Flatliners (1990) Review

"Today is a good day to die."

-Nelson Wright

Nelson Wright (Kiefer Sutherland), a medical student, convinces four of his classmates to help him with an experiment to see if there is life after death.  Together, they stop Nelson's heart for one minute before bringing him back.  Nelson cannot effectively explain what he experienced, but something was there on the other side.  As the others try their hand at "flatlining" for longer and longer periods of time, they begin to notice their reality is changing upon their return and they may have brought something back from the land of the dead with them...

What Works:

First off, the cast is solid.  Keifer Sutherland is an odd protagonist because he's a real jerk at the beginning of the movie, but he's still an interesting character.  Plus we have Julia Roberts and Kevin Bacon who are both great, and William Baldwin plays his role well.  Oliver Platt is the least important of the group, but for the most part, he does a good job as well.  It's a very talented cast and together they center this film.

Flatliners is a very stylish movie.  When it begins, it looks pretty flat and dull, but after Nelson "flatlines", we get these "afterlife" sequences that look great.  They are very visceral and stand-out as some of the best parts of the film.  And after Nelson comes back for the first time, the world of the movie gets more stylish and visual interesting, almost as if Nelson has brought the strangeness back with him.  It's very cool visual storytelling and make the film worth watching.

The lighting of this film is also fantastic.  Lighting isn't something that gets brought up often enough, but the filmmakers did such a good job with creative lighting that I had to mention it.

There is some really creepy imagery with this movie as well.  Sutherland, Roberts, and Baldwin each have at least one sequence that is really creepy and gives us some haunting imagery.  The film may not be perfect, but it nails the visual storytelling aspects of filmmaking.

What Sucks:

There were definitely some moments where Oliver Platt's character doesn't work.  He's generally the comic relief and that's where he falls flat.  Most of the jokes don't work.  His character works much better as the wet blanket who doesn't want to go through with the experiment.  That's an essential character to have around in a situation like this.  But, the comic relief stuff just doesn't work.

I also didn't care for the resolution to Julia Roberts' storyline.  Part of that is because I thought she was the main character of the movie.  I saw the trailer for the remake and saw that Ellen Page was the main character, so I figured Julia Roberts was the protagonist of this film, especially when Kiefer Sutherland was being such a jerk, I thought he might be the antagonist.  That isn't the case and the resolution to her storyline feels somewhat abrupt and unsatisfying.  This could change on a rewatch knowing what I know now, but as of this moment, it is a knock against the film.

Verdict:

Flatliners is a creepy, visually impressive film with a solid cast and excellent lighting.  The comic relief doesn't work and Julia Robert's side-story is unsatisfying, but this is a solid film that was better than I expected and absolutely has got it going on.

 8/10: Really Good