Red Sparrow is a 2018 spy-thriller film directed by Francis Lawrence who worked with Jennifer Lawrence (the star here) on a couple of the Hunger Games movies, but this is a very different beast. Jennifer Lawrence plays Dominika Egorova (in, it has to be said, a not entirely convincing Russian accent), and Joel Edgerton, Matthias Schoenarts and Charlotte Rampling star as the film's secondary characters. This one is a pretty big departure from what Lawrence has done in the past, although it has to be said that she's making some pretty bold career choices. I'm not the first one to say that, and for a good reason: it's true. After last year's Mother! it appeared as if she was trying purposefully trying to appear in more "mature" films, and believe me, it doesn't get much more mature than Red Sparrow. The film plays out like one of those schlocky exploitation from the seventies, in that there's sexual violence, sex, violence, torture, and all manner o...
Flatliners is a 2017 psychological horror film directed by Niels Arden Oplev and written by Ben Ripley. It stars Ellen Page as Dr. Courtney Holmes and Nina Dobrev as Marlo. It's based on the 1990 film of the same name.
The story is about five young medical students who experiment with near-death experiences in order to see what happens after you die. After one of them (Ellen Page's character) comes back and claims it was enjoyable, some of the others are compelled to try it out. However, afterwards, the group realise that despite there being very positive aspects to near-death experiences, they realise there are also some very negative ones.
It's hard to review this film, because this is one of the worst horror films I've seen in a very long time. With the exception of Krampus: The Christmas Devil (not to be confused with the Michael Dougherty film), this is definitely the bottom of the rung. The best thing I can say about it is that the cast does their best with the material they've been given, despite there being very little of substance to it.
Which brings me to the script. At best, the dialogue is dull and expository. At worst, it's cheesy and laughably bad. I have to commend the actors for being able to deliver it as well as they can, and with a straight face. The characters in this film aren't even archetypes. Their entire collective personality is 'intelligent doctor,' and there's nothing to separate them apart from each other.
However, the worst thing about this film is the structure. The first scene in this film is one of Dr. Courtney Holmes crashing into a river while driving a car (her sister is in the front passenger seat.) She survives, and her sister passes away. When she starts seeing visions of her sister after her near-death experience, you already know that the entities are based on each character's guilt, and it means you can predict what will happen at the end.
The next thing I want to cover are the scary scenes. They're nothing but a series of jump scares, cheap sound effects, and subdued lighting. In the background, there's often a musical score which is supposed to be intense and creepy but is actually lethargic and dull. The scenes in which people are attacked sometimes make no sense, considering the monsters which attack the characters are allegedly figments of their imagination. It's never explained exactly what the entity is, other than it stems from their near-death experiences. I suspect the film-makers don't know what it is either. It would be forgivable if the film was scary and the story was good, but the only thing that keeps you occupied while watching it is thinking about all of the problems with it.
There's nothing else I can say about this. Flatliners is a dull, idiotic, nonsensical film and I wouldn't recommend this to even casual film fans.
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