot of power (and chopping up the door nicely). Now, why people use hollow points instead of FMJ's for a nine, I never understood... I keep my 9mm loaded with FMJ rounds, and my .357 with hollow points. Coupled with the .45 (which is really just for show), it's a nice collection...
        • While you're right about the penetrating power of the 9mm, I can't imagine gangstas ever bother to calculate that out. I always assumed they used 9mm so much simply because of the cost analysis.

          I have a pair of .45ACPS (Glock and Colt), a Beretta 9mm, and a Makarov 9x18, for instance, and I shoot regularly with friends who have .40 and .357Sig.

          In the end, the 9mm ammo is generally the cheapest considering the size of the ammo you get. 1000 rounds for about 120$, versus 150$ or so for .40 and a more for .357. 9x18Makarov runs about 130$, and my .45ACP costs me an ungodly 240$ for 1000 rounds. Needless to say, I'm getting into reloading soon.

          Now, if *I* were in a gang, I'd go pick up some Mosin Nagants (you know, the gun used in Enemy at the Gates). They run about 80$, ammo is cheaper than 9mm ammo, and the penetrating power is amazing. It can punch a hole in half inch steel from a hundred yards. Just FYI, it's a 7.62x54R cartridge. AK-47s use 7.62x39, so there's about an extra centimeter and a half of powder pushing that bullet out the chamber. Fun as hell to shoot, and if you're not wearing earplugs, you'll be deaf the next day.

          Alright, so I'm severely off topic, oh well. Oh, yeah, "The One." Looks stupid, I'm staying away. Sam Jooky

        • "A nine millimeter, because it's so much lighter than a .357, or even a 38, will travel faster and have way more energy..."

          I think if you check out an ammunition performance table you'll find that the standard .357 load has more velocity and energy than the standard 9mm load.
        • "...and the fact that the word "replica" is written on your gun and the word "Desert Eagle .50" is written on mine, would percipitate your balls into shrinking......
          "
    • But, there are hypodermic needles this size! Maybe that's what he meant.

      0.9mm=19 gauge [tnt-audio.com]. You can get 18 [asu.edu] and 22 [asu.edu] gauge needles.

  • Dear lord (Score:3, Interesting)

    by UberOogie ( 464002 ) on Sunday November 04, 2001 @11:37AM (#2518855)
    in this movie, the exotic and surprising spirituality of The Matrix

    ...And then he goes on to trash the lack of plot in The One.

    I now know that Katz lives in some alternate dimension unto his own.

    The Matrix plot, such as it was, was a paper-thin claptrap to frame the fusion of high technology and chop-socky, and chop socky still has better fight scenes. I honestly don't know why people like the Matrix so much. It was a bad, bad movie with some okay fight scenes.

    But even letting my personal opinion of the Matrix go for a moment--and not having seen The One-- calling the Matrix spiritual and plot-laden is ridiculous. How is "Programmer finds out that the world is an illusion and that he is humanity's digital messiah" so much deeper than "Man finds out that alternate dimension version of himself is killing all the others to steal their power"?

    At least he didn't talk about the affect of the One on globization, Columbine, and geeks in a post Sept. 11 world.

    • Re:Dear lord (Score:5, Insightful)

      by quartz ( 64169 ) <shadowman@mylaptop.com> on Sunday November 04, 2001 @11:56AM (#2518903) Homepage

      I now know that Katz lives in some alternate dimension unto his own

      So do you. All of us do. You don't really expect everybody to just accept YOUR opinion about things as the only valid one, do you? Then what's your point? Katz and other people saw something in the Matrix. You saw something else. That's how art works. Deal with it.

    • The One plotline just kinda reminds me of the Highlander stories...

    • Unstoppable force versus immovable object. (Score:4, Funny)

      by big.ears ( 136789 ) on Sunday November 04, 2001 @12:17PM (#2518956) Homepage
      I now know which one wins. When the unstoppable force that is a ./ reader's love for The Matrix meets the immovable object that is a ./ reader's hatred for John Katz, it looks like the unstoppable force gets thwarted.
    • its all about execution.
      do you honestly believe a one-liner can speak towards the quality of a movie?

    • Re:Dear lord (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Forager ( 144256 ) on Sunday November 04, 2001 @12:39PM (#2519016) Homepage
      The Matrix plot, such as it was, was a paper-thin claptrap to frame the fusion of high technology and chop-socky, and chop socky still has better fight scenes. I honestly don't know why people like the Matrix so much. It was a bad, bad movie with some okay fight scenes.

      The problem with movies today is that every great plot has been done already. Shakespeare pretty much used them all up about 400 years ago. And even his pieces were just rehashes of older stories. As far as basic underlying plot lines go (everything else is just details, after all) there is no plot that hasn't been done before. Any plot you summarize in one sentence will sound familiar, because it has been done already, again and again and again.

      But the beauty of the Matrix lies in the details. Matrix is a work of cinematographic beauty; not only is the camera work amazing, but the way the special effects blend with the real footage. A lot of people I've talked to (film professors, movie buffs, Joe Sixpacks) agree that if we could do these things in the real world, this is how it would look. The way things were visually concieved for The Matrix made it beautiful.

      What The Matrix did, really, was show us the same old story in such a way as to fool us into thinking we hadn't seen it before. It took something old and tired and made it look good again. The fight choreography was perfect, the cinematography was superb, and the special effects were on a level we've never seen before.

      Admittedly, Katz is milking The Matrix for all its worth, but it really was a valuable movie. Of course, that's just my opinion.

      ~Forager
      • Not all great plots were used 400 hundreds years ago but I get your point (think fight club, usual suspects, Casablanca, Maltese Falcon and most of the film noir genre... ack, long term memory failing... need rum...)

        Yes, Matrix is valuable as the first of its kind. But it wasnt much of a movie except for its visuals/wire fu. I saw it once in theaters, then again in cable. But I wouldnt go out of my way to see it again.

        Oh yes... and think "The Good, the Bad and Ugly". Damn great movie (imho).
      • The problem with movies today is that every great plot has been done already.

        Right, and as you say, these basic plots [3] and storylines [21 or 22, whatever it is] have been around since the first campfire. However, IMHO the cinematography can help the visual telling of the story, but the story still has to hold up. And here's a major point. I've probably seen more films and read more fantasy/sci-fi than 90% of slashdot readers and I watched The Matrix thinking the story was old, but there were some interesting use of new visual effects. Now compare my experience to that of a younger viewer, who has likely seen and read less than 10% of what I have and it would be more new to them. Good for them, they get more out of it than I do. Increasingly I'm off to the limited run films, stuff most have never heard of, but which wins Cannes, Sundance and other film festival awards for simply being done extremely well.

        Tricks like computer animation, rotating cameras, etc. become old fast.

      • Re:Dear lord (Score:2, Insightful)

        by potaz ( 211754 )
        The problem with movies today is that every great plot has been done already.

        Fuck that. I'm sick of people saying everything that can be done has been done, and trying to make themselves seem like intellectuals in the process.

        I'm not sure how many plays Shakespeare wrote, but I'll be safe and say it's less than a thousand. And you're saying all the stories than can possibly be told were used up telling them? Bullshit. By that logic by the time you're a little over 2 1/2 years old (1000 days) you've probably seen everything that's going to happen in your life.

        If you say that there's a finite amount of story lines, list them, damn it! You can't make a grand claim like that and not back it up. Saying "Any plot you summarize in one sentence will sound familiar, because it has been done already, again and again and again" is stupid, because compressing anything to one sentence robs it of its nuances and trivializes it. Observe: "WWII was a war in which we dropped an atomic bomb (two, actually) and won the war; also: many people died."

        Perhaps every story that can be told in 100 words has been told, but that doesn't mean the rest of human creation is redundant.

    • I now know that Katz lives in some alternate dimension unto his own.

      But unknown to the most people, Katz lives in multiple alternate dimensions, and this "evil Katz" in our dimension *must* be getting his super troll-writing powers by killing the good Katz's in other dimensions. It's up to last remaining super-Katz to face off in a fud-writing contest... TO THE DEATH.
    • Interestingly enough, there actually WAS a lot of deeper meaning to this movie. It was steeped full of Jet's Buddhist beliefs. It wasn't made prominenent, so if you wanted to ignore it it wouldn't be hard, but they were there.

      Examples:
      All the talk about the life force being in a circle (remember when he recites what his grandfathe said)

      When he switches from the closed-fist form to the open-fist form at the end. Soft overcomes hard.

      I can't think of any more off hand but there were more. I remember noticing them during the film.

      Secondly, I'm sick of people saying that Jet has *SOME* talent. He was the Chinese national martial arts champion (Wushu) 5 times before the age of 18, at which point he quit competing to do movies.

      Thirdly, can you name ANY people who were big stars in one country for years, and then moved somewhere else and remained a big star?

      I'd love to see Gene Hackman/Harrison Ford/Sam Jackson/whoever make it as a movie star in Hong Kong.

      Fourthly, have no misconceptions about this movie. It wasn't meant to be thought-provoking, atleast not much. It wasn't even marketed as such. It was marketed as "Jet Li beats himself up."

      So, duh, reviewers hated it. They were expecting Crouching Artsy Hidden Gravity. The people who actually saw it enjoyed it though. Cause the people who saw it saw it knowing what kind of movie it was. The two theaters I've seen it in have been somewhat full of people and almost all of them left very pleased with the result. I recall one black fellow commenting that it was, "off the hook." :-)

      Anyway, I loved it. I"m seeing it again today. Have fun,

      Justin Dubs
  • I went to see Kiss of the Dragon and got exactly what I expected from a Jet Li martial arts film: a lot of blood, not a lot of plot, and a girl who 'loves' him in the end. The only two things that made that movie bearable for me was the fact that he had some humorus lines, and the fact that it was funny laughing at the girls next to me that would scream when he took off his shirt. If these movies are anything like Kiss then I've seen them already. Most of these movies seem to have the same plot twists anyway. And...let me guess...the final fight: it seems the good Jet Li will lose, before he comes back with some other-worldly strength and starts kicking ass again. I knew it. I've 'seen' it.

  • Forget the Matrix... (Score:2, Informative)

    by dbolger ( 161340 )
    ...and forget Jet Li. This [sohu.com] is far more entertaining :)

  • immature and stupid (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 04, 2001 @11:41AM (#2518863)
    In short, if you really like Jet Li, go see it, but try to sneak in.

    How old are you, 15? So if a movie is really not worth paying for, but you want to see it, someone should sneak in? This just reinforces the view that open-source types want everything without paying for it.

    Do you feel this way about shoplifting too?

    Please cut this crap out..

  • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Well katz I agree. The movie was not that great. The matrix had much more meaning and more consistancy.


    The real problem I had with this movie is that in order for the main bad guy to get stronger, he had to kill everyone.


    What happens when everyone else in the other parallel universes dies? Then the last person becomes the one. This is inconsistant (unless everyone dies together and this was disproven early on in the movie). I think it made me realize that it was a bunch of semi-cool fight scenes (I think the first one is the best and it goes downhill from there)strung together.


    The inconsistancy made this movie very dissatisfying, and I hope that Jet Li learns from his mistake.

  • But The One (even the title is a ripoff from The Matrix)....

    Um, don't you mean Highlander [imdb.com]?

    Why are you reviewing movies for a geek site if you can't even draw parallels correctly? (no pun intended...oh wait)
    • Maybe you arent geeky enough. In the Matrix, Morpheus calls Neo "The One" numerous times, alluding to an all powerful entity that can change the universe.

      Perfect parrallel to Jet Li's "The One" in my humble opinion..

      And of course, yes, they also used plot devices (kill all others and become insanely powerful) from Highlander.

  • So another title could have been (Score:5, Funny)

    by A_Non_Moose ( 413034 ) on Sunday November 04, 2001 @11:53AM (#2518896) Homepage Journal
    Crouching Matrix, Hidden Plotline?

    Sounds like that sums it up perfectly.

  • More Information? (Score:3, Informative)

    by Angry Black Man ( 533969 ) <vverysmartman@@@hotmail...com> on Sunday November 04, 2001 @11:54AM (#2518899) Homepage
    I thought Neo was The One. Anyway, the movie is getting average ratings from papers across the globe. Here they are if you'd like a second opinion:

    Chicago Tribune [zap2it.com]: 3 stars

    Detroit Free Press: [freep.com] 1 star

    E! Online [eonline.com]: C-

    Entertainment Weekly [ew.com]: C-

    Did you know that the movie was originally going to star Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson of WWF fame?

  • The Hollywood Effect (Score:3, Insightful)

    by jhol ( 301546 ) on Sunday November 04, 2001 @11:56AM (#2518904) Homepage
    It's really a shame that Jet Li has gone hollywood.

    The chinese movies he has made are all, with few exceptions, excellent. The fighting is astonishing and Jet Li is truly one of the absolute best martial arts actors out there. Just watch Fist of Legend and you'll see. That movie made me into a Jet Li-fan, and the choreographer is the same who did choreography for The Matrix.

    But the hollywood effect on Jet Li's movies is terrible. Firstly because Jet Li is taken out of his habitat; he only speaks little English, let him speak Chinese in the movies damnit. Secondly because the fighting scenes are created into some strange blur, and it's freakin' impossible to see anything! Jet Li is incredible, but the fighting scenes are made into some camera-frenzy. If you watch Fist of Legend there are lengthy fighting scenes that are so good you want to see them over and over again, provided you are a kung fu-fan of course, and it's actually possible to appreciate their skills.

    The camera effects were necessary on actors in The Matrix, since they need them. Jet Li does not.
    • I agree with you.

      For some reason, Jet Li's fights, on Hollywood, can't achieve the same beauty they do on Chinese movies.

      The movie making process is a lot different in Hollywood than in China. I think that's the problem.

      By the way, photography direction for fight scenes on Hollywood movies have always been total crap. Hollywood doesn't knows how to film fights. You never understand what's going on, you can't see the action....... unlike Chinese movies, you get to see every move in it's great beautie.

      Even Jackie Chan's movies filmed in China totally shadow his work on Hollywood.

      Conspiracy theory: hollywood wants to kill Chinese actors and martial arts on USA in it's beginning, so they can keep filming bar fights with chairs breaking and bottles breaking in the head of someone.


      • unlike Chinese movies, you get to see every move in it's great beautie.

        Not necessarily. Seemed like 99% of the action in Once Upon a Time in China 2 took place off screen. Tried to introduce a friend to Jet Li with that movie, but it was so bad it didn't work.

    • Re:The Hollywood Effect (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Pope ( 17780 )
      But the hollywood effect on Jet Li's movies is terrible

      The Hollywood Effect took its toll on Chinese directors first.
      Rule #1: your first movie has to be with Van Damme, then we can talk. Though I gotta say, Hard Target was way better than Broken Arrow IMO because they kept the hokum to a minimum and Lance Henrikson rules! :)

      Tsui Hark was so disgusted with Hollywood he went back to Hong Kong and made one of the most fantastic HK action films in years, Time and Tide [imdb.com]. Obviously it's better if you see it in the theatre because the action moves so fast in places it's hard to keep up, but if you like HK action by all means rent it.

      Jet Li is technically excellent, but he lacks the humanity that Jeckie Chan brings to his characters. It helps that hald the time Jackie plays a fool most of the time :) Hell, Iron Monkey had more likeable characters.

    • "The chinese movies he has made are all, with few exceptions, excellent."

      I disagree. Even if you are talking about just the martial action, he's had some bombs. I'll just mention the films I have actually seen.

      Shaolin Temple. Slow. But it is a mainland production with all that entails (nice sets but threadbare plot, about Shaw Brothers in terms of production value.) Seen once.

      Dragon Fight. Horrible characterization and even thinner plot. Stephen Chow before he was funny. Seen once.

      Swordsman 2: Amazing action (if you can stand obvious wire-fu) but what in the world is going on? And how many times must I hear the sad drinking song? Seen 3 times.

      Deadly China Hero. Wong Jing parody of OUATIC when Li decided not to do Wong Fei Hung. After this horrible thing (especially when he wears the chicken outfit to defeat the centipede group) he wisely? went back to OUATIC. Seen 2-3 times.

      Bodyguard from Beijing. Rip off of "The Bodyguard" only this time Li's a mainland professional government agent. Predictable storyline nd medocre acting. Only saving gracce was the end fight scene with the natural gas spewing. Seen 2 times.

      High Risk. Highlights of this Wong Jing film isn't Jet, it's Jackie Cheung as the Jackie Chan inspired numbnut. Seen 3-4 times.

      Other Bad films: My father is a Hero, Fist of Legend (despite the technical brilliance the hackneyed relationship with a Japanese gf and her uncle seems too revisionist for my taste) and Black Mask.

      Jet's best films are Once Upon a Time in China 2 and 3, Hitman (good acting all around and a decent storyline) and Fong Sai-Yuk 1 and 2 (again if you like wire-fu). These mix some decent characters, humor and action with good technical camera work and set pieces.

      "the choreographer is the same who did choreography for The Matrix."

      Yuen Woo Ping can make nearly anybody look good. He knows how to film shots and realizes that Jet Li's main martial arts style, Wu Shu, looks great on film even though it may not be best art for really punishing fights. Maybe that's why Ping's next hoped for prodigy Donnie Yen was also great in Wu Shu. Too bad Donnie is churning out his own stuff now.

      Also look for work by Corey Yuen. He is easily on par with Woon Ping. You can check out Woo Ping on camera in Sammo Hung's IMHO best film, Eastern Condors.

      "But the hollywood effect on Jet Li's movies is terrible."

      I agree with most of what you say. But the problem with Hollywood is not only that Chinese emigres suffer, but they've had a horrible effect on the HK film industry. Instead of action dramas that successfully fused great acting, good storylines and innovative action sequences of the mid-to-late 90s, you see claptrap like Gen X Cops, Time and Tide, and the remake/sequel of Zu Mountain. These films use lowest common denominator plots, beautiful and successful pop stars and throw in lots of special effects to try to hide horrible or confusing storylines and threadbare character development.

      I can understand Hollywood's paint by numbers approach because Hollywood is run by corporate beancounters. HK has fallen into the same trap going for glitz over substance and thinking special efects will draw audiences into movies we've seen done better a million times before.

      What used to endear me to HK films was the hard work and actual physical demands placed upon the actors and produciton staff. These days they just generate digital effects to make the actors look like they are doing something. Yeah, the old Shaw Bros Wu Xia Pan films had lots of shots with no camera movement and crazy closeups, but to get all that action in one shot is amazing.

      Save your money and go buy Shaolin Soccer. It uses special effects to enhance a good storyline with great acting and lots of actually funny gags. And just so you know the guy *doesn't* get the girl at the end.

      Sorry for drifting.
  • Warning: Possible Spoilage

    This film borrowed elements from other films willy-nilly, and had few original parts.

    The fight scene at the factory was clearly ripped off from Streeth Fighter (or at least the genre). "LAW vs. Law" was about as exciting as watching an arcade game. All we needed were health meter bars :)

    The premise was flawed: if an alternate me dies, and I am made stronger even though I did not kill him, then at some point I'm going to be an old man in some universe, all my alts are going to be dead, and I'm going to be God.

    The ending leaves both Laws alive. What happens when one of them dies? The other becomes God? Pshaw. I found it very hard to suspend my disbelief on this one.
  • .9mm? That's a mighty small calibre. When are you idiotic Americans going to accept that Metric is just more useful and logical? At that time, you might also consider abandoning your ridiculous paper sizes too.

  • Plot hole? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by CmdrSanity ( 531251 ) on Sunday November 04, 2001 @11:59AM (#2518913) Homepage
    One of the main issures that nagged me while watching The One:
    Jet Li's power increases because he kills the Jet Lis from other dimensions. Eventually there will be only one Jet Li left and he is supposed to have god-like power. But why is this so special? Unless all the copies of a person in all the dufferent universes simultaneously die, there will be exactly one copy at some point. Natural\accidental\other types of death will pick off the copies one by one. So, there should be god-like people popping up all over the place.
    /end nitpick
    • But given the ammount of time it would take for all the copies to die off you would only have an army of super strong old people.

      "Night of the Living Geriatric Jet Lis"
    • Natalie Portman, Linus Torvalds, Cowboy Neal - Obviously, these are people who have died off in all other dimensions! Be glad you live in this one!

  • It's almost as if Hollywood has completely given up. For at least the last year, mainstream films from the US have been really, really unimaginative and boring. Either they are unfunny sequels to shlock comedies, repetitive disaster movies or dull feel-good films for kids.

    The only decent films making it to the screen these days are lesser-known alternative flicks from Australia or the UK.

    God help us when Hollywood starts making films about the WTC attacks, and subsequent wars

  • I had no problems with the camera work. That is to say, that I didn't come out of the movie thinking about it. The other people in the theater enjoyed it, as did I. The special effects are cool and the speed-up/slow-mo stuff is pretty neat to watch, though done a bit too many times. As for the quote mentioned in the review, "There can be only one..." I think I was the only one in the theater to bust out laughing, it had to be a joke/hommage. I wish they would have changed the ending. It had so much of a chance, but it's an american film, what can ya do. I was dissapointed in Jason Statham. He shouldn't have tried a different accent. He's great in Lock Stock and in Snatch, but in The One, sometimes he's got a texas accent, sometimes, it's back to brit, it was odd really. So, it's a fun fight flick, though yes, the plot is thin, but not any worse than every other fight flick out there, and at least it's not a the bad guy killed my best friend/wife/dog/whatever from the 80's. As for the comparisions to Jackie Chan's films, different thing all together really, IMHO. JC's stuff is ment to be funny, with action/kung-fu, etc. Movies like this are ment to be fun (not funny) action movies. And neither of them are ment to be world changing plot/dialog based films.

  • Katz blows it again. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by billcopc ( 196330 ) <vrillco@yahoo.com> on Sunday November 04, 2001 @12:05PM (#2518921) Homepage
    Oh Jon, Jonny Jonboy, stop trying to impress people with your over-analysis and mis-facts. "The One" is a quick & dirty Jet Li movie, and like all Jet Li movies, it's all about less plot and more action, of which there is plenty in this flick. Slow-motion scenes, wall-jumping and anti-gravity stunts are Jet Li's trademark. That's how it was in Black Mask & Romeo Must Die, The One is no different. He still kicks ass and he still looks like a kung fu heroin addict, and that just happens to look pretty darned cool on a big screen.

    Give it a break.

  • wtf (Score:1)

    by carm$y$ ( 532675 )
    [...] commonplace they're tiresome.

    I read that as "commonplace as threesomes"... time to get that caffeine shot...
  • non-stop ripoffs of the martial arts/ balletic combat sequences Neo brought to the big screen for the mass audience.

    Well, I was watching Jet Li movies long before the Matrix came out, and I thought that it was a total rip-off of his movies.
    Didn't stop me from liking it, and I'm guessing it won't stop me from liking The One either.

    Free your mind dude.
  • Jet Li's movies can't be a ripoff of the Matrix. Why? Because the Matrix is a ripoff of all the work Jet Li has been doing since 1980.

    All the stuff I saw in the Matrix, I have already seen on previous Jet Li's work.

    Altough the fight scenes in the matrix were good, they don't come close to the things you see on movies like Fong Sai Youk or Tai Chi Master.

    The Matrix didn't bring balletic martial arts sequences to the masses, it brought them to US audience. Did you know, Katz, that Asia is bigger than USA, and that Jet Li is one of the most famous artist in Asia?
    Now I understand why a lot of people has a problem with Katz.
  • If u go see a movie where even the title is a rip-off expecting a clever, original plot and dialogue, perhaps u deserve to be disappointed? Elvis movies were made as excuses for Elvis to sing and gyrate his pelvis. Fred Astaire movies were made as excuses for Fred Astaire to dance, dance, dance. So Jet Li movies are excuses for him to kick and leap and for his audiences for him watch him to do just those things ... which he does very well. Nothing more.
  • What's with all the martial arts stars playing two roles at once these days? Double Impact, Twin Dragons, The One... Apparently this isn't limited to big budget actors either (http://www.spcnet.tv/tvb_finalcombat.html). Mike Myers has been the only one to do it well since the Parent Trap. I think one actor who kicks ass but can't act his way out of a paper bag is enough for any movie...
  • Ok,

    Katz says that one or two of the fight scenes are first rate. They have people going around drop-kicking themselves and dodging bullets. The commercials didn't pretend this was anything but an action movie, and a pretty brainless one at that, with all kinds of matrix-ripoff eye candy.

    What exactly is the problem?

    When I go to a movie, I typically like to see the kind of content that was in the movie trailer. For example, Life, a depressing movie about prison guards, was NOT a good movie, because they made it out to be a comedy in the trailer, and left everyone bewildered, drawing the wrong crowd.

    The One doesn't appear to be pulling any of that bullshit. Instead, they're saying outright: "This is a Jet Li action movie. Do not come for drama or deep insights about the future." That way, hopefully, they're advertising to the right crowd.

    If you're going to review a movie, you might aswell judge it based upon what kind of movie it is, not how well it fits the slant you like to write about all the time.
  • 0.9 mm equals 1/32 of an inch.. man, those are pretty small bullets. Needle guns, anyone?
  • So anything with virtual camera effects and wire-fu is automatically a Matrix rip-off? Yeah, right.

    "The Matrix" did not invent either of those two techniques. The virtual camera effect (a.k.a. "bullet time") was first seen in TV commercials such as those for The Gap. And wire-fu had been done in Hong Kong flicks for years before The Matrix came along.

    No Jon, if you had really been paying attention, you would have noticed that "The One" is actually a ripoff of "Terminator 2" more than anything else.

    • According to my Matrix DVD behind the scenes stuff, bullet-time was first used in The Matrix but due to the 'Time-to-theater' issue, commercials got to showcase the technology before the movie did.
      • Not quite. In the behind the scenes stuff, John Gaeta says "bullet time" was developed specifically for The Matrix. However, he does not give anything about the Gap commercials. You're just supposed to assume it came out of that.

        But have a look at this article [virtualcamera.com] from American Cinematographer, describing the "virtual camera" system. It's dated 1996 -- three years before The Matrix was released.

        I'm sure the people who made The Matrix would like everyone to believe they invented their techniques out of thin air, but the truth is, the idea had been around for a while.

      • IIRC, Howard Stern had a system for it for his TV show intro long before the matrix. Not the same thing, but similar.
        I love geeks.. can't get into any discussion without it erupting into a flame war about lack of innovation and prior-art debates.
  • is this a sequel to the matrix or not?!
  • When are people gonna accept this type of movie for what it is...ENTERTAINMENT. There is no deep message. No social commentary. The SF was merely a frame to give the action some context. In that sense, it was successful. The action was better than average. The FX were awesome. The sound track rocked. I enjoyed this movie. But then I didnt go in seeking spirituality or film as art.

  • (Spoilage warning: plot discussed, not ending.) (Score:5, Insightful)

    by tcc ( 140386 ) on Sunday November 04, 2001 @01:05PM (#2519084) Homepage Journal
    Heh... with most hollywood production, plot discussing IS the spoilage, everybody knows the endings are either predictable (80%) or scrap the entire movie (K-pax) (15%) in some rare cases you have a good ending that doesn't make you feel raped off your 9$ entrance fee (well here in canada anyways :) ).

    Example of a good balance of storyline, action, effects and ending for Sci-fi movies: Terminator II. You can have an hollywood ending without spoiling the entire movie, I almost cried when I saw him going down... I don't recall any movies that got my full attention and even got me right into it to the point that I was all messed up when I got out, not THAT'S entertaining, that's worth the price ticket, that's worth not being copied and BOUGHT on DVD, that I can have all respect from the MPAA or any other organisation behind it trying to protect their trademark and all.

    Maybe if hollywood would start pumping more good productions like these (T2, 2001, heck, remember ET when you were a kid?, etc), people wouldn't download them off the internet and actually go see them in a big theatre with super dooper sound and popcorn, that would be worth it. Watching that on a monitor, or 25 inch tv would spoil most of it... Face it, it's far from being every pirate that owns a projection system or a 60" TV to enjoy a movie almost like if he was in a theatre. So maybe by making quality stuff and not taking their customers (audience) for complete retards, they would bring in more people.

    My reasonning works when we look at almost every classics. Anything that is unbalanced, sucks or flop. (battlefield earth is a nice example of unbalanced).

    Ask yourself what were the biggest success in the last 25 years... aside from tron that flopped because the people weren't ready for that kind of stuff, they all had something in common: Amazing or simple but good storyline, Excellent effects, good acting, good ambiance, all of this balanced.

    I'd pay 20$ per movie if I was sure that I wouldn't be pissed or left on my appetite at the end, of course it's a matter of taste also, that being noted, there's also a baseline if you don't like scifi movies, you don't want to go see one just to get pissed afterwards :) , I'd be so freakin PLEASED to pay more just to filter out the garbage and not was my time and gas for that matter.

    I'm sure I am not the only one.
    • in some rare cases you have a good ending that doesn't make you feel raped off your 9$ entrance fee (well here in canada anyways :) )

      So that's what, a buck fifty US?

  • Had a lot of fun. I do wushu, though, so I liked seeing Jet Li doing Bagua and some other form I totally did not recognize.

    I dunno what you expected out of the movie, but I wasn't expecting anything better than Highlander, which seemed suspiciously similar.

    The fact that the two Jets were only distinguished because of their fighting styles (how very martial arts :) might have made things confusing.

    I thought it was trippy that Jet Li in at least two, if not three, universes always fell for the same woman.
  • I thought that the Matrix movies were about Neo and the Computers and a super-intelligent AI.... What happened to that? And are the parrallel universes all within the Matrix, or what? And this is a Matrix movie, right?

  • Jackie Chan vs. Jet Li (Score:5, Funny)

    by Castolari ( 532333 ) on Sunday November 04, 2001 @01:58PM (#2519322) Homepage
    Jet Li will jump in the air, flip three times, dodge an oncoming car, push off a wall, and kick you in the face 5 times before you hit the ground.

    Jackie Chan will jump in the air, flip three times, dodge an oncoming car, push off a wall, and slap you in the face 5 times WITH A LARGE TROUT before you hit the ground.

    I rest my case.
  • "The One" borrows everything from everywhere. It looks like a high school student saw Highlander 2 and The Matrix relatively close together. Aside from the fact that most of the crucial elements of this movie are knocked-off from elsewhere, the adaptation doesn't make any sense whatsoever. So if whenever one of your other selves dies, all the rest get stronger, we should all fear the elderly because, logically, the chances are greater that their other selves have perished.

    Still, that explains much: Strom Thurmond is a supervillian.

  • But it wasn't good either. It seemed like a pilot for a TV show that got modified to become a vehicle for Jet Li. I must admit, I did enjoy the point in the final fight scene where the Good Li changed from a Hard Form martial art to Soft Form martial art...nice in joke!

    ttyl
    Farrell

  • My own personal review (Score:4, Informative)

    by HippieChick ( 42869 ) on Sunday November 04, 2001 @03:19PM (#2519643)
    When I first heard about _The One_, I was incredibly excited. It sounded like the perfect merger between the Hong Kong action flick and Hollywood special effects. They've been adding big-budget effects to kung-fu oriented films for a while now, but for the most part, they were sed to add some bang to the fight, for big, over-the-top single attacks, or as a replacement for actors with real fighting experience. Here, they would be forced by the nature of the story to actually muck around with the way people move and
    interact. Plus, I really liked Jet Li.

    That was several years ago. This July, I caught my first glimpse of a trailer for the film at Comic-Con in San Diego. I became excited all over again. It looked like they had really done what I was hoping they would do. Jet Li's
    character picks up a motorcycle in one hand and whacks somebody over the head with it. And while that's an obvious biological (and some may argue,
    physical) impossibility, the sound and imagery contained enough gravity to convince me. The clips shown had a real impact, something that they'd only begun to incorporate in films like The Matrix and The Duel. Plus, I really liked Jet Li.

    Then the TV spots came. Now I watch a lot of television, so I get a bit more exposure to advertising than your average human. I saw the trailer way too many times, and while I'm thankful that they didn't feel the need to put every action shot in the whole movie into the trailer, I did end up seeing the same stuff over and over again. I was still excited, but expose a person to something enough times, and they do get desensitized. But I still really liked Jet Li.

    Then the reviews came in. I read bits and pieces of a lot of different reviewers and the consensus seemed to be that while there were some really
    good fighting sequences in the movie, the rest of the movie was crap. Critics complained about poor acting performances and stupid plotlines. My
    expectations fell significantly. I was still looking forward to what I expected to be a few really nifty action sequences pasted together with some shoddy plot-building scenes and crappy one-liners. But there is no denying the fact that I still really liked Jet Li.

    So tonight, I went and saw _The One_. After I'd sat through the first twenty minutes of the movie, I began to wonder where all the awful acting was supposed to be. These certainly weren't Oscar-calibre performances, but Jet Li and Delroy Lindo gave as respectable an acting job as one would find in any good action flick. The storyline made sense. The actions of the characters were well-motivated. I laughed when I was supposed to. It was clear that the premise was over-the-top and that we were dealing with the soft science fiction of convenience and not the hard science fiction of physicists. Many
    action movies, both from Hollywood and Hong Kong, seem to ignore the necessity of these elements. The rest of the movie doesn't have to be spectacular, but it has to be good enough to carry the viewers from one action sequence to
    another. And _The One_ had enough quality in all the right places to do just that.

    Now I realize that this is a lot of build-up for just a review, but I wanted to give a feel for the state of mind that I was in when I went to see this movie. When I first heard about it, I was expecting a bit more than was reasonable to get out of a movie. And yet somehow, _The One_ delivered. This is one damned fine movie. The fights and chases build steadily throughout the
    movie as the hero and the villain dance around each other. They don't use their superhuman abilities sparingly. These are the two most powerful beings in the entire multiverse, and _The One_ does an incredible job of letting us
    know. Of course all the chasing and dodging is simply rising action. It all leads to a final showdown, like the most classic of kung-fu films. We are promised a fight to end all fights, and we get it. It's not just super-fast
    blows and fancy jumping and dodging. Every hit that is landed has the impact of a sledgehammer behind it. This is power.

    The special effects are used with remarkable results. While there a few brief instances where a few more hours at a computer could have yielded better results, the overall impression is seamless and transparent. There was no doubt in my mind that there were two Jet Li's on that screen and that they were beating the crap out of each other at the speed of sound. Slow motion is
    an effect that is rarely used properly, specially when extremely fast martial arts is involved. _The One_ is an exception. Due to careful attention to the laws of physics and the constant presence of normal-speed motion (e.g. falling sparks and turning machinery) in the background, we get a wonderful gut-feeling of just exactly how fast these guys are moving. Jet Li throws his arms and legs at ludicrous speed as he flies through the air, but at the same time, he's falling at a normal rate. Gravity still works, even though physiology was thrown out the window at the opening.

    Incidental effects were also very well done, like the travelling-between-universes effect. The little bits of humor were funny, if a bit silly. Jet Li delivers an understated, but effective performance. Delroy Lindo admirably fills the obligitory nowhere-near-as-good-as-the-hero-or-villain-but-st ill-manages-to-hold-his-own role. I even liked the ending.

    In short, this is one good movie, and you should go see it. The critics don't know what they're talking about.

    And in case you're wondering, yes, I still really like Jet Li.

    HC
  • >Isn't it high time, so long as we're zipping people around via particle beams, to find a fresher weapon than the .9mm pistol

    Isn't it about time that people stopped saying ".9mm"? Being shot with a 0.03-caliber pistol doesn't sound very painful.

    steve
  • Other posts seem to echo just this - Go see Iron Monkey instead.

    I went to see The One with friends last night, and we were all dissapointed. (Especially my friend Jen and Myself who study Wing Chun Kung Fu).

    The One is a Highlander/Matrix ripoff, and while Jet Li always has excellent Wushu, there is little of it in this film that is not enhanced with computer assistance.

    Iron Monkey on the other hand has wall to wall Kung Fu action, with a cadre of excellent practioners and a multitude of styles (I saw Choy Li Fut and Lau Gar styles in the film along with the standard Wushu).

    I won't get into plot or spoilers, but go see Iron Monkey - it has funny parts, and all of us in the theatre (only 8 of us, compared to a FULL theater for The One), and Iron Monkey has excellent action.

    Iron Monkey beats up The One any day.
  • Ok, ignore the crappy subject line and hear me out.

    Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn't Jet Li's first intro to American film was in Lethal Weapon 3 or 4. (I don't remember off the top of my head).
    Now, Li in Lethal Weapon, was similar to Chan and Schwar...uh, Arnold S. in the Terminator 1 and 2 films...their primary talent (action) spoke louder for them than their voices ever did.

    I brought up with the Monsters, Inc. topic that certain voice actors *don't need* to be seen to be appreciated.

    As a brief mental excercise, Imagine trading....ohhh, say...Anthony Hopkins' role in "The Silence of the Lambs" with Arnold S's role in "Terminator". Does not work at all does it?
    (yes, typecasting and stereotyping issues aside, but we are talking about Hollywood's strengths)

    Anywho, more to the point and topic:
    I'm simple saying that in Li's performance in LW 3 or 4..he did not need to speak at all, and from the reviews, perhaps he should have kept his lines to a minimum like Arnold S. did in his early career (I think A.S. has said "I'll be bach" in all his movies...trademark?) and in the Terminator, especially....he did not need to speak, either.

    Contrast that to Hopkins' screen presence and vocal talents. He'd be as out of place in an action film as...as...a neon sign on a Xmas tree. Honestly A.H could have *still* carried the film TSOTL with half the dialogue...Hell, IMO he carried "Hannibal" to be a 8 out of 10 for me. Lack of Jodi Foster was -1/2 a star, but the *gorey* bits were the -1 1/2. (of course that is me, I could have lived w/o it...Imagine the movie "Psyco"...you did not *see* anything it was left up to the viewer).

    Point being, that Li's martial art skills are not in question, if I read the reviews correctly.
    The plot, the dialogue and the effects got in the way, correct?

    So perhaps taking a lesson from Lethal Weapon, because he helped *make that film* what it was (ok, Gibson and Glover, too) by his sheer presence and talent in the martial arts, not by his vocal skills.

    Speaking of Vocal Skillz, I'll shut up now.

    (oh, and if you are a Jacki Chan fan, The Legend of theDrunken Master and Who am I have some of the best fights I've see yet.
    Especially that "lankey" American Hit man type dude that I think was in both...absa-frikin-lutely wicked)
  • the votes are in
    the polls are closed
    the ballots have been counted...

    __worst movie ever__
  • For a lot of Asians Jet Li is like Julia Roberts in that they get to star in big movies but are amazingly annoying. Li rarely gets hits in films and is as emotive as a plank of wood. His style is Wu-shu, indeed he was the National Champion in China, is good for movies as it is very showy (debuts as a demo sport in the next Olympics), but Li *cannot* kick! His hands are superb, but his footwork is terrible....

    Iron Monkey is one of my favourite martial arts films of all time. In fact I have a laserdisc version from 1993 :). The movie is spectacular because of the martial artists, the style showcased is Hung Gar Kung Fu and features some of his Yen's best work ever. Though I think Yu Rong Guang steals the show, he moves *so* well for a big man....

    But for people looking to get into the genre, then try these movies:

    Storm Riders - as close to a "living" comic book as you will ever see (stars Sonny Chiba!)
    Bride with White Hair - Ronny Yu directs and Peter Pau (Oscar - CTHD) with perhaps his best cinematography ever.
    Ashes of Time - Like Crouching Tiger, all Asian men want to be Kung Fu heroes, Wong Kar Wai (Chung King Express, In the Mood for Love) is no different. With action direction by Samo Hung (Martial Law :P), and cinematography by long time partner Christopher Doyle, the movie is a heart-breakingly beautiful series of stories all interwoven seemlessly. Stunning.
    The Blade - Tsui Hark again (Iron Monkey), narrated through the eyes of a woman, this movie has the most deliriously violent and explosive examples of swordplay ever committed to film.
    Zu: Warriors from Magic Mountain - Tsui Hark is remaking this one, soon to be released, the original had special effects crew who worked on Star Wars and this is where modern day HK wirework came from.

    Yes I know that some of the "old skool" fighting films are great too, but I am recommending these for people who are getting into the genre. Else films like Dreadnaught, Prodigal Son, Drunken Master, Mars Villa, Venoms, and 36 Chambers would be here :)

    But for me, the best martial arts movie of recent times is Ringo Lam's "Burning Paradise". Wong Fei Hung (Iron-Monkey) meets another legendary kung fu master, Fong Sai Yuk. This movie was directed by Lam who usually deals with serious dramas and so it is dark in tone and very violent. The sets, story, and production value are superb and the fighting (employing real monks!) has to be seen to be believed.

    Regards,

    Po

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