Review of One, The (Special Edition)

Introduction

The One is Jet Li`s latest action extravaganza, which is due to open at UK cinemas this Friday, but is already out on Region 1 DVD.

The film stars Li as a police officer in this universe and a murderer in a parallel universe - the plot works on the basis that there are numerous parallel universes, each containing the same people. As one person dies, the remaining identical people in the parallel universes absorb the energy of the dead person, therefore getting stronger. The murderer has worked this out and is becoming stronger and stronger with each kill and aims to be "The One". But the police officer is getting stronger too - and of course it leads to a series of showdowns where good fights evil. There are complications however, in the form of the universe hopping police after the murderer, and the inevitable mistaken identity caused by two Jet Lis…

Video

The disc contains both 4:3 pan & scan and 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen video - obviously I chose to watch the film as the director intended in 2.35:1. This video is suitably impressive, with a nice crisp image, free from, any grain or dirt and plenty of detail.

Visually, the film is also impressive, with plenty of manic fight sequences (although sometimes all-to-obviously making use of ropes). Aside from the spectacular hand-to-hand fighting, there is a rather amusing sequence where he beats someone up using two motorbikes, a large number of gun battles and the passage from one universe to another. Great stuff.

Audio

The soundtrack is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and is pretty impressive, with great use made of all available channels for gunfire and effects (check out the universe hop for example). In the big gun battles, bullets ricochet around the soundstage, filling the room nicely, and adding real audio clout to the on-screen action.

The dialogue is always clear an understandable through the mayhem.

Features

The big special features box on the back of the case is a bit of a con - given that of just over five lines, over three consist of the screen ratio, sound and subtitle information etc - hardly special features! The disc does however include a director and crew commentary - which gives some insight into the film and the big sequences, an animatic comparison, filmographies, making of featurettes and the trailer.

The disc is packaged in a black Amaray case, which contains a four page leaflet giving some background information and details of the generous twenty eight chapter breaks.

Conclusion

Overall, The One is a great popcorn movie to be enjoyed with the lights off and the volume up - it is action all the way and is never dull, with plenty of big sequences, effects and noise. The plot is of course total hogwash, and at times the script isn`t much better, but Li is good, as are the supporting cast, and the action sequences are well done.

The disc has good video and sound, along with some reasonable extras, although the special edition tag is a little amusing. This movie would be quite good fun on the big screen, and is worth watching on DVD, either in this Region 1 guise, or when it eventually arrives in Region 2.