Review of Flatliners (1990) by Ola G — 18 Feb 2013

Nelson Wright (Kiefer Sutherland), convinces four of his medical school classmates - Joe Hurley (William Baldwin), David Labraccio (Kevin Bacon), Randall Steckle (Oliver Platt) and Rachel Manus (Julia Roberts) - to help him discover what lies beyond death. To do so they conduct clandestine experiments that produce near-death experiences via flatlining. Nelson decides to flatline for one minute before his classmates resuscitate him. While "dead", he experiences a sort of afterlife. He sees a vision of a boy he bullied as a child, Billy Mahoney. He merely tells his friends that he can't describe what he saw, but something is there. The others decide to follow Nelson's daring experiment. Joe flatlines next, and he experiences an erotic afterlife sequence. He agrees with Nelson's claim that something indeed exists. David is third to flatline, and he sees a vision of a black girl, Winnie Hicks (Kimberly Scott), that he bullied in grade school. The three men start to experience vivid hallucinations that are related to their afterlife visions, but Nelson's circumstances are particularly freakish; he is repeatedly physically attacked by Billy Mahoney and each day presents with fresh cuts and wounds. Joe, engaged to be married, is haunted by home videos that he secretly filmed of his sexual trysts with other women. David is confronted by a vision of Winnie Hicks on a train, and she verbally taunts him like he did to her. And when Rachel finally flatlines she ends up getting visions of her dead father. Nelson and the others eventually understand that their visions are connected to repenence of the acts that happend in the past...

I haven´t seen "Flatliners" since I saw it at the movies when it came out in 1990. Really feels like ages ago and you can tell that as well by the pristine and young looks of Sutherland, Baldwin, Bacon, Platt and Roberts. This is a pretty ok existential thriller, but the direction feels maybe a bit out of date with a lot of sweeping zoom ins and this 90s touch/feeling to it. The acting is as well a bit wobbly, but not so it ruins the movie. It carries a bit of a camp stamp as well with a grand story of trying to find out what´s beyond death and it ends up with some sort of pseudo religious answer about repenence. Not, that it´s wrong to repenent stuff we have done and carries as a burden, but I.

Reckon "Flatliners" creates its own campiness via this storyline. The Washington Post's Rita Kempley wrote in 1990 "Movies about dying, grief and life after death are cropping up like corn in the Field of Dreams as a response to on-screen violence, a reaction to AIDS, a desire for something beyond materialism." and this is something that´s still valid 23 years later. Thus, the foundation of the movie is interesting and intriguing, but the end result is not entirely satisfying. I reckon we all feel that there has to be something bigger, something more grand beyond death. Something that´s maybe not explainable. What struck me when watching "Flatliners" was how beautiful Julia Roberts were back then. In the wake of "Mystic Pizza" and "Pretty Woman". I had kind of forgotten that. She has lost that spark she had in 1990.

Unfortunately. "Flatliners" is ok, but not as good as I remember it was.