History Film / TheOne

* MeaningfulName: At least for both Gabe and Yulaw, both of which have the word "law" in their surname (like most of their multiverse counterparts) and used to be in some kind of ''law'' enforcement (LAPD and MVA, respectively).

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Yulaw is finally subjugated and sent to the Hades Universe for his crimes and though Gabe lost his wife and has been framed for her murder in his dimension, Agent Funsch sends him to an iridescent and seemingly happier universe where UsefulNotes/LosAngeles is apparently "America's Cleanest City" and meets that universe's version of T.K. [[SecondLove the very same way he met her in his]].]]

** RichardNixonTheUsedCarSalesman: Roedecker is a decorated interdimensional law officer of the MVA in one world, while his counterpart in another reality works as a gas station attendant.

** Gabe is good friends with fellow LAPD officer Bobby Aldrich in one universe while, ironically, Bobby is a jailed felon wanting to kill Lawless (another version of Gabe) in another.
** UsefulNotes/AlGore became the U.S. President in Lawless' universe.

* PermissionToSpeakFreely: Parodied. Funch will do this before delivering some snark to Roedecker as a RunningGag.

** Some of the parallel universes are named after mythological figures; Anubis Universe, Monoceros Universe, etc.

!!There is not one trope... there are many:

** In universe, and very literally, as conservation of life force. Every version of a person within each of the 125 universes is tethered to a unique "string" or "energy wave" that connects all of them to each other. Every time a single multiverse counterpart of a person dies, their portion of the energy is equally distributed among the remaining other versions. With each energy boost, the attributes of those individual remaining counterparts become marginally enhanced making them stronger, smarter, faster and, overall, more powerful. Thus, by the time there are only two left, both are essentially superhuman.

!!There is not one trope... there are many; ''a tropeverse'':

** In universe, and very literally, as conservation of life force. Every version of a person within each of the 125 universes is tethered to a unique "life force" or "energy" that connects all of them to each other. Every time a single multiverse counterpart of a person dies, their portion of the energy is equally distributed among the remaining other versions. With each energy boost, the attributes of those individual remaining counterparts become marginally enhanced making them stronger, smarter, faster and, overall, more powerful. Thus, by the time there are only two left, both are essentially superhuman.

** It's implied by Roedecker that Funsch's home universe is one, although his biography on the official website implies that the Beta Universe isn't that bad. It's just that Funsch was LAPD, and that 'verse's LA is a crapsack city, where everyone is, apparently, a combatant.

** Downplayed with Yulaw: he is arrested for his killing spree in the end, but he can't be executed due to the danger that would pose to the multiverse, and his penal colony seems to be filled with {{Mook}}s he can dominate endlessly, which isn't so far from his dream of becoming a god.

** We get to see maybe a half-dozen different versions of Yulaw at his hearing, including the goofy-looking, blonde Sven Law. According to Funsch, one of Law's counterparts is either gay or a woman (specifically, he says "married to a man"). This appears to be the only thing he mentions that bugs Gabe, probably because he can't figure out which case it would be.

* HelplessWindowDeath: Just prior to the final confrontation, Gabe Law witnesses his evil alternate-dimension twin, Yulaw execute his wife - which Gabe is unable to stop and can only watch while letting out a BigNo from behind a window.

** T.K. is an EvilRedhead in one world, a wife in another, and a [[spoiler: has-yet-to-meet Gabe "Good" Law]] veterinarian in another.

* SpottingTheThread: At one point both Gabe and Yulaw are knocked unconscious and no-one can tell them apart. [[spoiler: They have a narrow window to send the bad guy to the inescapable dimension and don't know who to send, until Agent Funsch sees the tan line from Gabe's wedding ring. An eagle-eyed viewer may be able to tell which is which even before Funsch spots the tan line: Yulaw tied the arms of his jacket around his waist, while Gabe removed his entirely.]]

* SurprisinglyHappyEnding: [[spoiler: Gabe manages to defeat Yulaw nonlethally, preserving the multiverse's stability, and ends up in an idyllic Los Angeles where he meets an alternate version of Izzy, showing his life will take the same track but even better. Meanwhile, despite being exiled, Yulaw prepares to tear the Hades Universe a new asshole and looks happy as a clam about it.]]

** [[spoiler: Done on Gabe's behalf by the MVA at the end. When it seems like his only options are face prosecution for Yulaw's crimes or live the rest of his life as a fugitive, they transport him to a peaceful parallel universe and as a bonus, he gets to meet T.K. for the first time all over again.]]

* UnstoppableRage: Subverted during the final confrontation between Gabe and Yulaw. Gabe, thoroughly enraged at [[spoiler: T.K.'s murder]], assaults Yulaw directly with raw strength and aggression, playing into Yulaw's strengths and allowing Yulaw to effectively counter and pummel him. It isn't until Gabe stops and goes into a state of [[TranquilFury controlled rage]] that lets him take advantage of his strengths that he's able to defeat Yulaw.

* VillainousBreakdown: Yulaw gets overwhelmed in the second half of the final fight to where he resorts to [[AnAxeToGrind using a fire axe]] to try and kill Gabe.

* SecondLove: [[spoiler: In the end, Gabe is sent into an idyllic universe where Los Angeles is "America's Cleanest City" and immediately became smitten with the universe' version of his wife, who were died in the previous universe.]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Yulaw is finally subjugated and sent to the Hades Universe for his crimes and though Gabe lost his wife and has been framed for her murder in his dimension, Agent Funsch sends him to an iridescent and seemingly happier universe where UsefulNotes/LosAngeles is apparently "America's Cleanest City" and meets that universe's version of T.K. [[HereWeGoAgain the very same way he met her in his]].]]

** UsefulNotes/AlGore became the U.S. President in Lawless' universe. [[note]]Not a big stretch: in fact it took several improbable events (90,000 people in Florida voting for Ralph Nader, Palm Beach County having a butterfly ballot, etc.) to make it come out the way that it did. A good example of the ripple effect.[[/note]]

-->'''Yulaw:''' I am Yulaw! I am ''nobody's'' bitch! ''You'' are mine. I don't need to know you. ''You'' only need to know ''me''. I will be The One!

* Doppelmerger: The crux of the plot, killing your alternate timeline duplicates is a way to give yourself more power, becoming something close to a god is possible.

* RiddleForTheAges: Agent Funsch mentions that in one universe Gabe is "married to a man". It could mean that Gabe's counterpart is either gay or a woman.

!!There is not one trope,...there are many; ''a tropeverse'':

* AmbitionIsEvil: Yulaw. At least, when his ambition is to become a PhysicalGod and defy the normal laws of physics in the multiverse. It doesn't help when Funsch suggests that COMPLETING the killings could very well destroy the universe the last killing took place in or, possibly, the whole multiverse.

* BadassNormal: Roedecker. He's an ordinary human (or at least as ordinary as any multiverse enforcement officer) who is able to go toe-to-toe with Yulaw and fight evenly with him for about a minute and a half.
** According to the [[AllThereInTheManual now-defunct official website]], Roedecker is ex-Secret Service in his home Alpha Universe (the MVA HQ).

* BattleInTheRain: Played with rather awesomely. Gabe and Yulaw dish it out for the last time...under a rain of sparks (they were in a factory).

'''T.K.:''' ''(turns the gun on Yulaw)'' It wasn't a bookstore.

* BulletTime: Yulaw fights at a much higher speed than normal human opponents, so he's able to beat the ever-living crap out of six SWAT officers before they even hit the ground.
** He then runs away from cop cars who clock him at 50 mph.

* ConservationOfNinjitsu: In universe, and very literally, as conservation of life force. Every version of a person within each of the 125 universes is tethered to a unique "life force" or "energy" that connects all of them to each other. Every time a single multiverse counterpart of a person dies, their portion of the energy is equally distributed among the remaining other versions. With each energy boost, the attributes of those individual remaining counterparts become marginally enhanced making them stronger, smarter, faster and, overall, more powerful. Thus, by the time there are only two left, both are essentially superhuman.

* CrapsackWorld: It's implied by Roedecker that Funsch's home universe is one, although his biography on the official website implies that the Beta Universe isn't that bad. It's just that Funsch was LAPD, and that 'verse's LA is a crapsack city, where everyone is, apparently, a combatant.

* CrystalSpiresAndTogas: [[spoiler: After Good Law finally subjugates Yulaw, he is dumped on a world like this as a "reward" for his services, largely because he is now a wanted felon with no family in his home universe.]]
** It might also be suggested that the Alpha Universe, in which the Multiverse Authority is headquartered, could be like this as well.
*** According to the official site, the Alpha Universe isn't much different from any other, except for the presence of quantum tunneling tech (the only universe to develop it) that allows interdimensional travel. While it does have a political and economic effect on some, it largely does not affect the vast majority of people. For example, one of the interdimensional criminals heads a mercenary squad that hides out in another universe and participates in conflicts in the Alpha Universe, using an illegal quantum tunneling device, when someone pays for their services.

-->'''Yulaw:''' The good news is you're not crazy. The bad news is...''[starts shooting at him]''.

** We at least know in 3 different universes, Jet Li's character has Carla Gugino's character as a wife/significant other.
* AHellOfATime: When [[spoiler: Yulaw is imprisoned after failing to become The One]], he finds it's not so bad, as he receives what he wanted anyways: A place where he is the most powerful of all.

** Downplayed with Yulaw: He is arrested for his killing spree in the end, but he can't be executed due to the danger that would pose to the multiverse, and his penal colony seems to be filled with {{Mook}}s he can dominate endlessly, which isn't so far from his dream of becoming a god.

** We get to see maybe a half-dozen different versions of Yulaw at his hearing, including the goofy-looking, blonde Sven Law.
*** According to Funsch, one of Law's counterparts is either gay or a woman (specifically, he says "married to a man"). This appears to be the only thing he mentions that bugs Gabe, probably because he can't figure out which case it would be.

*** UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush was a liberal leaning President who recently passed a "Universal Healthcare Law" in Gabe's universe.

* RedHerring: Funsch goes into a twenty-second GunPorn-esque spiel about the high-tech machine-pistol he's carrying to Gabe Law. [[spoiler: He gets off maybe half a dozen ineffective shots with it before it gets destroyed]].

-----

[[quoteright:328:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/theone.png]]

* PrisonRape: An implied intention in the end, as one of the penal colony inmates mentions that Yulaw has "a pretty mouth". But the last line reminds us that, to say the least, he won't be going down without a fight.

* ThereCanBeOnlyOne: Defied. [[InvertedTrope It can't be allowed for there to be only one.]] Ideally, there should be, at least, 125.

* ThereCanBeOnlyOne: Defied.[[InvertedTrope It can't be allowed for there to be only one.]] Ideally, there should be, at least, 125.

* ApocalypseHow: Because Yulaw and Gabe are the only two remaining versions of themselves left, if either one of them dies before the other, many speculate that the "energy imbalance" would destroy the universe they're in, or even the entire multiverse. On the other hand Yulaw hopes it would make him a PhysicalGod - which could be its own form of apocalypse, depending on how benevolent he'd decide to be.

* SuperIntelligence: InformedAttribute and SubvertedTrope when Gabe says he's getting "stronger, faster, smarter" - by comparison to the increases in speed and strength we would expect his intellect to be superhuman too. However we never see any evidence of this; in fact T.K. is able to easily trick Yulaw at one point, and he fails to look out for DangerTakesABackseat.

* SuperStrength: Illustrated most dramatically by Yulaw clotheslining two ''motorcycles'' - not the cops on the motorcycles, the vehicles themselves - and then wielding them like batons against their fallen riders. Then there's the fact that both Gabe and Yulaw are strong enough to punch each ''other'' several feet away and break heavy machinery. Yulaw also effortlessly picks up an opponent wearing body armor to use him as a shield, at super speed no less.

** Rather than kill Yulaw, [[spoiler: they manage to teleport him to a prison dimension.]]

* {{Unishment}}: [[spoiler: At the end, Yulaw is trapped in a penal colony where he has to fight off wave after wave of inmates. By being sent to a place where he can fight endlessly and always be the strongest, it seems that he's gotten what he always wanted.]]

* WorthyOpponent: Yulaw spends the whole movie trying to ambush or incriminate Gabe; by the end, Gabe has survived everything and Yulaw faces him man—to—man.

->''"I WILL BE THE ONE."''

** Yulaw. Although, in this case, it's not only invoked but somewhat justified as well. Because he and Gabe are the only two remaining versions left, if either one of them dies before the other, there's a chance that any universe the last version is in (or even the entire multiverse) could possibly be destroyed due to the "energy imbalance". There's also the possibility that, while the universe/multiverse may be fine, it could render the last version an invincible, god-like being that couldn't be stopped should they decide to conquer everything.
** Yulaw is only a karma houdini in the sense that he cannot be executed. He is still trapped in the prison universe. A straighter example would be Massie Walsh, the EvilDoppelganger of T.K. who aids in Yulaw's escape and whose actions are never discovered.