Flatliners

There is always a risk involved when revisiting cinema from the past and dusting it off in favor of an ambitious remake for the consideration of todays adventurous movie-going audience. Hollywood has done this tactic for decades now so this is nothing new to contemplate as food for thought. It is one thing to try and bring back the freshness and impact of the original blueprint from yesteryear for a distinctive film that proved to be critically acclaimed, extremely popular, conveniently trendy and memorable for it box office heyday. So what gives for trying to resuscitate a mediocre 1990 Brat Pack medical psychological thriller and re-packaging it as an updated glossy horror/SF fantasy focusing on the tiresome and exploitative life-and-deat...

I thought the original Flatliners was okay, but I was never a big fan. That said, I was still at least partly on board for the potential of a Flatliners TV series. That idea was abandoned in favour of a straight up film-remake, but still I was interested if for no other reason than the cast. The end result? This one's even worse than the original.

Final rating: - Had some things that appeal to me, but a poor finished product.

Line of flatness for fans of the original - for others not so much.

Strictly on a personal level, I always felt that the original Flatliners was average at best. A missed opportunity to use the premise for frightening results, to unnerve, unhinge, whilst intelligently examining the life after death question. So when news of this 2017 remake broke I wasn't in the least bit surprised, the idea at the narrative core was ripe for further filmic delvings.

Niels Arden Oplev's 2017 version is itself problematic, and a long way from being all the things I so wanted from the original film, but at least it has its own twists, a supernatural slant for scares. The makers are also to be applauded for making a truly bold decision in the story, ren...

So this is like Flatliners... only its not as scary because modern audiences. And it doesn't offer the same satire because modern audiences. And it gender-swapped the main character because modern audiences.

And because of the Swap she couldn't be as dynamic because that would show weakness and yadda yadda yadda so you end up not really caring because she never comes across as a real person, just checked boxes.

And in the end you have wasted a chunk of your life again because you Millennial wife thought it might be cool to watch the remake of one of the movies your old Gen-X butt raved about