Self/less is less
A movie with what amounts to a cameo by Ben Kingsley and the acting talents of Victor Garber and Ryan Reynolds should be better than this. Unfortunately, Self/less is a mixed up mess of boring punctuated with intense action scenes.
Kingsley plays a dying, extremely rich man (Damian) who is both an asshole and trying to reclaim the love of his daughter. When he makes the decision to get a new body, he is sold Ryan Reynolds body as genetically engineered perfection grown in a lab. After the transfer is made, Damian discovers it is a false bill of sale and the chase ensues. The character arc that Kingsley/Reynolds character goes through is unbelievable. It happens too quickly, even if the montage of the rich man enjoying his new body hints at a longer time. There just seems to be little reason for Damian to become the good guy he never was through 68 years of his former life and the 90 or so days of his new one. The film seems like it could have a lot to say about medical ethics, healthcare, the rich and powerful versus the poor, the important things in life and the ability of people to justify poor choices and evil acts by looking at the end goals. It just fails to do so and these themes float away like a lazy raft on a slow moving stream just out of the grip of the swimmer. Chances are that the story would have been better in written form, but it fails in film. |
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