'Flatliners' Is NOT the Worst Film of 2017

I was fond of the original Flatliners quite a bit.  Back then, I had never saw something like that; I thought it was a fascinating science fiction horror film.  I even re-watched it several times (partly because AXN, one of the cable channels I frequent back then, used to ran it over and over).  I enjoyed its Twilight Zone-y vibes and all-star cast (Kiefer Sutherland, Kevin Bacon, Julia Roberts, William Baldwin, and Oliver Platt).

This year’s reboot starring Ellen Page, Diego Luna, Nina Dobrev, James Norton, and Kiersy Clemons only scored 5% in Rotten Tomatoes.  Thus, I was prepared to hate it.  I didn’t even want to watch it at first but still proceeded to because I thought Ellen Page, a talented young actress, might make it somewhat interesting (plus I used to have a crush on her when she was younger), and because it might make for some enjoyable hate-watching session.  I even thought I would give this review a mocking title like “Flatliners Flatlines” or “Flatliners Is DOA” or something along those lines.  

However, I didn’t really find it as horrible as I was expecting.

Oh, it’s a bad film, alright.  It doesn’t add anything of significance to the original 1990 film.  It has some different plot elements, but it’s essentially the same film – five medical students, wanting a glimpse/proof of the afterlife, proceed to stop their hearts for a short period of time and get revived before completely dying, and soon are haunted by their past sins.

Due to the rehashed themes, ideas, and characterizations, it doesn’t have the sense of novelty and thoughtfulness that the original has.  And its application of horror-thriller clichés doesn’t help improve its narrative either.

On top of this, compelling performances were delivered by the original film’s cast, while laughably poor acting plagued half of the reboot’s cast.  The script even has the audacity to kill off Ellen Page, the biggest – some may argue, the only – star in the main cast, halfway through the movie.

That said, it’s not as awful as what it’s 5% Rotten Tomatoes score is suggesting.  I’ve seen worse films this year.  Flatliners may be devoid of any real creativity and depth, but for what it is – a forgettable but serviceable film – it’s not insufferably boring.  It’s mildly entertaining and semi-thrilling.

On a side note, Kiefer Sutherland has a supporting role in the reboot.  But his character, Dr. Barry Wolfson, is different from his character in the original 1990 film, Nelson Wright.  I would have liked it if there had been a plot twist – a surprise connection between the two films – that Nelson Wright, sometime after the original film, had changed his name to Barry Wolfson.  Yeah, it’s silly.  But I do think it would have injected a bit of excitement and appeal to the reboot.