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 One False Move did not appeal to me. In addition to simply disliking the action genre, the acting was horrendous and many of the characters fell flat. One thing I did like, however, was how true this movie was to its name.

One False Move. One little mistake could change everything. Every time a character makes a decision, it spirals them in a different direction. For example, maybe if Ray and Pluto hadn’t killed the men in Houston, or gone after Fantasia, they could have escaped.

Ultimately, I think the idea of One False Move is best portrayed through Dale and Fantasia. The majority of the movie builds up to Fantasia’s return to Star City, where the cops are waiting for her arrival. She believes she will be able to return and see her family in her hometown, but viewers know the LAPD has been tracking her for days. The chief of Star City, however, has known Fantasia since she was a teenager and swears she is not capable of the actions the LAPD suspects she has committed.

The connection between Dale and Fantasia is where the idea of One False Move comes in for me. A little over halfway through, we learn that Fantasia has a son, but are left to assume it is either Ray’s or some unnamed man’s. By the end, however, we come to understand that Dale was the father. 

I think this plays into One False Move because it ultimately throws us into the end of the movie and its consequences. Due to Dale’s actions, that is, using his power to “have sex with” a vulnerable and troubled teenager, he feels that he has a connection with Fantasia - maybe not in the boyfriend/girlfriend sense, but an understanding. He does not see her for years following this event, in fact, he was not even aware he had a son by her, but he continues to swear by her name and insists she is good to those who want to arrest her. 

He keeps this up the entire movie, to the extent of following her brother and breaking into her hideout alone, without calling for backup. If I remember correctly, he stayed there all night, if not for a couple of days. While there, he continues to feel this connection he believes they have, and decides to help her escape if she works with him to lure and capture her companions.

In the end, everyone dies, in a final, tragic portrayal of this idea. Dale kills Pluto as intended, but Ray shoots at Dale and misses, killing his girlfriend instantly. This in turn costs him his life. If he had moved his arm slightly to the right, he and Fantasia could have made it. Dale himself gets hurt, and the story ends without us knowing whether he survives or not. 

One False Move. Did Dale’s decision to take advantage of Fantasia rather than help her all those years ago lead to both of their deaths? If he had chosen the other path, he wouldn’t have felt this “connection” and could have arrested the three without losing his own life. Hell, maybe Fantasia wouldn’t have gone down that path in the first place.