Self/less Movie Poster Image

Self/less

age 14+
(i)

 

Interesting sci-fi ideas wasted in routine storytelling.
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  • Review Date: July 10, 2015
  • Rated: PG-13
  • Genre: Science Fiction
  • Release Year: 2015
  • Running Time: 116 minutes

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What parents need to know

Positive messages

Ultimately there's a message about sacrificing your own needs for someone else's. But it kicks in late in the film and until then there's a lot of selfish, destructive behavior without consequences.

Positive role models

Though the main character learns a valuable lesson, he's not exactly a role model. He is selfish and at times destructive.

Violence

Guns and shooting. Fighting. Man on fire. Burning car and house. Car crashes. Cough, spraying blood. Body checks during a basketball game.

Sex

Main character has anonymous sex with many women; images of them kissing and falling onto a bed, one after another, though no graphic nudity.

Language

One "f--k." Also "s--t," "damn," "son of a bitch," "balls."

Consumerism

iPhone/other Apple products, Google, Wikipedia, Nike shoes.

Drinking, drugs, & smoking

Character drinks a martini at home. Social drinking.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Self/less is a sci-fi thriller starring Ryan Reynolds about a dying millionaire who gets the chance to buy a new body. The second half of the movie has lots of action/violence, including fighting, chasing, guns/shooting, car crashes, and houses and people on fire, though very little blood is shown. When the main character gets his new body, viewers see a montage of him kissing and falling into bed with several women; no graphic nudity is shown, but it's implied that he has many sexual partners. Language includes one "f--k" and sporadic uses of "s--t," "bitch," and "damn." Some social and/or background drinking is shown.

What's the story?

Damian Hale (Ben Kingsley) is wealthy, powerful, ruthless, and respected, though not without his regrets. He's also dying of cancer. Damian is approached by the mysterious Phoenix Biogenic institute, which is headed by a man called Albright (Matthew Goode), who offers Damian the chance to start over. For a price, he can leave behind his old life by "shedding" his old body and entering a new body (Ryan Reynolds). At first Damian has a good time, but he soon struggles with strange flashbacks. When an image of a water tower appears, he investigates. He meets Madeline (Natalie Martinez) and her daughter, who hold the key to his identity. And he begins to realize that Albright's fleshy scheme has a few sinister wrinkles.

Is it any good?

QUALITY

Former music video/commercial director Tarsem Singh (The Cell, Immortals) is generally known for making movies that are visually impressive and narratively pathetic, and this movie is no exception. The story of SELF/LESS has been borrowed in large part, without credit, from John Frankenheimer's Seconds (1966), a movie that took time to explore various themes of beauty and identity in a thoughtful way.

Self/less, on the other hand, doesn't do anything you could call thoughtful, and its sci-fi storyline seems almost arbitrary when compared to the rudimentary thriller climax. It all comes down to chases, escapes, and trying to catch the bad guy; it doesn't even appear to be trying. Singh's previous films featured impossibly huge sculptures and colorful dreamscapes, but the high point of this one is a gray, plastic labyrinth used for nothing more than the hero to hide in while closing in on his enemies. It could have been interesting, but Self/less is an empty vessel.

Families can talk about...

  • Families can talk about Self/less' violence. Is it meant to be thrilling or disturbing? How much is shown? Does action have to be gory to be upsetting? What's the impact of media violence on kids?

  • What does the movie have to say about male body image? Why do you think the main character uses his new body for anonymous sex so frequently?

  • What lessons do characters learn? Does the body-swapping experience help Damian become a better person? How?

  • Would you choose to buy a new body, if money was no object? Why or why not?

Movie details

Theatrical release date:July 10, 2015
DVD release date:November 10, 2015
Cast:Ryan Reynolds, Ben Kingsley, Natalie Martinez
Director:Tarsem Singh
Studio:Focus Features
Genre:Science Fiction
Run time:116 minutes
MPAA rating:PG-13
MPAA explanation:sequences of violence, some sexuality, and language

This review of Self/less was written by

Jeffrey M. Anderson
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are conducted by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

Quality

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Learning ratings

  • Best: Really engaging; great learning approach.
  • Very Good: Engaging; good learning approach.
  • Good: Pretty engaging; good learning approach.
  • Fair: Somewhat engaging; OK learning approach.
  • Not for Learning: Not recommended for learning.
  • Not for Kids: Not age-appropriate for kids; not recommended for learning.

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Parent Written byDan G. July 17, 2015
age 16+

Pretty much adult fare, starts off interesting, then becomes one long car chase

The story is interesting for the first half of the movie. It then devolves into a violent car chase with lots of bullets being shot. There is profanity and crude language. The movie tackles moral issues that younger teens may have difficulty digesting. For example, if another person's consciousness is placed into a volunteer donor's body, are either of them doing evil? Can the new consciousness in the donor's body find the donor's wife and resume marital relations with her and it be OK? Whewww.
What other families should know
Too much violence
Too much sex
Too much swearing
Too much drinking/drugs/smoking
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Kid, 8 years old July 15, 2015
age 16+

Interesting sci-fi thriller is very racy,exciting but cliche.

My rating:R for racy content,some nudity,language,and bloody violence.
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Teen, 17 years old Written bymovie loving teen July 14, 2015
age 12+

A Mess of A Movie But Fun None The Less.

Self/Less is a very flawed movie but it still delivers in terms of preformances which are all great and action which is flawlessly done and superbly shot. Seriously I can't stress how well done the action was in this movie, there is a car chase towards the end of the film that actually got a reaction out of me, it's amazing. As for the story, it's quite poorly written and rather predictable, you have to majority suspend disbelief on more than a few occasions and I don't like that. This movie is rather violent for a PG-13 many people are shot with some bloody results and two people are burned alive. There is very mild occasional PG-13 swearing and one sex scene where all the nudity is hidden so nothing too graphic. Overall I would recommend waiting for Blu-ray to watch this. 7/10
What other families should know
Too much violence
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