Self/Less

There are plenty of ethical questions raised in Self/Less, and not many of them have clear-cut answers.

Ordinarily, such ambiguity wouldn’t be so problematic. But the film jettisons most of its provocative scientific concepts about brain power in favor of generic action-thriller fight scenes, shootouts, and car chases.

The story opens in Manhattan, where wealthy commercial developer Damian (Ben Kingsley) is dying of cancer and trying to get his affairs in order. Through a colleague, he hears of an experimental top-secret procedure known as “shedding” that could essentially allow him to continue living by transferring his mind to that of a younger body, which he would then inhabit. But he needs to fake his own death first.

“We offer humanity’s greatest minds more time to fulfill their potential,” explains the doctor (Matthew Goode) who conducts such business in a New Orleans warehouse, where Damian’s body and that of ex-soldier Mark (Ryan Reynolds) are simultaneously placed into an MRI-type machine for the procedure. After a brief recovery period, Damian has become Mark.

Naturally, there are moral complications and side effects, particularly in the hallucinations that Damian begins to experience, which include haunting memories from both men’s pasts. Suspecting the doctor has ulterior motives, Damian attempts to escape so he can rescue Mark’s widow (Natalie Martinez) and young daughter from the chaos that results.

It would be easy to say that while conceiving this brain-switching tale, sibling screenwriters David and Alex Pastor (Out of the Dark) lost their minds. Yet theirs is a script with an intriguing setup but an insufficient payoff, which is unfortunate given the potential in the premise.

After all, the film at least realistically ponders such high-minded ideas as memory preservation, mind-body dualism, and cognitive analytics before losing its way in the second half amid a series of narrative twists and shifting character motives that defy logic and strain credibility to an almost ridiculous degree.

Indian director Tarsem Singh (Mirror Mirror) employs some sharp visual touches. However, by the end, the rooting interest seems contrived and the redemptive efforts of both Damian and Mark feel obligatory rather than genuine.

Some of the ethical complexities become lost in the mayhem, such as the fundamental hypothetical dilemma of whether, under such desperate circumstances and with so many variables in the potential outcome, you would effectively consider immortality.

Rated PG-13, 116 minutes.