Genre: Science Fiction/ Thriller/ Drama
Runtime: 110 minutes
Year: 2017
Starring: Ellen Page, Diego Luna, Nina Dobrev, Kiefer Sutherland
Description: Five medical students, obsessed by what lies beyond the confines of life, embark on a daring experiment: by stopping their hearts for short periods, each triggers a near-death experience - giving them a firsthand account of the afterlife.
Review: Another remake. Only a few really succeed. And “Flatliners”, a remake from the 1990 version, is not one of them. This is proof a totally useless remake.
The original “Flatliners” by director Joel Schumacher, wasn’t the best film in the first place. But it was entertaining and was solid. This remake doesn’t add anything new and is hardly ever surprising. It’s just an incoherent mess.
The story stays the same though. We follow a group of ambitious medical students. Courtney has a theory, which can give you a look inside the brain of someone who just died. Her experiment involves dying, stopping the heart for a minute, and then bring the patient back. During this minute, they monitor the brain activity. Courtney does it herself first and lets her fellow students bring her back. After Courtney’s near dead experience, things start happening to her. She remembers things that happened years ago, can all of a sudden play the piano extremely well and copies a recipe from memory. Soon her friends all want to experience it too. But it’s not all good. They start seeing things, that are not there.
All the characters are stereotypical: The rich boy, know it all, hard worker. And good performers like Ellen Page and Diego Luna can’t help any of that.
In the first half hour, a lot happens. The voluntary patients are confronted with their worst nightmares, which turn out to be things they feel guilty about. Director Niels Arden Oplev doesn’t know how to dose it here. The film is also very repetitive and along the way the movie gets less and less credible.
“Flatliners” is a big miss, very forgettable and wasn’t scary or inventive at all. I almost flatlined.
Rating: 1,5/ 5
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