Flatliners shows messy plot
When it comes to Flatliners, directed by Niels Arden Oplev, the notion that reboots are worse than their predecessor is an understatement.
The science fiction horror drama, which came out on September 29, currently holds a 5/10 on IMDB and a disheartening 4% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Adapted from the 1990 film starring Julia Roberts and Kiefer Sutherland, Flatliners follows five pre-med students looking to discover what happens to the brain after death. Nina Dobrev, Ellen Page, Diego Luna, Kiersey Clemons and James Norton lead the motion picture through a startling series of medically induced deaths and resuscitations.
I walked into the theater with high expectations for the beautifully diverse and talented cast. However, as the movie progressed, I became disappointed and quite frankly confused as to where the plot was going.
At first, Oplev approaches the film with a dramedy lens, lacing in an upbeat humor into the stress and romance-filled lives of the students. As the film reaches its climax however, the genre becomes entirely ambiguous. The course of the movie begins to take a turn in the wrong direction, with jump scares around every corner and an unsettling motif of forgiving one’s sins.
Moreover, the film aimed to convey a message that was lost in translation. The movie came to a rushed resolution, disregarding much of the questions that rose from the many themes that came into play throughout the climax.
The film attempted to juggle too many genres and messages at once, which threw off the premise and made the resolution all too confusing.
Despite the lack of substance and an ambiguous genre, I should note that Flatliners did have a beautiful set of graphics– portraying the afterlife as a stunning framework of energy and stars.
The soundtrack, composed by Nathan Barr, additionally complemented each scene with heavy suspense and made me feel like I was experiencing the scenes firsthand.
Even more, the performances of all five actors was incredible. Even within an ambiguous plot, they did an amazing job laying their emotions out on the screen. It was basically a great cast stuck inside of a poor production.
However, the graphics, soundtrack and cast were not enough to make up for the messy plot and rushed resolution. Flatliners was a movie with immense potential that, despite having a great cast and elegant visuals, was poorly executed.
If you are looking to see a good movie, do not waste your time and money on Flatliners.
​Hi, my name is Andres Quiroga-Elizondo, and I am a first year staff writer on the Hawkeye. I enjoy art, music, writing, and spending time with my friends....
Lane Gutowsky • Nov 3, 2017 at 9:40 am
Hi my name is Lane Gutowsky and in my writing through literary genres class we just finished discussing the use of rhetorical strategies. I felt that your use of logos in paragraph two to emphasize your opinion was very effective. While this was an excellent review that completely convinced me to not see Flatliners I think that you should consider incorporating other critics reviews to support your opinion.
George McLaughlin • Nov 3, 2017 at 9:19 am
Hello, my name is George Mclaughlin from Ms. Hammit’s Writing Through Literary Genres Class. What I noticed from your article is that it was a lot different from any other one, you used scores from IMBD which I had never seen before in any other article. I also loved how you used the IMBD score as to back up your thoughts on the movie with credibility. Keep up the great work!
Hannah Suh • Nov 2, 2017 at 10:41 pm
Hello! My name is Hannah Suh and I am in Writing Through Literary Genres with Ms Hammitt. I want to begin by saying that your article accurately embodies what I was thinking throughout the movie. As you mentioned, I was very confused when understanding the plot of the movie because Oplev’s attempt to include multiple genres failed to better engage the audience but increased confusion instead. I also agree that the movie had a great cast because that is mostly the reason I decided to watch the movie in the first place! I love how your article clearly states the pros and cons of the movie and go in depth about each opinion that you mention. Your use of logos when talking about the reviews really helped me get a clear sense of how many people disliked the movie. Overall, I think I wouldn’t have watched Flatliners if I had read this article because it is so persuasive and effective!
Adam Fuller • Nov 2, 2017 at 9:45 pm
Hi, my name is Adam and I am in Miss Hammit’s Literary Genres Class. I would juts like to say that this article was very detailed and really tells the reader to not see this film. Before reading this article I did see the film myself and thought it wasn’t too good. You brought up the plot which I totally agree with, “I walked into the theater with high expectations for the beautifully diverse and talented cast. However, as the movie progressed, I became disappointed and quite frankly confused as to where the plot was going.” After reading this, I can clearly tell that you despised the plot. Using words like: confusing, and disappointed are key words to see opinions on certain things. This article shows an amazing way to show feeling to the movie Flatliners
Marley Huijgen • Nov 2, 2017 at 7:43 pm
Hi, I’m Marley and I’m from Ms. Hammitt’s writing through literary genres class. This was the first negative review I have seen, and I think it was well explained on why you though the movie was bad. For every opinion stated you backed it up with evidence and reasoning. I also liked how you were straight to the point and didn’t sugar coat anything. You said things you didn’t like but you also said things you liked which was a good balance. In the end you said you would not recommend this movie, and that impacted my decision on watching it or not.
Aaron Murray • Nov 1, 2017 at 8:07 pm
Hello, My name is Aaron and I am in Miss Hammitt’s Literary genres class where we often talk about using evidence to back up your claims. I believe that you did a good job showing evidence by summarizing the plot in places where it was needed and citing the Rotten Tomatoes rating to reinforce your views. Overall I think that you did a great job writing this piece.
Nathan Jaworski • Nov 1, 2017 at 5:19 pm
Hi, My name is Nathan and I am from the opinion coverage class. I would just like to say that your article was very straightforward and right to the point. It gave me insight as to why people shouldn’t see this movie, and now there is a very good chance people won’t see the movie Flatliners after reading this. As I was reading I liked how you stated the hard facts about getting 5 out of 10 stars on IMDB and only a 4% on rotten tomatoes which is very surprising! This article is a great resource for anyone who wants to see the movie Flatliners but is on the fence about spending the money. I believe this is a great review tool for the movie Flatliners because once again, it states hard facts, it is straight to the point, doesn’t go off track and so much more! This article should definitely be posted on every movie review right because it has great insight and instinct about the movie and its plot. I also liked how you didn’t give anything away in this article, this helps because if someone still wants to spend the money to see the movie after reading this review, they can do so because they still have very little information but enough to know what to expect from it. This article surely has saved a lot of people time and energy because of your ability to review movies with accuracy while being efficient.
cgysov • Oct 13, 2017 at 8:15 am
good job