Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		2.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.5

Flatliners Blu-ray Movie Review

The movie shows some life, but Sony's early Blu-ray disc falls flat.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman April 22, 2010

Today's a good day to die.

No, Flatliners isn't an episode of "Star Trek" or a documentary about what went wrong with Star Trek V, even though the above quote -- the first line of Flatliners, in fact -- has become synonymous with a certain warlike, rigid-forehead alien species from that series. Though the film begins with a word on death, Flatliners isn't really a film about death at all; it's a film about life, about how to make the most of it, about the worthy effort of returning balance to and engendering a sense of goodness and completion for the soul. Flatliners uses death as a means of allowing its characters -- and by extension its audience -- to see life and the world that shapes it in a new light, the picture's primary theme an examination of the importance of, as Kiefer Sutherland's (Young Guns) character calls it, "salvation" and the task of righting the wrongs of the past that torment a man's soul from its deepest recesses, wrongs that influence and shape his life, even if he's unaware of the slow and steady but harmful process. Wrapped in the guise of a medically-based Horror/Thriller, Flatliners proves a far better film than expected, not shying away from some deeper elements that give weight and meaning to Director Joel Schumacher's (Phone Booth) radically artsy picture.

Time to die.

At a dark and unforgiving medical school, five highly intelligent and ambitious-to-a-fault medical students -- Nelson (Sutherland), Rachel (Julia Roberts, Mona Lisa Smile), David (Kevin Bacon, Hollow Man), Joe (William Baldwin, Backdraft), and Randy (Oliver Platt, 2012) -- are about to embark on a risky journey that promises to take them where no man has gone before and lived to tell about it. Nelson convinces his colleagues to kill him with the promise of resuscitation soon thereafter in order to answer the greatest question of all: what lies beyond this world and this state of consciousness that defines "life." After a successful trip into the hereafter and back, Nelson's colleagues become more enamored with the idea and volunteer to die in the name of medical science -- and for some of them, their own hubris. As they stay under for greater periods of time, pushing the envelope with every passing second and playing God with the lives of their friends, these "flatliners" come face-to-face with their own demons as they ultimately realize that they're learning more about life than death.

Aside from its themes which are gradually explored as the story comes into focus, Flatliners' predominant feature proves Director Joel Schumacher's unique visual style and flair for the flat-out weird. Flatliners has his fingerprints all over it; it's one of those movies that features a look that's so unique that anyone who is more than passingly familiar with some of the director's other works -- The Lost Boys and his two Batman pictures being perhaps the best examples -- could easily identify the creative talent behind the movie. Flatliners incorporates just about every trademark Schumacher element; it's bathed in deep and dark shadows, contains plenty of Gothic-style architecture and sculptures, introduces splashes of neon-bathed imagery amidst the darkness, features a needless scene of bright and creepy random people sporting excessively colorful and slightly grotesque Halloween costumes, and offers several sweeping flyover vistas for good measure. His visuals are accompanied by the requisite late 1980s, early 1990s-style mix of rock and synth music that's also heavily reminiscent of The Lost Boys. With Flatliners and The Lost Boys, Schumacher makes his unique style work in conjunction with stories that are able to absorb the weirdness of the visuals within the context of what are generally dark stories; it's only when his style tries to blend with necessarily lighter material -- his subpar Batman films -- that it fails to impress.

Indeed, Flatliners works very well on the strength of its themes and its story, and while Schumacher's unusual visual style isn't much of a hindrance, it's of only moderate help to a tale that almost requires shadows and dark visuals, but could do without some of the excesses that define what trademark Schumacher is all about. Nevertheless, Flatliners proves an often intense picture despite a fairly repetitive song and dance routine -- particularly in the first half -- that sees characters being deliberately killed and revived, with hints of what's to come for each of them gradually finding their way into the movie. There's also the picture's sharp, sometimes witty, but often meaningful script that does occasionally get lost in the aura of "strange" that surrounds the movie, but by film's end, it's easy to separate what's worthwhile in the Flatliners experience and what's excess visual fluff. Additionally, the performances from what was a then-young but hip-and-happening cast are solid all around. There's an honesty to the main players -- particularly the trio of Kiefer Sutherland, Julia Roberts, and Kevin Bacon -- whose characters are not only the most central to the story but are given weight by the actors that understand, embrace, and accentuate the themes of redemption, salvation, and forgiveness for past wrongs and traumas.

Flatliners Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Flatliners' sometimes unmercifully dark and grim 1080p, MPEG-2 encoded, 2.35:1-framed transfer doesn't equate to visual bliss; it's certainly not one of Sony's better efforts, but it's still a couple of notches better than its standard-definition DVD counterpart. The transfer gets off to a shaky start with some excessive telecine wobble in the opening titles and heavy haloing around several objects, and rarely does it here or elsewhere demonstrate more than a middling proficiency in any one area. An excessively dark picture, Flatliners demands solid black levels, and while they never brighten up to an unnatural shade of gray, they do tend to overwhelm the image and devour any and all details in their paths. Colors are drab, but the picture does accentuate shades of blue and, occasionally, red, amidst the darkness, and some of the film's several flashback scenes deliver a more aggressive color scheme that reveals additional hues. Unfortunately, flesh tones often veer towards the red end of the spectrum, and faces sometimes suffer from a plastic, artificial appearance despite the retention of some film grain. Slight banding and a few scratches and debris are also visible in a few shots. On the plus side, Flatliners sometimes showcases a fair sense of depth and sports some solid detailing through the darkness, particularly visible on the intricate Gothic-style architectural cues scattered about the film, as well as more modern brick-and-mortar walls. While not a horrendous transfer, Flatliners' 1080p image just doesn't hold up next to the significantly better presentations Sony has been providing of late.

Flatliners Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Flatliners blares out a decent but ultimately unmemorable PCM 5.1 uncompressed soundtrack. Despite a positive, rumbling low end, there's a mushy feel to just about every aspect of the track that's only accentuated by its lack of pristine clarity. The film's score comes through clearly but not necessarily crisply; it's absent a more natural flow and presence that would have significantly boosted the overall sonic experience. The picture's scattered sound effects -- whether creepy atmospherics in some of the run-down locales and in the various flashback scenes or in more aggressive and notable effects such as bicycles zipping from one side of the soundstage to the other -- don't do much to heighten the experience, either; they often come off as a bit forced and unnatural in tone, but not necessarily to a distracting or otherwise debilitating level. Dialogue is generally focused and clear, though like the rest of the track, it sometimes suffers from a muffled presentation. Nevertheless, this isn't a poor uncompressed mix; it has its shortcomings and it's certainly not anything over which to become excited, a shame considering that Flatliners was nominated for an Oscar in recognition of its sound effects editing. Still, the track supports the movie and the mediocre visual presentation well enough to get viewers through a watch without any excessive sonic problems.

Flatliners Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Flatline. Nothing, not even a selection of trailers, is included on this Blu-ray release of Flatliners.

Flatliners Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Flatliners isn't a classic; it's not even much of a fan-favorite, but it is a capable movie that overcomes Joel Schumacher's quirky visuals thanks to a solid and somewhat original story that allows some positive light in the form of a message on the importance of salvation, redemption, and forgiveness to shine through even the dark and murky atmosphere that, stylistically, dominates the picture. Sporting some good performances from a cast of hip-and-happening stars-on-the-rise from the early 1990s, Flatliners shows plenty of life even 20-some years after its theatrical debut. On the other hand, Sony's Blu-ray disc -- released in the early days of the format -- is on life support. With no extras, a middling 1080p image, and a passably decent uncompressed soundtrack, the strength of the movie is the lone selling point with this one. Hopefully, Sony will revisit Flatliners in the future and deliver the more capable technical presentation and the slew of extra content the film deserves. Until then, fans will want to rent this when the mood to watch it arises.