25 Years Ago Today, This Sci-Fi Movie Laid the Groundwork for One of Apple TV’s Biggest Shows

Dark Matter Season 2 on Apple TV just ended, so fans looking for more multiversal madness should not look any further than Jet Li’s The One. The sci-fi action movie debuted on Nov. 2nd, 2001, and turned 25 just days after Joel Edgerton finished his second season fighting through alternate realities. The One takes place in a multiverse where everyone has hundreds of doppelgangers living different lives, and one particularly ambitious Jet Li is hell-bent on killing every version of himself. That’s the kind of premise that would hit right in Hollywood today, especially after Everything Everywhere All at Once and Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse. But The One was exploring those ideas while most movie-goers were still getting used to bullet time.

The One, directed by James Wong, starred Jet Li as two versions of the same man. Gabriel Yulaw, a former agent of the Multiverse Authority, discovers that killing his alternate selves makes the survivors stronger. Yulaw kills almost every other version of himself until he goes after Gabe Law, a Los Angeles sheriff’s deputy who doesn’t know why he is suddenly gaining superhuman abilities. Delroy Lindo and Jason Statham star as Multiverse Authority agents Harry Roedecker and Evan Funsch, who are trying to stop Yulaw from killing his last counterpart. The One didn’t exactly receive glowing reviews from critics, but its core premise has aged significantly better than its reputation.

The One Was Ahead of the Multiverse Boom

The One and Dark Matter are both based on the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, which suggests that different outcomes can exist in parallel universes. That leaves a lot of room for Jet Li and Joel Edgerton to play alternate versions of themselves. But while Dark Matter explores the multiverse in a more cerebral fashion, The One kicks its ideas in. Yulaw has a thirst for power, whereas Gabe is a family man who wants to protect his wife, T.K. (Carla Gugino). Li is both hero and villain, eventually meeting himself in a martial arts showdown. And wouldn’t you fight a war across the multiverse if someone took Carla Gugino away?

Dark Matter, based on Blake Crouch’s novel, delves into a similar conflict through Jason Dessen, a physics professor kidnaped by an alternate version of himself. The other Jason gave up his chance at a family to pursue scientific goals, creating technology capable of accessing parallel realities. He finds a world where he married Daniela (Jennifer Connelly) and raised their son Charlie (Oakes Fegley). He decides to steal that life. By the end of season one, hundreds of Jasons are trying to get back to the same family. Both stories ask what happens to the other selves of a man when his desires threaten their lives. And yeah, we’d go on an odyssey across the multiverse if someone took Jennifer Connelly from us, too.

The One is Twice The Jet Li Fun

Jet Li has never gotten as much credit for his acting ability as he has for his martial arts skills, but The One gives him a chance to show off both. Though the martial arts are actually doing the heavy lifting on the acting in this one. Jet Li gives the two characters distinct personalities and their own style of fighting. Yulaw is arrogant, calculating, and increasingly convinced he’s becoming a god, while Gabe is a decent guy who doesn’t understand why he’s suddenly developing superhuman abilities. Yulaw favors the aggressive movements of Xingyiquan, while Gabe relies on the more defensive techniques of Baguazhang. Their fighting styles tell us who these men are before they ever throw a punch at each other. For fight movie nerds, that’s the detail equivalent of crack.

The One is majorly indebted to Highlander. The 1986 fantasy classic featured immortals hunting each other down, absorbing their enemies’ power until only one remained. The One takes that idea into the multiverse, swapping out swordsmen for alternate versions of Jet Li. With each kill, Yulaw gets stronger, like the quickening. He thinks that if he kills his final counterpart, he will become a god. It’s Highlander with kung fu and parallel universes. But, instead of swordplay, we get to watch Jet Li’s insane martial arts prowess.

But while Highlander had Queen, The One came with a much angrier soundtrack. Drowning Pool’s “Bodies” accompanies Yulaw’s opening assault on a SWAT team, while Papa Roach’s “Last Resort” plays during the final prison battle. It’s the quintessential angry alternative metal that dominated the airwaves in the early 2000s when it that people have collectively tried to forget they rocked out to. And when Yulaw finds himself surrounded by prisoners, he announces, “I am Yulaw! I am nobody’s bitch! You are mine.” Sean Connery never got a line like that in Highlander.