I remember seeing ads for this movie ten years ago and being really excited, just to see horrible reviews a few weeks later. Part of me always thought that regardless of how bad everyone seemed to think this movie was, with a plot like that it couldn’t be that bad.
It’s pretty bad. The premise is pretty much the only thing that works in Self/less, but just barely. Director Tarsem Singh explores the bare minimum with this concept, and unfortunately the end product feels like a lot of opportunity was left on the drawing board. The film drags through serviceable action sequences and various plot checkpoints for longer than it should, and the end result is a sub-two hour film that feels like two-and-a-half. Every seemingly-interesting plot point gets overlooked or half-assed, almost as if there was a directive to keep the narrative as basic as possible.
It’s weird looking back to 2015 and seeing Reynolds as a non-comic leading man; you almost expect him to break into that signature Deadpool snark at some point. He isn’t a detriment to the film, but he’s really not bringing much here beyond the bare necessities for this role. Regardless, I found it a nice change of pace to see him be normal.
The final output isn’t a disastrously-bad film, and ai do think the 18% Rotten Tomatoes score is a dash too low, but Self/less really is a disservice to itself. The film feels like it could be used as a film-school project template, for students to build off of and experiment with, because so little has been done with the wealth of potential present.
I remember seeing ads for this movie ten years ago and being really excited, just to see horrible reviews a few weeks later. Part of me always thought that regardless of how bad everyone seemed to think this movie was, with a plot like that it couldn’t be that bad.
It’s pretty bad. The premise is pretty much the only thing that works in Self/less, but just barely. Director Tarsem Singh explores the bare minimum with this concept, and unfortunately the end product feels like a lot of opportunity was left on the drawing board. The film drags through serviceable action sequences and various plot checkpoints for longer than it should, and the end result is a sub-two hour film that feels like two-and-a-half. Every seemingly-interesting plot point gets overlooked or half-assed, almost as if there was a directive to keep the narrative as basic as possible.
It’s weird looking back to 2015 and seeing Reynolds as a non-comic leading man; you almost expect him to break into that signature Deadpool snark at some point. He isn’t a detriment to the film, but he’s really not bringing much here beyond the bare necessities for this role. Regardless, I found it a nice change of pace to see him be normal.
The final output isn’t a disastrously-bad film, and ai do think the 18% Rotten Tomatoes score is a dash too low, but Self/less really is a disservice to itself. The film feels like it could be used as a film-school project template, for students to build off of and experiment with, because so little has been done with the wealth of potential present.
