Review of Flatliners (1990) by Edith N — 17 Jun 2010

. . . To Kevin Bacon!

I've been citing this movie for years, although I'd never actually seen it before. You see, one of the advantages of having your own personal IMDB in your head is that you become a champion at the Kevin Bacon Game. I collect "node" movies, movies which have a lot of celebrities who can then be linked to a lot of movies, and Kevin Bacon movies, especially if they're ensemble cast movies. Since this movie has Kiefer Sutherland and Julia Roberts in it, it's a pretty good one. Oliver Platt, too, which gets us to Johnny Depp and from there [i]Pirates[/i] and from there [i]Lord of the Rings[/i]. So I've been using it in my examples for ages. It's a handy thing to know. If you are as obsessed with the whole thing as I am, which most people will tell you is a good sign that you need something else to do with your life.

Kiefer, Kevin, Julia, and Oliver, not to mention Billy the Minor Baldwin, are doctors. Or anyway med students. Their characters have names, but who cares? Anyway, they're trying to find out what's on the Other Side, which naturally involves clinically killing one another to stimulate near-death experience. Like you do. At first, they think that it's joy and peace and light, but it turns out that sins committed in the past follow you through, and that's a Bad Thing. Oliver Platt is the only one who is adamant that it's a bad idea, and one rather gets the feeling that he's only going along with it so that no one goes to prison. Which, let's face it, will only end with his going to prison as well, a fact he's well acquainted with. The whole thing's a bit silly, but not for them. They are being stalked by evil specters of darkness. Going to prison seems to be the least of their problems.

Of course, they have to throw in the token atheist, played by Kevin Bacon, so it isn't a religious thing. Interestingly, though, he's the one who comes up with the obvious, and to many people religious, solution. If you're being stalked by your sins, the obvious solution is to do what you can to atone for them. Or come to terms with the issues. Or whatever the thing stalking you is. Of course, Kevin's don't involve anyone's death and are therefore the easiest, but he's also the first one to do it. Though I'm not sure going to atone for past mistakes with a crazy Kiefer Sutherland in your car is the best way to do it. Still, it's a start, and the fact that it's the atheist making good is better than the alternative, which tends to be that the atheist is the immoral one. Though of course the movie doesn't take a real stance on God either way.

Honestly, I find a lot of the characters' attitudes a little hard to fathom. The contest to see who can stay dead the longest? Okay, doing it in the first place? That's fine. Even wanting to share the experience. And, of course, Oliver Platt's pointing out that it's a damn fool idea, which it is, and that they'll all go to prison if it goes wrong, which they will. They're doctors; they ought to know that you can't always resuscitate people, and having killed them yourself doesn't change that. Indeed, why should it? They should also know that, the longer you're under, the greater the odds that you're not coming back. I'm also a little perplexed that the obvious place to do this seems to them to be a creepy abandoned building with a mural of God on the wall, as if the symbolism weren't heavy-handed enough.

I think I'm more likely to watch a bad movie if it has some sort of personal or sociological significance for me. I turned off a movie this morning before starting this one, but no matter how bad this turned out to be, I probably would have left it on. Kiefer and Julia were engaged at the time, which I remember as being a thing, not unlike the whole Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie thing these days. (Only I seem to remember caring at least a little, which I don't about the current stuff. Not thirteen anymore, I guess.) There's a place for this movie in my head, and eventually, I needed to fill it. I've gotten to it now, and I don't think I ever need to see it again. It's not a great movie; it's only barely a good one. But hey, more Kevin Bacon, right?