'SELF/LESS': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)
A sci-fi thriller/action flick starring Ryan Reynolds and Ben Kingsley. The story revolves around a dying businessman who has his consciousness transferred into the body of a younger, and much healthier, man. It was directed by Tarsem Singh (the man also responsible for the popular 2000 horror flick 'THE CELL') and written by David and Àlex Pastor. The movie also stars Matthew Goode, Natalie Martinez, Derek Luke and Victor Garber. The filmmakers do very little with their interesting ideas; but they do deliver a fun, and stylistically thrilling, action flick.
Kingsley plays Damian, a wealthy, and very successful, businessman; who's dying from cancer. A secret, groundbreaking, science organization offers to give him a new body; to extend his life. After going through with the procedure Damian is thrilled with his newfound youth, and very physically fit body, but he quickly learns that his happiness came at the expense of someone else's (the man who's body he took). Damian feels extremely guilty for taking another man's life from him, and he wants to set things right. The special organization will stop at nothing though, to protect their business.
The movie starts out as a pretty intriguing science-fiction thriller; similar movies have been done before but it did seem somewhat fresh and unique. It doesn't really develop into much though, as it prefers to entertain it's audience with stylistically cool action scenes; instead of story and character development. Singh is a very visually satisfying director to watch though, and I really like the dark style and mood of this movie. It's hard to give it credit for a lot more than that; but it is an entertaining, and somewhat thrilling, action flick.
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