Flatliners

There's a moment in "Flatliners" when you almost -- but only almost -- get excited at the idea that Kiefer Sutherland, who appears in the film in a cameo part as the abrasive supervisor of a group of smart young medical residents, might be reprising his role from the original 1990 movie, directed by Joel Schumacher and starring, in addition to Sutherland, Kevin Bacon, Julia Roberts, William Baldwin, and Oliver Platt.

Probing his youthful charges in an uncharacteristic moment of concern, Sutherland's taskmaster inquires whether something might be going on with the group. Shamefacedly, they all say no, nothing at all -- an obvious lie, since what the kids are up to is hardly all right. They've been deliberately inducing cardiac arrest and near brain death in order to get glimpses of the afterlife. This was the plot of the 1990 film, as well, and you hope Sutherland will reappear later on to offer consoling words of comfort and understanding: I was young once, too, you can almost hear him saying. And what you're up to now, with better equipment than we had, we young bucks from back in the day were doing well before you were born.

Alas, no. Sutherland's character never reappears and checking IMDB later on, it's clear he wasn't even playing the same character. His inclusion in the film is one of those fanservice moments that modern films seem to live on, even though one might wonder who, exactly, is a fan of the original version? And what could possibly draw them to this formulaic rehash of a movie?

The two films share a central idea: After visiting the other side, the characters become haunted by their own past misdeeds -- bullying, betrayal, abandonment, that sort of thing. But time has marched on and the tastes of the target demographic have narrowed, so the 2017 version only dabbles with metaphysical notions to a certain extent before reverting to type... and by type, of course, what's meant is "horror/slasher flick." Those episodes of misbehavior have a way of exacting fatal revenge.

The group's original sin belongs to Courtney (Ellen Page), whose toying with a cell phi while driving nine years earlier resulted in the death of her younger sister. It's Courtney's wish to see whether her sister might still survive beyond death's veil that draws her to experiment with near-death experiences; it's the way her brain seems to become super-charged as a result, ending her an academic edge, that hooks her fellow residents, including Ray (Diego Luna) and Marlo (Nina Dobrev), an odd couple whose mixture of arrogance and cool competence proves mutually intoxicating; Jamie (James Norton), a hard-partying horndog from a well-to-do family; and Sophia (Kersey Clemons), who works extra hard but still struggles, and who is only in medical school because her domineering mother has forced her to be there.

For a retread of what was, essentially, a schlock '80s film, the new "Flatliners" isn't half bad; it offers some intriguing dream imagery, and the horror movie elements (deep, empty swimming pools stocked with vengeful corpses; demonic critters cloaked in dark shadows; ghoulish specters of the dead as well as the living), while standard fare, are effective. But the movie has no sense of coherence, veering from genre to genre and tone to tone. What starts as a stylish techno-thriller becomes a story that's hazily about infernal forces... or maybe it's about the subconscious need to seek punishment? Either way -- as Jamie helpfully spells out in a clunky scene involving a cell phone call placed on the run, the key is to "take responsibility" -- another nebulous 1980s trope, but in a film so stuffed with incomplete ideas and lacking in specifics, that doesn't feel out of place, just laughably facile (as does the fizzle of an ending).

In short, fans of the old movie (assuming they exist) have no real reason to see this update, unless they are curious about how today's technological toys, futuristic medical scanners, and CGI cinematic techniques will enhance the basic premise. But then, one realizes, this isn't really a movie aimed at moviegoers who recall the original; it's really meant for a new generation of viewers, the cohort who are of an age with the film's cast. Otherwise, one can't help thinking, that golden opportunity to create a bridge between films (and generations) with Kiefer Sutherland's appearance wouldn't have been wasted.

At least the cast is charming, and the movie allows them to have some funny, even poignant, moments. Those are the spots of light you cling to in the long dark gaps that lay in between.