Damian Hale (Ben Kingsley) is a dying wealthy man who undergoes a procedure to have his consciousness transferred into the body of a younger man (Ryan Reynolds).  He starts to uncover the origins of the where the body came from as he has weird hallucinations that the body rejection medication keeps at bay.  He soon learns the organization who gave him a second chance at life is willing to kill to protect its secrets and the technology as he must go on the run.

 

SELF/LESS reminds a little of a 1960s sci-fi movie called SECONDS.   The action and direction is excellent in Tarsem’s hands while SELF/LESS is more interesting as movie than SECONDS was.  This movie deals with the question of what would you do to live longer and would the ethical (and moral) issues be worth it in addition whether one person should do it (and what people get the right to do it).

 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The feature audio commentary by director Tarsem Singh is very rambling track that you can skip unless you like to hear him talk- the track doesn’t provide enough insight into making the movie without trying to gleam info from his talking.

 

The more useful info about the movie is found in the three promotional featurettes on the movie:

INSIDE SELF/LESS- a promotional featurette about the story, the movie, and how the Shedding devices in the movie are stripped down CRT machines

ON THE RUN: THE ACTION OF SELF/LESS- a behind-the-scenes featurette on the stunts and action of the film

SHEDDING- a very short featurette on shedding and the implications of it and when it may be possible

 

Also included is a code to download a digital HD ultraviolet copy of the movie

 

FINAL ANALYSIS: SELF/LESS is an engaging and intelligent sci-fi action movie.  It is at least worth a rental.  Ryan Reynolds is better in this movie than some his others like GREEN LANTERN.  I wish they did have a little more extras and the audio commentary was easier to listen to.

 

This review is ©11-23-2015 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com

 

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