For all the cliche's expected from an early 2000's horror film, the original Final Destination is a really solid teen horror movie that covers some mature themes and occasionally has moments of quiet reflection on the fear of death and survivors guilt and how people differ in dealing with the notion that they too will one day die, it does this of course while managing to be as cheesy and as fun as possible. I don't really have anything to say to fault the film, sure it has its flaws but they really add to the charm of the movie.
The often clunky dialogue, cheesy acting and of course many of the characters are the expected jock, nerd, art school dropout stereotypes from high school, of course played by adults in their late twenties. But these tropes exist in all teen horror films brought out at the beginning of the millennium and really there's nothing wrong with that.
It also plays with a really interesting concept, with the villain being literally death itself. An invisible inevitable force chasing after the survivors of a plane crash, after one student has a premonition which leads to them avoiding boarding the plane before it explodes. You have to judge a film like this against its peers and for an early 2000's teen horror thriller, it's as good a one as you'll find.
Final Destination 2 is worth seeing for the opening alone, it is phenomenally choreographed and more epic than anything in the original movie. Sadly it's the best part of the film, which isn't necessarily bad as its as entertaining as it is all over the place.
Final Destination 2 is more of a slasher film than a thriller,
It definitely tries to expand on the original with its inventive and violent kills but where it falters a little bit is in its story which has some really cool ideas but also some really bad ones.
We're introduced to a new group of survivors who narrowly cheated death through one member much like in the original having a premonition of a horrific car pile up on the freeway and using this knowledge to avert disaster leading to a disruption in death's plan which death is now on its way to rectify.
The story starts off really well, Ali Larter is brought back as the final girl from the original Clear Rivers, who has confined herself to a padded cell in a mental institution to avoid death's reach, until she is pulled out of hiding by one of the survivors seeking her advice and guidance. This was completely natural way to bring back her character and I'm partly glad they did because she was the best character in the original film.
What they did with her on the other hand I was not so happy with, she is pointless dispatched, admittedly quite late in the third act but still it felt unearned and pointless. In fact all my issues with the film come down to its third act which is aimless, and a bit laughable. The script for this movie doesn't feel nearly as tight as the original and it changes a few things for the worse.
Tony Todd for example is basically brought in again as an exposition machine, however in the original it is highly implied that his character, the mortician, is death in physical form. Here he's an all knowing, seemingly omnipotent mortician that the gang seek out to tell themselves and more importantly the audience the rules of the sequel, why?, don't worry about it I guess, he just is. But hey, any reason to have Tony Todd in your movie is a good one, so I'll allow it.
Overall it's a hard film to review and give a score to because yes it's stupid, yes it doesn't even try to make any logical sense and yes the plot feels like it was written by someone who gave up half way through and decided to string together a bunch of scenes for the sole purpose of incorporating more kills into the runtime.
But it's still a lot of fun and for that alone it gets a five star rating.
Without having watched the other films I can see where the series is headed, the rest are going to follow in this vein, illogical and stupid but fun and creative, and as long as they're consistently entertaining I'm all for that.
Final Destination 3 is overall the best film in the series so far, you can tell it was directed by James Wong who is responsible for the original Final Destination, gone is the incomprehensible plot of the second film and what's on display here is a tightly written more than worthy successor to the original with some original ideas of its own and the most brutal death scenes of the whole series. The acting overall is better than the previous two entries in but the standout is Mary Elisabeth Winstead as final girl Wendy Christensen. Winstead is great in this movie, it's the first time in the series I've actually felt invested about what happens to a character. Much like the Nightmare On Elm Street franchise I have a feeling this third entry will be the high point of the whole franchise.
The fourth entry in the series simply titled "The Final Destination" is an abomination and an absolute chore to sit through. I hate this film, I hate the people who made it and everything about it. From the dated 3D effects that reminded me of Jaws 3D to its laughable script that is void of any originality, to its god awful direction. I despise this movie. It is a bland, generic rehash of the plot points found in the previous three entries and it doesn't even try to be somewhat interesting. All the characters are either unlikeable or boring and often are both at the same time and the acting from all involved is wooden and uncommitted. It feels like a cheap knock off or parody of the previous films and it doesn't even have the decency to include a few interesting kills, the kills which are in the film are flat out boring .
Strangely it was directed by the same director as part two , which for all of its issues in storytelling could never be called boring, its unusual that the director of the second film knew how to create the perfect opening for a final destination movie but clearly has no idea how to tell a cohesive story. It's the first film in the series where I was literally rooting death on to dispatch with everyone in the film. The best thing I can say about it is that it made me a little less afraid to die, because at least when my time comes I will be certain that I never have to see a single frame of this film ever again.
Final Destination 5 is a perfectly serviceable prequel to the original film. It expands on the lore a little, admittedly borrowing its best idea from the end of Final Destination 3 but adds its own twist on it and it really leans into the dark humour with its kills.
It is not as good as the original or the third film, but it was enough to get the series back on track after that awful fourth instalment. It's biggest flaws are that none of the characters are really all that interesting but I can accept that, I think I'm a lot more forgiving with this movie based on just how bad the previous film was. I didn't hate my time with it and it has a really strong ending.
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