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Ryan Reynolds is pretty much his old self here
C+The idea behind Self/less, that the wealthy can extend their lives by appropriating the bodies of younger, healthier people, presents fascinating moral, ethical, and psychological issues that could easily fuel a dozen or more similar movies. Unfortunately, after carefully setting up its premise, Self/less instead appropriates the form of a generic action thriller.
The process used in Self/less involves transferring the mind and memory of one person, wealthy but cancer ridden Damian Hale (Ben Kingsley), into the body of another, desperately broke Ryan Reynolds, who agrees to “die” in order to pay his own sick daughter’s medical bills. Damian doesn’t know this is what’s happening; he thinks that his new body was somehow grown from scratch by the man responsible, Dr. Albright (Matthew Goode). At first, Damian’s new life in his younger body is nonstop fun, sex, and games, but when he forgets to take his medication one day, he has visions of his younger self’s former life. A now understandably curious Damian pays a visit to the younger self’s wife (Natalie Martinez) and eventually figures out what Albright has done.
As an action thriller, Self/less is competently made with a fair share of requisite chases and fight scenes, Viewers, however, soon realize that the movie cuts every corner possible in search of a predictably happy ending. Damian himself comes across as merely a hard-nosed, workaholic businessman who very conveniently inherits the body of a highly trained combat vet. Worst of all, the film avoids having to seriously question the morality of the regeneration process by turning Albright into a combination sinister huckster and prototypical mad scientist. Reynolds is a likable hero but never manages to convince the audience he’s the younger version of Kingsley. Instead, it’s the real Kingsley who gives Self/less what power it has in only fifteen minutes of screen time. Self/less seems to lose its creative life about the same time Damian loses his actual one, but, unlike Damian, the movie never really comes back.
Continue reading on Self/less: Mini-review
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