Sunday, February 23, 2014

Flatliners (1990)

Director: Joel Schumacher

Writer: Peter Filardi

Composer: James Newton Howard

Starring: Kiefer Sutherland, Julia Roberts, Kevin Bacon, William Baldwin, Oliver Platt, Kimberly Scott, Joshua Rudoy, Benjamin Mouton, Aeryk Egan, Kesha Reed, Hope Davis, Jim Ortlieb, John Duda

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Some lines shouldn't be crossed.

Plot: Medical students begin to explore the realm of near death experiences, hoping for insights. Each has their heart stopped and is revived. They begin having flashes of walking nightmares from their childhood, reflecting sins they committed or had committed against them. The experiences continue to intensify, and they begin to be physically beaten by their visions as they try and go deeper into the death experience to find a cure.



My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again? No.

My feelings haven't changed since I saw this over twenty years ago.  It's OK but reasonably entertaining. I probably should go with a 5.5/10 but it held my attention more often than not.  It boils down to a bunch of good looking kids doing retarded, impossible shit that requires you to check your brains at the door.  Everyone gives it their best shot but it's not enough to bring this back from the dead.  The premise is far fetched, sure, but their solution to fix the mental issues they have after coming back to life is ridiculous and mundane. The best part about the picture is James Newton Howard's score. If you can believe that it's possible to bring back to life someone who's been dead for twelve minutes then you might consider this.  If you can stretch that belief further and accept that said person wouldn't have the slightest bit of brain damage then hit play. 

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