Self/less. Released: July 2015. Runtime: 116 mins. Rated: PG-13 for sequences of violence, some sexuality, and language.
Damian Hale (Ben Kingsley), a rather cold New York real
estate magnate in his 60s, lives in gold-leafed splendor but knows that he is
dying of cancer. Albright (Matthew Goode), an oleaginous doctor who runs a
secretive clinic in New Orleans, offers Damian, for several hundred million
dollars, the opportunity to live on for at least a few more years by means of a
radical procedure that will transfer Damian's consciousness into a new, younger
body, which, Albright says, has been grown in the lab from tissue by means of a
special process.
Damian opts to undergo the procedure. Among other things, he
hopes that after it he will be able in some way to make up for his neglect of
his now-grown daughter (Michelle Dockery). After undergoing the procedure,
Damian finds himself in the body of a younger man, played by Ryan Reynolds. The
“new Damian” has what Albright calls “hallucinations,” though they resemble the
flashbacks of a combat vet with a wife and young daughter. Albright insists
that new Damian must continue to take “shedding pills” so that he will not have
the hallucinations.
The premise of Self/less
has much promise for an interesting exploration of issues of identity and
changing the nature of one's life. Unfortunately, the film does not fulfill
this promise. After new Damian decides to stop taking the shedding pills and
begins to investigate whether the visions that he is having are indeed
hallucinations or instead memories from the past of a real living person, not
lab-grown tissue, Self/less moves out
of the realm of science-fiction/psychological thriller and into the well-worn
world of action flicks.
This is not to say that the action is not well done under
the direction of Tarsem Singh. It is. Particularly notable is a fierce fight in
a farmhouse in which fists, feet, flamethrowers, and pretty much everything at
hand, as well as guns, are used while the house burns down around the fighters.
The requisite car chases and crashes are also handled in a realistic, though
spectacular way. And the film's cinematography has a rather striking clarity
and color delineation. The score is also good.
What the film does not have is a strong performance in the
lead role of new Damian. Ryan Reynolds ain't no Ben Kingsley, in any way at any
age. The contrast between the acting styles of the sharp-edged Kingsley and the
bland Reynolds is a major factor in making Self/less
much less than it could have been.
“Footnote” to the
film: The closing credits let us know that Damian Hale's gold-leafed
habitat is actually one of Donald Trump's venues.
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