Movie Review: The One (2001)

"Oi, this is me new iPhone? Roight, Raymond. Bloody children's toy, it is.
On your bike, mate."

The One is an unassailable algorithm; it's mathematical martial arts aesthetics. Everything here, in all of its breezy 80 minutes, appeals to the senses, unfiltered. In an admirable conflation of the sci-fi and kung fu genres, The One mixes equal parts wushu, special effects, slow-mo, wirework, laser blasters, muddled Nietzschian philosophy, Jason Statham. This is how the story goes: instead of a single universe, there's a "multiverse," comprised of mirror worlds and mirror selves, and wouldn't you know it, an evil Jet Li named Yu Law, finds out that killing his mostly wholesome multiverse counterparts increases his strength. We join the story in progress as Evil Jet murders another of his counterparts, leaving only Gabe Law, a duty-minded police officer played by Jet, as the penultimate Jet. Two multiverse agents, one played by the inimitable Jason Statham, are then tasked with preventing Yu Law from completing his mission. There's plenty of gratuitous special effects on display here, but unlike some other martial arts films, they augment the physical abilities of Li instead of replacing them. Smartly, Li gives his Yu/Gabe Law characters divergent fighting styles to match their respective moral outlooks, and this becomes important during the climatic sequence. Most importantly, it's a visual extension of the thematic content, embodied rather than merely spoken, and the fights gain so much in legibility and genre specificity because of this. The action sequences are clean, and the purely physical stunts are well-integrated with the CGI. As previously mentioned, the final fight sequence between the dueling Jets is a wonderful conflation of traditional wushu choreography and special effects. Other highlights include a superb late-90s/early aughts soundtrack, including many of my pubescent favorites like Papa Roach. It's also worth noting that this was something of an early milestone in the career of Jason Statham; indeed, this was most likely our proper introduction to him. He's unquestionably foregrounded in this film, particularly near the end, and he lays out nearly all his quirks rather quickly. For many reasons, including purely personal, purely nostalgic ones, The One has earned a rightful place in the Code Redd Net canon.

Our Third Podcast, Still On iTunes!

This week we bring you the third episode of the CRN Podcast, embedded below for you convience, and subtitled "Rumble in Vancouver," for our own amusement.

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An Honorary Code Redd Net Award: Best Jason Statham Movie

For excellence in headbutts and handsomeness, we give you the Code Redd Net Award for Best Jason Statham Movie. And the nominees are...

The One (2001)
The Transporter (2002)
Transporter 2 (2005)
Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
The Italian Job (2003)

And the winner is...

The Transporter

"Stath" Infection

Code Redd Net is dedicating this week to our favorite contemporary action star, Jason Statham. Tomorrow kicks things off proper with only the second Honorary Code Redd Net Award in history, deservedly conferred upon the Best Jason Statham Movie. We follow that up with reviews of Crank, Crank 2: High Voltage, and Transporter 3. Finally, join us on Friday for the world premiere of his latest opus, Safe, and our review.

For now, though, we present the nominees for Best Jason Statham Movie:

The One (2001)
The Transporter (2002)
Transporter 2 (2005)
Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
The Italian Job (2003)

Finest Fights: The One (2001)

Bringing you the best fight scenes available on YouTube, every Tuesday afternoon.

Jet Li vs. Jet Li? No wonder this "one" won the Code Redd Net Award for Best Jet Li Movie:



And just for fun, enjoy a bonus clip of the final boss battle in what we believe is the best martial arts game of all time, PS2's Rise to Honor:

Code Redd Net Awards: Best Jet Li Movie

Up next we have our award for Best Jet Li Movie. And the nominees are...

The One (2001)
Kiss of the Dragon (2001)
Unleashed (2005)
Cradle 2 the Grave (2003)
Hero (2002)

And the winner is...

The One

Movie Review: War (2007)

What a lost opportunity. Here you have two of the best (and most fun) action heroes in around, and you pump out this kind of drivel? Action movies starring either one of these two are simple to execute, really: first, you need a (generally dumb) premise that calls for maximum kung fu and minimum logic; and second, you step aside and let the choreographers get down to business and let the performers cut a rug with their immense skill. Not at all difficult, and yet War manages to mess around with the formula to very disappointing results. The idea of the film is a decent enough start, and more than apt for the genre at hand: Jet Li plays an assassin named Rogue, and Jason Statham plays the family-oriented FBI agent sent to track him down after he murders one of Statham's buddies. Unfortunately, this idea is only extrapolated in lots and lots of shootouts. And while I'm not against a good shootout, I did expect to see some of the martial arts prowess Li and (to a lesser extent) Statham are famous for. Except for a sword fight near the end of the film, the physical action is at a minimum, and the only excitement is lost by a mass of CGI explosions and wonky car chases. At no time does the film seem interested in the abilities of either Li and Statham. Skip this and watch The One instead.