Doug Wright has over 40 years of experience in broadcasting. He is the host of "The Doug Wright Show" and "The Movie Show" on KSL Radio.
"Self/less" (PG-13) — 3 stars
If you have the desire and, even more critical, the $250 million required for a shot at immortality, you probably ought to know all the pesky details.
That’s precisely what Ben Kingsley, as real estate mogul Damian, should have looked into before he committed to the ultimate transplant — his consciousness into a newly grown body that just happens to look a lot like Ryan Reynolds.
Here’s the question: Is this “transplant” all it’s represented to be? What are the strange flashes of foreign consciousness that plague Damian after the procedure? Why must he ingest the mysterious red pill that is doled out with precision by the company that provided the revolutionary service? And why do the troublesome flashes diminish when the pill is taken?
Everything transpires in and around New Orleans. As Damian enjoys his new physical well-being by sampling many of the pleasures of the Big Easy, he’s also driven to follow up on the images that haunt him. One image in particular has stuck in his mind — that of a community water tower that has been painted like a pumpkin. What to do? Damian turns to Google and, sure enough, the water tank is in the area.
A sojourn to the site reveals there’s a house at the base of the tower. Damian knocks, to no avail, and tests the front door. It’s unlocked. He enters and finds it is home to a single mom and a little girl. But it’s the pictures hanging on the wall that shake him to his core.
He quickly learns his discovery is something the company which provided him with his new life is willing to kill to conceal.
"Self/less" is intriguing, well-crafted and compelling. The idea of an enormously wealthy person paying to have his life renewed in a new body is stimulating to the imagination. Is something like that even remotely possible? It wasn’t all that long ago that procedures that are somewhat routine today were thought to be impossible if not outright immoral.
Kingsley and Reynolds do a good job sharing their character, but it’s the supporting cast that adds the texture to "Self/less," especially Matthew Goode as Dr. Albright. You might remember him as part of the decoding team in "Imitation Game." This time he plays another brilliant scientist who developed the transfer process he refers to as “shedding.” He is chillingly calm and calculated.
I can’t help dwelling on the basic premise. I’ll leave it to the minds immeasurably superior to mine, but I’m intrigued.