Filmology Rating: 1 out of 4

Death is a concept that we as humans have always tried to understand.  Afterlife, reincarnation, ghosts, ghouls and the like are concepts we try to use to convince ourselves to explain a false truth to ourselves.  The simple truth is that we will never know until our time comes, but what if there was a way to figure out where our soul goes when we die?  Would you take the trip to flatline to realize what is on the other side?

Courtney Holmes, played by Ellen Page, has been living in grief since she accidently killed her younger sister.  She has been trying to figure out what happens when you die, hoping that she can find solace with the death of her sister.  Courtney realizes that if she flatlines but has medical help to bring her back to life she might be able to connect with the afterlife.  Courtney realizes after coming back from the dead that sometimes you shouldn’t mess with the natural laws of life.   

I have never seen the original Flatliners film that came out in 1990,  so I cannot speak to if this new film is a remake or a sequel.  I just have to hope that the 90s film has more life in it than this new film.  I cannot understand how Ben Ripley, the writer of Source Code, wrote such a lifeless film with bland characters who I never cared about.  If the script itself is bad then most likely the movie will be bad.  I had hoped that Flatliners would be a cheesy exploitation film but instead the film took itself seriously.  If the film would have taken a step back and realized ‘we know this entire concept is ridiculous but just enjoy the crazy ride’ then I would have tried to go along for the ride.  The film I always return to when I think about ridiculous concepts that the movie doesn’t take seriously to its benefit is Piranha (2010).  That film was over the top in every way, but was still some of the most fun I have ever had at a movie.  If  Flatliners had just an ounce of the fun that Piranha had I could find myself saying this film had some redeeming elements, but as it is now it doesn’t.  

Normally when you have actors like Ellen Page, Diego Luna, James Norton, and Kiersey Clemons in a film you would hope to have characters that you could root for.  That is never the case, every character besides Diego Luna’s is unlikeable and never has any redeeming traits.  Luna just plays an overly bland character who will always do the morally right thing, yes it’s great to see a character like that in a film,  especially when all the other characters only care about themselves but he is just so useless.  The entire film could still happen without him and I would argue that the film should have cut down the number of characters in it.  Instead of five have three, not only would that have cut down on repeating the same plot points over and over but it might actually enable the audience to become attached to a character.  Instead I was left feeling apathetic to the characters for the entire long running length of the film.

When director Niels Arden Oplev brought a film to theatres with bland morally corrupt characters and a script that meanders, he basically brought a film to the screen that was dead on arrival.  Flatliners will never make you think about what happens after you die, it instead will make you bored to death.  

Rating: Let It Burn  

-Jonny G