Flatliners
Kevin Bacon's hair is back from the dead again.

Nelson Wright, medical student, thinks he's discovered a way to unlock the secrets of life and death, and convinces a group of his medical student friends to kill him, leave him dead for a few seconds, then bring him back again. Now, when you first hear that concept, it might sound more than a little stupid. After all, plenty of people have died and come back again, and they don't seem to have all the answers. Also, there's that added risk you take when your friends are medical students and they're supposed to bring you back to life.

As each student, in turn, demanded to be killed and brought back to life, you have to wonder just what it is they're hoping to get out of it, and why they think they will get anything. (They even fought for the honor of dying by bidding on how long they would stay dead. Uh... okay.) After all, Nelson went under first and what did he have to show for it? Hallucinations of a dog, and a boy with a hockey stick who constantly pounded the crap out of him. Yay.

Kevin Bacon stars in Desperately In Need Of A Haircut.

If you can get over the fact that the basic plot is crippling, though, Flatliners isn't really all that bad. Director Joel Schumaker and cinematographer Jan de Bont (yes, that Jan de Bont) created for their characters a visually lush world full of dark, vivid imagery, and beautiful gothic settings, sort of like Gotham City (but without Batman). Unfortunately this effect doesn't always mesh with their settings; while I dug all the statues and the intricately architectured buildings, I really doubt I'd want to be treated at a hospital where only a few lights seem to be functioning at any given time.

Beware the hockey stick boy.

Even the characters, fairly undeveloped as they are, manage to be interesting, both through the actors' portrayals and the slowly unraveled stories of their pasts. Joe (William Baldwin) is a ladies man who videotapes women without their knowledge, but he's in love with the girl who's waiting for him back home. Rachel's (Julia Roberts) father was an Airborne soldier who killed himself, leaving her with a fascination with death and whatever might be on the other side. David (Kevin Bacon) and Nelson (Kiefer Sutherland) are both haunted by their cruel deeds as children, and Randy (Oliver Platt)... well, Randy's the only smart one in that he never has himself killed, so we don't really know what dark secrets might lie in his past. And we don't really care; since he's the only one of them that doesn't fall victim to the "Oooh, kill me too!" hysteria, we respect his privacy.

"Jan de Bont did a project that didn't blow?!"

As each of our intrepid heroes dies and is revived, we catch glimpses of their pasts in their "death" sequences and then the subsequent strange happenings that plague them as a result of their near-death experiences. Nelson is haunted by a boy from his past who keeps jacking him up, Rachel keeps seeing her dead father, Joe sees playbacks of his home videos on every screen, David is taunted by a girl he was cruel to as a child. You don't know whether these are spirits that have come back to haunt them or just products of their traumatized imaginations, and that just adds to the fun. It's all done with a slow, delicious build and nice pacing that keeps us interested even when we feel like hitting someone (usually Nelson) and shaking some sense into the group.

Nelson is haunted by his past.

Kiefer Sutherland, who holds the film's main role, is its main drawback; his character almost lets others die for no apparent reason, and you wonder why they'd continue to trust him with their lives. And that's aside from the fact that I just plain don't like Sutherland and doubt I ever will. Bacon, Baldwin and Platt all turn in surprisingly good performances, despite a lackluster script, and Roberts is just sorta there, though you may wish she wasn't; sometimes she'll obstruct your view of the honeys.

To watch Flatliners, you just have to put aside the basic stupidity and concentrate on the visuals and the mystery. It ends up as a fairly enjoyable viewing experience, if somewhat predictable, but writing a story like this isn't brain surgery, and enjoying it might demand a relaxation in your regular standards.

DROOL FACTOR: Flatliners actually has a nicely droolable cast, with Kevin Bacon, William Baldwin, and Oliver Platt. Just try not to laugh at poor Kevin's hair.

GROSS-OUT FACTOR: Sutherland gets really jacked up, but the only really ewwww part of the film is when he stitches up his own wounds. That looked like it really hurt. Come on, man, you're practically a doctor... use some local anesthetic, would ya?

STRONG CHICK FACTOR: I've never been able to consider any Julia Roberts character to be all that strong, and Rachel Mannus is no exception; she tries very hard to play with the boys but comes out looking like an idiot. And aside from Rachel, women are mostly absent from the film.

-- Lisa Kincaid

Flatliners is currently available on video and DVD.

We welcome your comments on The 11th Hour and this review. Please send letters to: letters@the11thhour.com