Reivew: Self/Less, starring Ryan Reynolds, flies high before hitting the kids

REVIEW: SELF/LESS, starring Ryan Reynolds, starts out flying high but plummets so quickly it’s deserving of the label of one of this year’s worst movies.

In this photo provided by Gramercy Pictures, Ryan Reynolds stars as Young Damian in Gramercy Pictures' psychological science fiction thriller "Self/less," directed by Tarsem Singh and written by Alex Pastor and David Pastor. (Alan Markfield/Gramercy Pictures via AP)

Self/Less (M)

Director: Tarsem Singh (Mirror Mirror)

Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Ben Kingsley, Matthew Goode, Natalie Martinez.

Rating : **

Hope/Less

Whoa!

Not often these days a film starts out flying so high, only for the quality to drop so steeply it can never possibly recover.

Where and when the tailspin kicks in for the thriller Self/Less is pretty easy to identify: it’s the moment Ryan Reynolds takes over leading man duties from Ben Kingsley.

Looking buff ... Ryan Reynolds stars as Young Damian in the psychological sci-fi thriller Self/Less.

Which is not to say it is Reynolds’ fault in any way that Self/Less curls up like a dying spider so swiftly and irreversibly.

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No actor at the apex of their powers could avoid being short-circuited by the low-voltage nincompoopery buzzing away here.

First, let’s double-back to that oh-so-promising start.

Kingsley plays Damian Hale, an aging zillionaire who has never come across a commodity he couldn’t buy with money, or acquire through sheer force of will.

Having been given just months to live due to an untreatable cancer diagnosis, Damian applies his ferocious deal-making skills to mount his most audacious takeover ever.

In the space of a few phone calls and a meeting with a mysterious medical scientist, Damian Hale purchases full control of his own mortality.

Razzie contender ... Victor Garber and Ryan Reynolds in Self/Less.

The fine print? Mr Hale will very publicly die, then patiently wait while the contents of his old body are privately transferred into a newer, younger physique.

So far, so fascinating. Stop everything right there, and there appears to be a myriad of tantalising and exciting directions the movie can take.

Astonishingly, Self/Less does not pursue any of them. Instead, director Tarsem Singh allows this hot start to cool down rapidly to a simmer.

Fine actor ... Ben Kingley can’t even save this film.

All that really follows once Reynolds enters the fray as the younger, stronger Damian Hale 2.0 is a dopey, lunk-headed run-and-gun chase flick you’ve seen many times before.

After hanging out for a while in New Orleans to get the hang of his buff new bod — which the local ladies take quite a liking to — Damian starts experiencing psychotic flashbacks that his top-secret mega-medication can’t make go away.

A conspiracy concerning a mad scientist, his half-witted henchmen, a whining war widow and some belated bonus body-swapping pushes proceedings well into the red of the ridiculous zone.

If it wasn’t for the magnificently misleading potential suggested by the first act, Self/Less would go down as one of the worst films of the year. As it stands, the two-star rating reflects only the affection sure to come its way from lovers of the so-bad-it’s-good effect.

Originally published as Reivew: Self/Less, starring Ryan Reynolds, flies high before hitting the kids