Wednesday
Jun142017
Yes, No, Maybe So: "Flatliners" trailer
Wednesday, June 14, 2017 at 3:31PM 
Today in "time is a flat circle" news we've got the trailer for the reboot/remake of the 1990 Julia Roberts, Kiefer Sutherland thriller Flatliners. The plot of this film seems to mirror the plot of the original movie: a group of med students attempt to discover the secrets of death by killing themselves and then bringing themselves back to life which, of course, has unintended supernatural consequences. This version stars Ellen Page, Diego Luna, and Nina Debrov of The Vampire Diaries fame. The trailer and a YES, NO, MAYBE SO are after the jump...
YES
- It's so nice to see Ellen Page in a meaty starring role. Hollywood seems to have had a hard time figuring out what to do with her as of late, but she's way, way too talented to fall away
- Ditto to Diego Luna who deserves the world
- "Maybe we opened a door" is one of my favorite "spooky trailer dialogue" clichés
- The "Murderer" at the bottom of the swimming pool hints that there may be more of a twist than the trailer itself is letting on
- As does the "We should have told you this wasn't about science or discovery" video chat scene, very intriguing
- This jellyfish scene looks cool
NO
- Please not too many Lucy-esque "person suspended in time with objects flying all around them" scenes
- "It's a good day to die!" is laying it on REALLY heavy
- Also "Everyone I touch today I will heal!"
- Person getting dragged down a hall by an unknown force is one of my least favorite "spooky trailer scene" clichés
MAYBE SO
- Does this movie REALLY need to exist? Like, who was clamoring for a reboot/sequel to Flatliners?
- We don't see much of the supporting cast so it's hard to say if this will be a thrilling ensemble or a collection of soon-to-be corpses
- A lot of the moments seem kind of recycled from other movies of a similar ilk
So what do you think? Excited for this reboot/sequel? Confused as to why it exists? Let us know!
Reader Comments (25)
For me it's NO, NO, NO all the way. The original was an interesting failure, this one looks like a mess right away, to me.
Where is the trailer?!
The original film still holds up so not sure it needs to be remade but I'm down for it. Depends on the quality of the trailer (still to see as it's not in this post) as well as the reviews
@Anonny you know when you are leaving the house and you double check that you have your wallet and keys and then realize you forgot to put your pants on?
I love Ellen Page and Diego Luna. I love hearing "Up the Beach" by Jane's Addiction in the trailer but.... NO.
It looks like that Donald Glover film The Lazarus Effect.
The director Niels Arden Oplev (original Dragon Tattoo, Mr. Robot pilot) holds some interest but nothing else about this project is promising. Ellen Page has done some fairly risible work since Juno and there's nothing about the original property that screams remake. Trailer itself seems like typical amateur-hour tween sci-fi junk.
The first line of the original movie is "It's a good day to die" spoken by Keifer, who's listed in the film, but I don't think we saw in the trailer.
It looks fine but unnecessary, a rainy Saturday kind of movie.
At least it has a built-in headline: Box-Office 'Flatliners'
Where is Kiefer Sutherland?! They made this huge deal about him coming back as Nelson and then he's not even briefly in the trailer? If I go see this and he's a two second cameo I'm going to demand my money back!
It's effective trailer- but do we really need this movie- does everything need to remade?
Ellen Page hasn't been relevant since 2010. How irrelevant was she after 2010? Guest spot on Glenn Martin, DDS irrelevant. David Cage Game irrelevant.
Devil's advocate: isn't this the perfect movie to be remade? You want a remake to improve upon the original, and the premise of the first Flatliners is still appealing, but the execution problematic.
It's when remakes of perfect or near-perfect films occur that I get ticked off.
I quite like James Norton, so there's that. But why does this exist?
What James from Ames said.
Is it just me or does this remind anyone of the Netflix original The OA??
The design and cinematography look stylish, but it's another redo so no.
I like Ellen Page but she looks like a teenager and will probably do so forever. And that s unfortunate because it s hard to buy her in mature roles. I personally am a surgeon so i can't watch anything that takes place in the medical world because it s unbearable for me. But also it s hard to imagine who would be the audience for this. I just can't see the appeal.
I was just coming here to say what James from Ames said. I feel like in conversations about remakes there's always people who say "don't remake good movies because they're already good! don't remake bad movies because obviously they're bad! find the mediocre movies with potential and improve on them!" so this seems to be fitting the bill. Whether or not it succeeds, however...
I'm with James from Ames - if you're gonna remake a movie, choose a movie that had an interesting premise but not-so-great execution, just like Flatliners. I don't think this will be great, but does look like it will be entertaining enough. I like the cast, so I'm in unless the reviews are terrible.
I agree that I like the idea of remaking flawed movies with potential and trying to make them better. That worked with the 2001 Ocean's Eleven.
This trailer also brought me back to those early days of Julia Roberts' career, when she truly was a supernova. There was such a sense of excitement surrounding her!
Sign me up w/ those above who posit that remaking an unremarkable original is the best way to go about creating a remake. Of course, that's as long as they improve upon what came before...
I'm *still* wondering when some smart people will get going on redoing 1976's entertaining-but-decidedly-imperfect Logan's Run. It seems like a natural given the high popularity of sci-fi & fantasy these days, but there still doesn't seem to be anything happening with it. I don't get it.
I'm of the Maybe So variety. I think choosing Flatliners to remake is kind of playing it safe. It wasn't a blockbuster, that I remember, but it also wasn't a dud. I would appreciate the studios taking more risks. Which leads me to -
Rob - I totally agree that we are waaaay overdue for a Logans Run remake, but only if they base it on the book, which is astounding! There are many things in the book (holographic vacations, gypsy biker gangs on light cycles, sex as torture) that they could not have done back in the 70's, but they can now. Get a great director & writer on that now!
Bad movies from nearly 30 years ago don't need remakes. Leave well enough from my lifetime alone.
@3rtful. Totally agree!!
I'm game