Netflix And Chill: Source Code (2011)

The second film from director Duncan Jones, working this time from a script by Ben Ripley, Source Code feels like the kind of film that is a step up, in terms of the budget and size of the cast, but also manages to keep the focus on a very cool sci-fi premise, and that's what helps it avoid some of the common flaws that can often come up in sophomore directorial features.

The easy sell of the concept is this; Jake Gyllenhaal plays a U.S. Army pilot named Colter Stevens who wakes up to find himself in the body of Sean Fentress  a la Quantum Leap. He has eight minutes to not only locate a bomb on the train that he is on, but also figure out who the bomber is. On the train with him are a woman named Christina (Michelle Monaghan) and various other passengers, who are all suspects. Helping him to complete his mission, but only there once he is back at base, are Captain Colleen Goodwin (Vera Farmiga) and a Dr. Rutledge (Jeffrey Wright). It's a race against the clock, eight minutes at a time.

Yes, this is a time-loop movie, on the one hand, and that is how it was sold, which is fine, and you get the time markers that are always required in this sort of thing (conversations, phone calls, things being spilled or dropped), but it's also a bit more than that, although I am not going into any details that could spoil the reveals. I will just say that it requires your attention, patience, and trust, and it rewards them all completely before the end credits roll.

Gyllenhaal is as good as ever in the lead role, one that allows him to use a little bit of everything he can do (drama, a small amount of comedy, a bit of action), and Monaghan is also very good, despite her role being arguably the most thankless one in the film. Farmiga and Wright have to stay much more focused and controlled in their communications with the main character, even when deciding whether or not to explain to him exactly why that eight minute window is so important.

Ripley has crafted a great script, mixing in simple popcorn entertainment thrills with interesting ideas and moral quandaries, and Jones works confidently with the material, seeming to take great delight in the individual elements that build into a more complex picture by the third act, a delight that is conveyed to viewers throughout.

Jones has tried to continually entertain people in the decade since he started helming feature films, and I personally don't dislike Warcraft (although, as a non-gamer, it was a bit lost on me) or Mute as much as many others did, but I hope he eventually makes another couple of movies as good as his one-two punch of Moon and this. Everyone continues to praise his debut, but this film seems to get forgotten, a great shame considering it is one of the better mainstream sci-fi movies to come out in the last ten years.

8/10

You can buy the movie, at a bargain price (just now), here.
Americans can get it here.

Flatliners (2017)

I am not going to tell you that the original Flatliners was a classic horror movie. It was a fun Joel Schumacher film, utilising a fun premise, decent enough script by Peter Filardi, and a cast of hot young stars of the time. I just never thought it as great as some others. I did like it though.

This remake starts with the same basic idea (medical students get themselves involved in experiments that lead to them dying for some time, which subsequently leads to them bringing something back over from the other side). But we get Niels Arden Oplev directing, and a script by Ben Ripley.

Ellen Page is Courtney, the first medical student to come up with the plan to flatline. She actually wants to do so because she thinks reading the data from the experience, as she does it while her brain activity is recorded,  could help deal with certain medical situations. She's joined by Jamie (James Norton), Marlo (Nina Dobrev), and Sophia (Kiersey Clemons). And eventually, reluctantly, Ray (Diego Luna) gets caught up in the whole mess. Things start getting weird, and death isn't necessarily going to let anyone go without a fight.

When it comes to the actual logic of the way events pan out, Flatliners does a surprisingly good job. It starts off as being about more than people just trying to get their kicks, but eventually shows competition between the leads and the element of thrill-seeking involved. Ripley has done a decent enough job of updating a premise that didn't feel too badly dated to begin with, bringing in an interesting element that removes it slightly from the original (although I won't detail that - no spoilers here). It's just a shame that the new element also ends up proving the undoing of the film during the third act. Things feel a bit tamer than they could have been, even compared to the original film, which wasn't exactly pushing the boundaries of the horror genre. 

Oplev directs competently enough, but only just. The scares are, for the most part, the easiest options, the visuals are quite drab and lacking any sense of foreboding or decent atmosphere, and even the grand finale feels more like a whimper than a bang.

Then we have the cast. I like most of the people involved. Page, Dobrev, and Luna are all good enough for me to watch. I can't recall what else I have seen Norton and Clemons in, if anything, but they seemed just fine in their roles. They aren't, however, the hot stars of today. That doesn't make them bad actors, it just removes some of the spark that this premise had when it was first put in front of viewers. I'd imagine that some of you reading this will have no idea who half of these people are, yet we all STILL know Julia Roberts, Kiefer Sutherland (who cameos here), Kevin Bacon, William Baldwin (okay, you don't remember him individually but you know there's a Baldwin clan), and maybe even the great Oliver Platt.

All of these elements add up to make something that's just a bit . . . disappointing. The tame script, the unspectacular and drab visual style, the star cast that doesn't feel exactly stellar. It makes a good attempt to rework the original material but there are too many mis-steps for it to become something decent (even the score by Nathan Barr is just average, at best).

4/10

UK folks can buy Flatliners here.
If in America you can buy it here.