Flatliners (2017) - Hated It

Starring: Ellen Page, Diego Luna, Nina Dobrev, James Norton
Director: Niels Arden Oplev
Runtime: 1 hour, 49 minutes
Drama | Sci-Fi | Thriller | 2017

Science Fiction Thrillers are always intriguing to me. This particular film is a remake from a film of the same title that starred Kiefer Sutherland, Kevin Bacon, Julia Roberts, William Baldwin, and Oliver Platt. Honestly, I may end up watching this first one just because of the all star cast and not because I liked this 2017 version at all… because I didn’t.

Five medical students decide to start an experiment to see what happens after death. So they stop their hearts for short periods (flatlining hence the title) and bring each other back to life. The premise of the film is an interesting one. It reminds me of the Olivia Wilde film The Lazarus Effect from three years ago which wasn’t bad.

Needless to say, each person had their own “worlds” during death. Most of them brought up secrets and tension ridden past events to drive the person crazy that would eventually lead to delusions and actual death.

Overall the movie just wasn’t good. I felt like a lot of the characters stories were disconnected and the fact that they all were doing this thing together just didn’t play well in my mind. I didn’t feel like they had any connection whatsoever with each other, even through Ray and Marlo had some kind of a love thing going on. Ellen Page played Courtney, who really was the only one that had any kind of back story in the beginning of the film. Perhaps because she was the main character who was really the only one that CARED what happened after death. The others I felt like just wanted to upper hand in med school.

I’m going to give this film a “hated it” and I am really kind of upset. It just wasn’t good and I wouldn’t want to watch it again… except for maybe the original film because of Kevin Bacon and Julia Roberts. I do however want to watch The Lazarus Effect again, that one actually scared me a tad (1/5).