Columbia Pictures/Moviepix/Getty ImagesThe multiverse is not a new thing, despite its relatively recent renown. Philosophers and scientists have been theorizing about the possibility of multiple parallel worlds since Ancient Greek times; the concept really got its legs in the 19th Century, and it trickled from theoretical science into science fiction long before comics and films effectively made it cool. (Other than It’s a Wonderful Life, it might be that Gwyneth Paltrow’s Sliding Doors could be the earliest mainstream pop culture exploration of a multiverse aside from the likes of Star Trek or Doctor Who.)Before Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse kicked the proverbial hornet’s nest, there was The One. The film was one of many early-2000s star vehicles for Jet Li, cribbing hard on the ultra-sleek vibes of The Matrix to bring the concept of the multiverse to the masses. While far sillier than the phenomenon it owes so much to, The One is heralded now as a cult classic in Li’s filmography. After 25 years, though, it also deserves some reappraisal as an early experiment with a sci-fi trend that has since become inescapable.The premise of The One is just simple enough to also be really, really cool. Li portrays multiple versions of one character, Gabriel Yulaw, an agent of the Multiverse Authority (or MVA) whose life is changed by an encounter with a parallel self. When he murders his variant in self-defense, he finds he’s absorbed a fraction of his life force. Yulaw soon goes rogue, travelling to other parallel universes to find and murder more variants. By the time we meet him in the film, he’s destroyed 123 — Li poses for pictures in various ridiculous wigs to depict the victims — and only one remains. When he’s absorbed the energy of his last variant, he’ll become The One, a being faster, stronger, and more unstoppable than anyone in the multiverse.Despite valiant efforts from two very capable MVA agents (Delroy Lindo and Jason Statham), Yulaw evades capture and promptly heads to the Charis Universe, where his final victim, Gabe Law (Li), lives in total ignorance of the multiverse. The Charis timeline is basically Los Angeles circa 2001, which means it’s in no way equipped to deal with someone like Yulaw or the hyper-advanced weaponry his pursuers bring from the Alpha timeline. Fortunately for Gabe, he also gains new powers every time a version of himself gives up the ghost in another universe. He’s evenly matched against Yulaw, but his adversary fights dirty, systematically destroying Gabe’s idyllic life and murdering everyone he loves when he can’t immediately steal his life force.Jet Li fights Jet Li in The One. | Columbia/Sony/Kobal/ShutterstockThe One takes its sweet time getting to the thing audiences surely want to see: Jet Li fighting Jet Li. Its visual effects are pretty stellar, give or take a bit of the rubbery CGI models that distracted from the action in The Matrix Reloaded. Director James Wong also works to flesh out the human element wherever he can, whether it’s in scenes between Gabe and his wife T.K. (Carla Gugino) or his brothers-in-arms at the LA Sheriff’s Department. The One is surprisingly grounded in that way, pivoting into a Hitchcockian tale about mistaken identity and revenge instead of an ultra-glossy one about a near-future dystopia. The film also saves its highly anticipated showdown for the very, very end; even when the fists do start flying between Gabe and Yulaw, it’s hard to outright enjoy. Whoever wins this grudge match will become The One — and whether it’s our unwitting hero or his ruthless adversary, the question of unchecked power looms large over any popcorn entertainment. That dilemma, among others, elevates The One into a careful thought experiment. For all its schlock, it delivers much more than a lot of the multiverse movies we’ve gotten in the intervening years.The One is streaming on Prime Video.