Self/Less (DVD REVIEW)
Self/Less
DVD
Review
by Kam Williams
Brain
Transplant Thriller Reminiscent of Face/Off Released on DVD
In the 1997
thriller Face/Off, an FBI agent underwent a face transplant in order
to crack a terrorist plot. It's hard not to think of that film while
watching Self/Less which revolves around another radical surgical
procedure, namely, the implantation of a cancer patient's brain
inside the cranium of a healthy individual.
The picture
stars Sir Ben Kingsley as Damian Hale, a terminally-ill, business
tycoon who doesn't want to die. His prayers are answered when a mad
scientist (Matthew Goode) surfaces who is willing, for a cool
quarter-billion dollars, to transfer his mind into the head of a test
tube human surrogate hatched in a lab.
The only
catch is that Damian can't tell anyone about the experimental
operation, which means he'll have to abandon any hopes of reconciling
with his long-estranged daughter, Claire (Michelle Dockery).
Nevertheless, he signs on the dotted line, enters the futuristic
operating room and eventually arouses from anesthesia having shed his
sickly shell for a late model upgrade with “that new body smell.”
While
convalescing, Damian 2.0 reads his own obituary in the paper but
dutifully steers clear of contacting any friends or relatives to
avoid the risk of raising suspicion. Instead, he merely marvels at
his miraculous recovery.
Before
discharging his grateful patient, Dr. Albright gives him a new
identity and a week's supply of anti-rejection pills. Returning to
the real world, suddenly handsome Damian becomes practically giddy
between his unexpected prowess on the basketball court and his
impressive physique's ability to turn heads.
What the
reincarnated, real estate magnate doesn't know, however, is that the
brain transplant wasn't really an installation job into a recently
harvested donor. The plot thickens upon the discovery that his alter
ego Edward Kittner (Ryan Reynolds) not only actually once existed but
left behind a wife (Natalie Martinez) and 6 year-old daughter
(Jaynee-Lynne Kinchen).
Directed by
Tarsem Singh (The Cell), Self/Less is sufficiently compelling to
recommend highly, even though it suffers severely from a lack of
originality. Besides the aforementioned shades of Face/Off, this
derivative adventure borrows a number of ideas from Seconds, the
similarly-themed, 1966 sci-fi classic.
An
improbable, if thought-provoking mind-bender built on a house of
cards that holds up only to the extent you're willing to go along
with its preposterous premise.
Very Good (3
stars)
Rated
PG-13 for profanity, sexuality and violence
Running time: 113 minutes
Distributor: Universal
Pictures Home Entertainment
To see a trailer for Self/Less, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mc4sz6neHDs
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