Ryan Reynolds is a great actor. Guys wanna be him, women wanna be with him. Not to mention he has the talent. If you ever feel like that’s not the case, watch Buried (2010). Let’s talk about this movie. If you have the choice, skip this one. Self/Less has an interesting premise, good actors and a director who hasn’t yet hit his stride. You see some good elements in this movie, they’re just not there very often.
The performances in Self/less are not impressive. In fact, the only actor/actress that impressed me was Natalie Martinez, who plays Ryan Reynolds “wife” in the film. Everyone is just not exciting to atch. Ryan Reynolds himself is incredibly subdued. He can do a couple of quips here and there. In saying that, any actor could have played this part. On top of that it felt like such a stretch to think Ryan Reynolds character was the same as Ben Kingsly. Matthew Goode also felt like a subdued Ozymandias from Watchmen. There isn’t anything special about the acting which is sad considering the talent.
When talking about the story it becomes even more strange to describe. Self/less i admit have some really nice twists throughout which were interesting. It may be something difficult to explain without spoiling the movie. In essence, the twists are interesting, but i feel they really don’t serve the plot. They serve certain characters, but it doesn’t push the story forward. I still think the premise is exciting to see, just not in this movie. Their is a point in this movie where a car chase is happening and all i wanted was for it to be over. It didn’t excite me. And as days and days have gone by since i saw it, only the negatives seem to stay with me.
If i wanted to describe this movie in one word, it would be GENERIC. This is coming from someone who was excited for this movie, someone who wants Ryan Reynolds to get some good movies under his belt. This movie however, won’t be it.
Review by Daniel Clements
Twitter: @clemo_24
