Damian Hale is a billionaire real estate developer in New York City. He is also dying of cancer and has only months to live. From a mysterious doctor named Albright he learns of a process called shedding where a consciousness can be transferred from one body to another. He undergoes the procedure believing the new body was produced in a lab. When he misses a dose of his special meds he starts having memories of another life. Hale follows up on the images and discovers a wife a daughter that had though him dead. Once Dr. Albright realizes what’s happening he sends in the cavalry to try and control the situation. Chaos reigns until Hale can reconcile his old life and his new one.
Rating
Violence: Yes
Sex: Mild
Language: Mild
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This is one of those though-provoking films that while a little under-stated provides good entertainment and inspires discussion about the moral implication of what’s happening in the story. The consciousness-transfer story has been done before Self/less takes a fresh approach in that you see a transformation of the original personality into something better. Damian Hale, played by Ben Kingsley with a terrible approximation of a New York accent, starts out as the typical self-absorbed rich man looking for immortality. Once he occupies the new body, his perspectives change. First is the obvious anger when he learns of the deception. But then he becomes emotionally involved with the wife and daughter he only knows through memory flashes. And this leads to an extremely well-conceived ending that makes the film well worth watching. There are some slow portions but they’re made up for with some terrific action sequences and a few nail-biting moments. All in all it’s a very enjoyable movie.
The video transfer is honest in its color portrayal but I found some material to look a little murky. Color is nicely saturated in most scenes but darker content shows a bit of crush and lack of depth. Detail is quite sharp throughout and contrast is quite deep in the brighter parts which dominate the film.
The audio encode is clear and detailed with a wide front soundstage and good use of the surrounds. A little more bass would be welcome but action scenes have decent dynamic and frequency range. The musical score is a little thin and I felt it could have contributed a little more.
Bonus features are fairly thin and include a making-of featurette, a brief explanation of shedding and audio commentary from director Tarsem Singh.
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The most important element a movie must first accomplish is the "suspension of disbelief" in order to have the audience buy into whatever premise the plot proposes. So, I am a home theater enthusiast and am always on the lookout for films that can flex my amps and subs but also are unique, well written, directed, cast and edited. I loved this premise and the production values were through the roof . . . up until Ben Kingsley's character transitions to Ryan Reynolds role. Yes, so his consciousness is transferred to a young healthy body but why is there not the slightest glimmer of his previous personality? Ben's character had a distinctive east coast accent, dressed exquisitely, was 68 years old and was of obvious refinement and so suddenly a new younger body means he is a totally different person complete with mad skills on the basketball court? It would seem that the director would have ensured that there was some shred of his previous persona in the Reynolds character - not just a vague "do you know who I used to be" line of dialog nod to that existence. That obvious lack of attention to detail was enough to keep me from watching past the cliché explosions and flamethrower "escape from the farmhouse" scene. Maybe I will revisit it and enjoy it but just too disappointed for the time being.