If only I had more time to live my life? Perhaps the catch cry of many as the years go by and as regrets build. But what if that were, indeed, possible? In this provocative psychological science fiction thriller, director Tarsem Singh explores the consequences of living on for an eternity.
Billionaire industrialist Damian Hale (Ben Kingsley) has long been a master of his universe, excelling at power plays from his New York base. Estranged from his activist daughter Claire (Michelle Dockery of Downton Abbey), Damian’s only real connection is with his lifelong friend and right-hand man Martin O’Neil (Victor Garber). But a dire cancer diagnosis makes Damian determined to access a radical medical procedure known as “shedding” that will turn back the clock for him. The process is offered to Damian by Albright (Matthew Goode of TV’s The Good Wife), the brilliant head of a secret organisation that caters to the wealthy. Damian seizes the opportunity and his death is staged. The world now thinks he is gone, but he is in fact “shedding”, his consciousness is being transferred into the body of a healthy man (Ryan Reynolds) decades younger than he. The operation is deemed a success. Damian starts a new life in a new city, New Orleans. Both preserving his newfound health and indulging himself, Damian becomes comfortable in his new identity. But disturbing images flood his consciousness and cannot easily be explained away by Albright’s contention that “immortality has some side effects”.
The concept of toying with the bounds of medical science to prolong life has been explored by cinema many times before, inevitably with the same conclusion. In other words, what seems too good to be true is. Or put in other terms, no good can come of this. And so it is here in a film that starts out as intriguing but becomes confusing and utterly far-fetched. Screenwriting brothers David and Alex Pastor have written about a powerful character that has everything but whose body is failing him and then finds that his money might be able to buy him a new life. All well and good until things start to unwind.
In short, Self/Less is a morality tale with a plot that fails to sustain it the longer it progresses. I thought Kingsley was strangely wooden is his portrayal of the 68 year old businessman. I warmed far more, just as we were meant to, to Ryan Reynolds’ characterisation. Still, I thought credibility was found wanting time and again, which isn’t always the case with moral dilemmas in science fiction thrillers. At first Reynolds merely tries to unscramble the egg, find out what is really happening and then he wants to make sure it never happens again, so he morphs into the action hero. Along the way a young mother and her cute six year old daughter become the reason Reynolds’ soldiers on, rather than trying to disappear off the radar altogether. So, as fascinated and as involved as I was at the outset, as frustrated and exasperated I became and then one last twist pushed me over the edge.
In the end Self/Less, rated M, turned from decent to downright average fare and scores a 5 out of 10.
Director: Tarsem Singh
Cast: Ben Kingsley, Ryan Reynolds and Natalie Martinez
Release Date: 23 July 2015
Rating: M
Alex First
David Edwards is the editor of The Blurb and a contributor on film and television