Self/less Movie Review

Self/less (2015)

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Written by: David Pastor, Àlex Pastor (screenplay)
Directed by: Tarsem Singh
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Natalie Martinez, Matthew Goode, Ben Kingsley
Rated: PG-13
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Plot
A wealthy man with a terminal illness contacts a company that can insert his consciousness into a new body.

Verdict
Despite the contrivances and predictable story beats, it's an interesting and entertaining sci-fi story.
Watch it.

Review
What legacy does a man leave? Damian Hale (Ben Kingsley) has terminal cancer, but he's not ready to leave this life. A company promises him a new body and life.

I wondered how starting a new life from scratch would work. Where do you get identification and all the pedigree information? How would Hale cope in leaving his empire behind? The movie hand waves the details. Hale is rich and can buy anything. Barely pausing for us to catch our breath, we get the bare minimum on setup and jump straight into the old switcheroo. Hale's new identity is Edward (Ryan Reynolds). I appreciate the movie didn't make the process seem easy.  Hale has to train his muscles, learn to walk, and memorize his backstory. He also takes medication to ease the mental transition.

Once trained, he has a fancy car and apartment. There's a montage of him buying peanut butter in bulk (he used to be allergic to peanuts). I like that the movie doesn't feel the need to explain again he had a peanut allergy. Hale welcomes the younger lifestyle, going to clubs, playing basketball, and making friends. The pills he takes raise a question. What do they really do? Why must he take them so often?
The movie soon answers this. Hale misses a dosage and has a vision of a military veteran and someone else's life. Where did the body come from? Finally we get to the conflict!

Self/less - Above average action sci-fi movie.

The doctor knows more than he reveals and Hale plays detective. He finds a water tower painted like a pumpkin that he saw in a vision. The house Hale needs to find is conveniently located right next to the water tower. He sees a picture of himself in the house and realizes his new body has been stolen. His bodies name is Mark. Mark's wife comes home, sees him, and is stunned. Hale has no time to explain as he's been followed. The lab has a ruthless security team. Security try to reason with Hale, explaining that Mark donated his body to get the funds to save his daughters life, but Hale is aghast. In another convenient plot point, Hale retains the muscle memory of Mark who was a soldier. He's able to defeat the people tracking him and when he find himself in a house fire, there is a convenient duct in the floor that lets him and his pseudo-wife escape. The action isn't bad. It's clear what's happening, which is a detail many contemporary action movies fail to grasp.

The new question, other than the urgent mission to topple the evil doctor and his lab, is whether Hale will stop taking the pills that repress the memory of Mark and lose his own consciousness or keep the body and atone for being a deadbeat dad himself. Hale discovers that his doctor was a famous neurologist who underwent the switcheroo procedure himself. In case we didn't get the clue, Hale rewinds the video and watches it again. Thanks for thinking I wasn't paying attention movie! In a clever bit of editing Hale (in Mark's body) explains to Mark's wife what happened. We don't hear the explanation as the camera shifts from a wide shot in the car to Mark's daughter. There's no way to give a good explanation. This is a good way to avoid it altogether.

The beats of the movie become predictable, though still entertaining. Hale turns to an old friend for help, but discovers that his friend used the switcheroo procedure on his son and is indebted to the lab. Hale is on the run again from lab security. We get a few car crashes, but surprisingly no airbags ever deploy. Hale is captured. The doctor is going to give his body to one of his injured security guys who can make use of the military training. Earlier in the movie, the doctor told Hale metal messes with the switch. In a contrived moment, Hale is able to secure a bullet while no one notice and put it in his mouth. It stops the switch from happening, unbeknownst to anyone. I assumed it was like metal in a CT scan since the equipment looks the same. It's not, that would complicate the contrived bullet detail.
Hale's doctor believes the end justifies the means, but Hale ends the doctor and the lab with fire. This movie likes fire. We get two scenes of Hale running away from a fire.

I wasn't sure which road to redemption Hale would take. Would he go with the obvious path and give Mark back to his family and sacrifice himself or try to raise the daughter to atone for being a negligent father. As you might have guessed, he chooses to die.