Movie Review: 'Self/less'
By Bill Wine
KYW Newsradio 1060
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Self/less, a science fiction thriller about wanting more, delivers less.
More what? Life, existence, time on this planet.
Less what? Pleasure, involvement, satisfaction.
The psychological and philosophical Self/less (not to be confused with 2008's Selfless) is a "fountain of youth" drama that opens with Ben Kingsley as Damian Hale, a wealthy and accomplished New York City architect and property developer dying of cancer who signs a contract with a secret organization known as Phoenix Biogenic that offers a trade: healthy for wealthy.
Enter Professor Albright, a dapper, vaguely sinister, God-playing scientist portrayed by Matthew Goode. His pitch: "We offer humanity's greatest minds more time to fulfill their potential" with a procedure designed to offer "the very best of the human experience."
Now, who could turn that down? Certainly not a one-percenter with extravagant resources, which is what Hale is.
But what Hale is not, is hearty.
So, Albright explains to him, for the steep fee of a quarter-billion dollars, they promise that if he undergoes a rigorous and radical medical procedure that's part of a revolutionary new technology called "shedding," his consciousness will be transferred into the body of a robust young man (played by Ryan Reynolds).
He is, in other words, being offered the unique chance to remain on this mortal coil for somewhat longer and therefore, combining the knowledge and wisdom of age with the vigor and freshness of youth, he'll be able to accomplish and experience even more than he already has.
But is this just a Faustian bargain?
After all, immortality has a steep price and, as is just about always the case, things are not exactly what they seem. There is, of course, a catch.
Come to think of it, the reborn protagonist comes to wonder and then question, just where and how did this new body come from? Furthermore, are these disturbing and unsettling thoughts and memories and impressions and impulses and hallucinations his or that of the host body?
And just who is this woman (Natalie Martinez) whom he can't seem to stop picturing or thinking about?
Predictably, these concerns are dismissed by Albright as understandable, expected, and innocuous side effects of the procedure, and the youthful-looking subject is sent off happily to his new and lavish New Orleans mansion.
But in this age of Google, Damian -– should we still call him that? -– can't help but investigate.
And, as if on cue, that's when the Phoenix Biogenic goons show up.
Also figuring prominently in the supporting cast are Victor Garber as Damian's best friend and business partner, Michelle Dockery (of television's "Downton Abbey") as his estranged daughter, and Derek Luke as a Phoenix Biogenic enforcer.
The meddling-with-nature screenplay by Spanish brothers David and Alex Pastor starts off intriguingly, exploring the concept of consciousness and posing the question of whether or not a "brain transfer" is actually possible.
But at about the halfway point, the narrative seems to give up on itself and instead turns into a generic chase thriller.
The director, Tarsem Singh, is a visual stylist (The Cell, The Fall, Mirror Mirror) whose movies are usually a feast for the eyes. Sometimes that's enough to make up for murky storytelling and sometimes it isn't.
With Self/less, it isn't.
And given that Singh also directed the easy-to-forget Immortals in 2011, it seems safe to say that immortality is one of his abiding themes.
So we'll undergo 2 stars out of 4 for a more-is-less fantasy thriller. Self/less has a grabber of a premise, but little in the way of follow-through.