Personally liked the 1990 'Flatliners'. It wasn't perfect, but it was stylish, fun and with some chills, making the most of a concept that at the time was very different. It also strikes me as one of Joel Schumacher's most underrated films and an example of not all Schumacher's films being overblown camp.
Immediately had doubts hearing there was a remake, 'Flatliners' was one of those films that didn't need a remake in any shape or form. However, the cast didn't seem too bad on paper (Ellen Page and Diego Luna have shown performances that were at least capable in the past), it was written by Ben Ripley (who did some fine work for 'Source Code') and it was directed by Niels Arden Oplev of the excellent Swedish 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' fame. So actually, despite questioning the point, there was hope.
Sadly, 'Flatliners' (2017) failed to live up to any of its potential that it could have potentially had with the right execution. Questioned the point of it before watching it when it first came out last Friday, after seeing it to me it has to be one of the most pointless and dead on arrival remakes since 'The Wicker Man'. The concept of the original 'Flatliners' unlike any other, that's not the case anymore (having actually starting to wear well before this came out, being executed for example to not particularly good effect in an episode of 'Diagnosis Murder') and it feels very stale here, so no despite how appetising it appears in the summary it's hard to put "great premise" as a strength.
The cast do their best, the actors are the thing that come off least badly. That's not saying much at all (and it's only being said because everything else is done worse) because most of them still give very uninspired one-note performances. The most dedicated of the lot is Diego Luna, he makes a real effort to keep things together, even when things seem unsalvageable, and ends up being the best, and perhaps only good, thing about the film. The normally very capable Ellen Page plays her character in far too repressed a way, and the rest of the cast are either too histrionic or robotic. Kiefer Sutherland's cameo was even more unnecessary than the film itself.
With that being said, that the acting is not great is not the fault of the actors. They do have everything else in 'Flatliners' fighting them every step of the way. The characters are ones we learn little about, other than very over-familiar dilemmas and past traumas that are mentioned but not really expanded upon (certainly not in a way that would make one root for them), and one is just too frustrated by their very hasty and sometimes illogical decision making and inexperienced students-like behaviour (way too inexperienced to be doing something this advanced) to make one care for them.
Just as disappointing are the script and the direction. Anybody who remembers Ripley's taut, occasionally drolly humorous and emotionally weighty (in its exploration of loss and responsibility) script for 'Source Code' will be very disappointed to find a script here that makes one think whether it was actually written by him or a completely different person who was a complete rookie in script-writing. For this script was clunky, drab and tonally very muddled (trying to mix sci-fi, psychology and horror and making a complete hash of balancing them and properly doing anything with each individually) with some unintentionally funny elements.
Likewise it was hard to believe that such lazy ill-at ease came from the same director who brought so much tension, class, boldness and suspense in masterful, terrifying ways to the Swedish 'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo'. Everything single one of those completely and utterly absent here in a film as chilling as a wet blanket. Sorry for comparing, but it's hard not to when the glimpses of potential that actually persuaded me to see a film that didn't appeal to me in the first place, based on previous work that did impress me, disappoint so drastically.
Worst of all is the story, which is a disaster in execution and does nothing fresh with an idea that was quite unique back in 1990 but not so much over-time and feels incredibly stale and unimaginative here. It started off mildly intriguing, quickly became dull once it was clear that the characters were not engaging and the script and direction being as poor as they were (not to mention the pacing being leaden throughout) and then got really weird and forgot to make sense in the second half. The film tries to raise interesting questions but fails to answer them convincingly so many things feel unresolved or very, very vague (like all the strange goings on, the whole flat-liners concept and the unexplained physical forms thing that is more at home in a Stephen King novel). The ending is a fizzling whimper, nothing exciting or suspenseful at all about it, and indicative of the writers running out of steam and ideas.
Forgot to mention the production values. Visually it was very close to looking like straight to video fodder but just rose above that (only just) with some atmospheric lighting that is wasted by especially photography that was suggestive of a photographer either drunk on the job or had never shot a film in their lives. When reading that it was the same man who captured the bleakness of 'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo' effectively, lack of refinement aside, there was shock. Some slapdash effects here too. One actually misses the interesting use of orange and blues of the original, which was far more interesting to watch than the dreary look here. Nathan Barr has done some great scoring for television but it's very ham-fisted in the few times it's memorable here.
Overall, completely flat. 2/10 Bethany Cox
Immediately had doubts hearing there was a remake, 'Flatliners' was one of those films that didn't need a remake in any shape or form. However, the cast didn't seem too bad on paper (Ellen Page and Diego Luna have shown performances that were at least capable in the past), it was written by Ben Ripley (who did some fine work for 'Source Code') and it was directed by Niels Arden Oplev of the excellent Swedish 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' fame. So actually, despite questioning the point, there was hope.
Sadly, 'Flatliners' (2017) failed to live up to any of its potential that it could have potentially had with the right execution. Questioned the point of it before watching it when it first came out last Friday, after seeing it to me it has to be one of the most pointless and dead on arrival remakes since 'The Wicker Man'. The concept of the original 'Flatliners' unlike any other, that's not the case anymore (having actually starting to wear well before this came out, being executed for example to not particularly good effect in an episode of 'Diagnosis Murder') and it feels very stale here, so no despite how appetising it appears in the summary it's hard to put "great premise" as a strength.
The cast do their best, the actors are the thing that come off least badly. That's not saying much at all (and it's only being said because everything else is done worse) because most of them still give very uninspired one-note performances. The most dedicated of the lot is Diego Luna, he makes a real effort to keep things together, even when things seem unsalvageable, and ends up being the best, and perhaps only good, thing about the film. The normally very capable Ellen Page plays her character in far too repressed a way, and the rest of the cast are either too histrionic or robotic. Kiefer Sutherland's cameo was even more unnecessary than the film itself.
With that being said, that the acting is not great is not the fault of the actors. They do have everything else in 'Flatliners' fighting them every step of the way. The characters are ones we learn little about, other than very over-familiar dilemmas and past traumas that are mentioned but not really expanded upon (certainly not in a way that would make one root for them), and one is just too frustrated by their very hasty and sometimes illogical decision making and inexperienced students-like behaviour (way too inexperienced to be doing something this advanced) to make one care for them.
Just as disappointing are the script and the direction. Anybody who remembers Ripley's taut, occasionally drolly humorous and emotionally weighty (in its exploration of loss and responsibility) script for 'Source Code' will be very disappointed to find a script here that makes one think whether it was actually written by him or a completely different person who was a complete rookie in script-writing. For this script was clunky, drab and tonally very muddled (trying to mix sci-fi, psychology and horror and making a complete hash of balancing them and properly doing anything with each individually) with some unintentionally funny elements.
Likewise it was hard to believe that such lazy ill-at ease came from the same director who brought so much tension, class, boldness and suspense in masterful, terrifying ways to the Swedish 'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo'. Everything single one of those completely and utterly absent here in a film as chilling as a wet blanket. Sorry for comparing, but it's hard not to when the glimpses of potential that actually persuaded me to see a film that didn't appeal to me in the first place, based on previous work that did impress me, disappoint so drastically.
Worst of all is the story, which is a disaster in execution and does nothing fresh with an idea that was quite unique back in 1990 but not so much over-time and feels incredibly stale and unimaginative here. It started off mildly intriguing, quickly became dull once it was clear that the characters were not engaging and the script and direction being as poor as they were (not to mention the pacing being leaden throughout) and then got really weird and forgot to make sense in the second half. The film tries to raise interesting questions but fails to answer them convincingly so many things feel unresolved or very, very vague (like all the strange goings on, the whole flat-liners concept and the unexplained physical forms thing that is more at home in a Stephen King novel). The ending is a fizzling whimper, nothing exciting or suspenseful at all about it, and indicative of the writers running out of steam and ideas.
Forgot to mention the production values. Visually it was very close to looking like straight to video fodder but just rose above that (only just) with some atmospheric lighting that is wasted by especially photography that was suggestive of a photographer either drunk on the job or had never shot a film in their lives. When reading that it was the same man who captured the bleakness of 'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo' effectively, lack of refinement aside, there was shock. Some slapdash effects here too. One actually misses the interesting use of orange and blues of the original, which was far more interesting to watch than the dreary look here. Nathan Barr has done some great scoring for television but it's very ham-fisted in the few times it's memorable here.
Overall, completely flat. 2/10 Bethany Cox