Flatliners (2017) Movie Review

 

Flatliners | 2017 | 1h 49m
Genre: Psychological Horror/Teen Horror/Drama/Horror/Mystery/Sci-Fi/Thriller | Country: US
Director: Niels Arden Oplev | Writers: Peter Filardi, Ben Ripley
Cast: Elliot Page, Diego Luna, Nina Dobrev
IMDB: 5.2
My Rate: 7/10

Courtney tries to conduct an experiment related to death in order to meet her deceased sister. The heightened brain activity becomes a side effect that makes her friends want to do the same, unaware of the harmful effects awaiting them.

Warning:

Contains scenes of violence, strong language, nudity, sensuality, sex, alcohol, and drugs.

 

Synopsis:

Courtney is a medical student obsessed with life after death. She wants to conduct a Flatlines experiment where her heart will stop for a while. Courtney asks Sophia and Jamie for help.

Sophia and Jamie are asked to come to the basement of the hospital. Courtney has prepared everything, including a brain scanner in the room to record her brain activity while she is 'dead.' Courtney quickly explains what they must do to make her 'die' and 'come back to life.'

Sophia and Jamie do not know that their presence is needed to help Courtney carry out her project. However, they cannot refuse because Courtney immediately prepares without listening to their opinions. The trial does not go smoothly as they cannot wake Courtney up.

In fear, Sophia sends a message to Ray to help save Courtney. Ray runs to the room, followed by Marlo. They manage to save Courtney just in time.

Courtney shares her experience while unconscious, amazing her friends, especially when they see Courtney optimizing her brain by quickly recalling things she has learned.

Seeing this, Jamie asks to try it. During his death, Jamie meets his ex-girlfriend. The beautiful memory suddenly turns grim when a baby’s cry is heard, bringing Jamie back to consciousness.

Courtney and Jamie begin to experience strange events after the trial. These disturbances continue, but none of them tell each other about what they experience. Then Marlo and Sophia also do Flatlines, but their experiences are not as good as Courtney and Jamie’s.

Will they find a way to avoid the side effects of Flatlines?

 
Review:

Flatliners cannot be called a remake of Flatliners (1990) because it has a completely different storyline and characters, though the story idea remains the same. So, it might be considered a sequel that can be watched separately from the first film. However, it is unfortunate that Kiefer Sutherland’s appearance as Nelson in the first film is underutilized and not connected to this story.

The film received a rather low rating on IMDB because most viewers consider it a 'Remake' of Flatliners (1990) rather than a sequel, given the identical title. This causes viewers to compare the storyline with the original film, leading to mostly subjective judgments.

If we view this film as a whole without comparing it to the first film, it is not too bad. However, when compared, it is not as good. The new story presented is quite interesting but executed less optimally.

The background development of the story and characters is shallow. Also, the introduction and appearance of each character feel somewhat unflowing. The film opens with Courtney having an accident, which should be the main foundation of the story but feels meaningless at the start because the scene quickly cuts to the hospital and other characters. This fast-paced background presentation makes the foundation shallow.

This shallow foundation makes conflicts appear suddenly without warning. Courtney abruptly 'traps and forces' Sophia and Jamie to help her perform Flatlining. However, the reasons for the other friends to do the same are reasonable, seeing Courtney’s brain working optimally afterward and their ambition to be the best among others. Conflicts are presented in various forms: internal, with family, with colleagues, and with partners.

The conflict resolution feels rushed, making the conveyed message shallow. Especially when the main character shifts from Courtney to Marlo, making the resolution feel broken and forced.

On the positive side, the acting is quite good, especially Elliot Page’s. Though some actors’ performances feel a bit awkward and annoying. The cinematography and music selection also add value to the film.

Some aspects could be optimized, especially dialogues and scenes. Some dialogues, like those by Sophia, seem unnecessary. Moreover, the scene where they party and get drunk right after just coming back from death seems unrealistic. After all, the body and brain would surely be weakened after such an experiment. Yet, they celebrate wildly afterward. This contrasts with the first film, where the characters reasonably need complete rest after the trial.

In the scene where they try to revive their friend, the first film shows them using a defibrillator immediately because it must be done quickly and urgently. However, in this film, we see more CPR being performed, which also looks somewhat unprofessional. The defibrillator is used only as a last option or even forgotten, despite the device clearly being available.

Overall, the film is still worth watching, though with some notes.

 

Memorable scene:

Courtney, feeling that the disturbances she experiences are worsening, makes a video confession to her friends. She feels guilty for bringing her friends into unimaginable danger just because of her obsession and desire to meet her deceased sister. In this scene, we see that Courtney truly does not want to put her friends in harm’s way.

 

Memorable dialogue:

"You have to forgive yourself"

 

Ending:

Happy Ending

 

Recommendation:

Worth to Watch

 

(Aluna)