“Flatliners”

LOUISA: 

LOUISA SAYS:

I was a huge fan of the 1990s film “Flatliners” so of course I was skeptical about this reboot. The new version isn’t completely awful and stays relatively true to the source material, but it has some of the worst acting and most basic dialogue I’ve seen in a Hollywood thriller in years. At times the writing gets so laughable that it reaches near “Showgirls” proportions, making it a performance train wreck that is full of campy goodness.

Even worse is the amount of missed potential at play, with countless opportunities to improve on the original completely squandered. The story is the same and the premise is a good one, but nothing ever clicks. Five promising medical students attempt to solve the mystery of what happens to humans after death by killing and then reviving themselves. As each one visits the afterlife and creates their own near-death experience, the sins of their past manifest themselves as terrifying visions that begin to drive the young doctors crazy.

The film could’ve taken this premise and made a horrific thriller, but this is a tame PG-13 wannabe horror flick, It’s not going to terrify anyone save for a few startling jump scares.

Unintentionally funny is the phrase that immediately comes to mind, especially in relation to the performances (in particular the turns from Nina Dobrev and Kiersey Clemons). I laughed out loud when I watched the characters administer CPR — there was zero attempt to even try to make their movements look real and instead they just stood there moving their bodies with the silliest shakes. If George Clooney could do it on “E.R.,” then actors in a big budget movie should be able to make it look real.

Ellen Page and James Norton are better in their roles than they need to be, but nearly everything about this movie feels superficial and indifferent. It’s as if the movie is bored with itself.