The Final Destination
by David R. Ellis
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DVD details
Actor: Bobby Campo, Haley Webb, Mykelti Williamson, Nick Zano, Shantel VanSantenDirector: David R. Ellis
Brand: NEW Line Home Video
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.40:1
Running Time: 128 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2010-01-05
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: New Line
Product features:
- FINAL DESTINATION, THE 3D (DVD MOVIE)
DVD Reviews of The Final Destination
DVD Review: Death Gets All Up In Your Face
Summary: 3 Stars
At heart, all horror movies operate on the human response to mortality. Your average horror fan gets a thrill from the films because they are a sort of spice for life, they are the seasoning that makes the mundane parts of life all the more richer. Watch a bunch of people get sliced and diced by a monster or madman, and that adrenaline rush makes you feel as if, on some level, you yourself have cheated death. For awhile or more, it's nice to be alive.
The FINAL DESTINATION films utilize the same premise, but instead of creating a defeatable or relatable villain, it makes the very act of dying the villain. Watching the movies, it's very much like they decided that the force of Death, after a millenia of ending lives, has grown bored and has decided to put some spice into his job. In all of the movies, Death awards a young soul with a premonition of a huge catastrophe, and when that soul saves him/herself (along with a handful of others), Death gleefully sets up cat-and-mouse games with the survivors and watches as they scream and skitter. The question is never Will They Die? It is How Long Can They Hold Out?
Because everyone dies, sooner or later, and it's rarely at the hands of a zombie or a Leatherface. Car accidents are far more common. Fires. Mechanical failures. The FD films make Death a snarky, sadistic force without ever showing his face. Instead, Death operates basically through three cards -- wind, gravity, and passive human interference -- and with these three things, he orchestrates the deaths of dozens and dozens of characters. These films are filled with pointless scenes of people screaming that they're in control of their lives, scoffing at the idea that Death lurks everywhere. Then they die.
The real fun in these films lies in the complex machinations that Death sets in motion with the leak of a pipe or the flutter of a bird. If you're expecting interesting plots, complex characters, or realistic dialogue, prepare to be HEAVILY disappointed. In fact, these elements of the films get steadily more and more wooden and cartoonish, until by the fourth installment, they are laughably bad. The makers know that what you're really waiting for is to watch Death do his thing, investing everything from quarters to fishsticks with a sinister menace. To that end, I have provided here a summary of the only thing about each of these films that is worth watching: the death scenes.
Final Destination (New Line Platinum Series):
In the first film, Death's premonition is visited upon a young student on a plane. The ensuing plane accident (5/5) gave me nightmares for a week. When the student leaves the plane along with others, he then experiences more premonitions (most of them cheesy reflections in windows) indicating that Death is now hunting them down. Of all the movies, this one features the most personified version of Death. A dark mist accompanies each death, and you can even see Death pursuing some characters, especially in a tense bathroom scene (4/5). Some of the deaths feature complex sequences of domino-like chains (there is a catastrophic house fire (4/5) and a menacing electrical storm (4/5)). Others are less creative (the bus and train accidents are both unimaginative throwaways (2/5)). The final death (by sign) is a cheeky nod at the movie's premise (4/5). Notable in this film: Death has a soundtrack, which turns out to feature, over and over again, "Leaving on a Jet Plane."
Final Destination 2:
Death isn't so hung up on music this time around, but that's okay because he's a bit more creative. This film's opening highway accident is by far the best beginning out of any of these films (5/5), and when the storyline later ties the survivor's lives to the events of the first film, it's actually interestingly done. Not as interesting as the deaths, though. You've got a tongue-in-cheek apartment fire (4/5), a crushing visit to the dentist (4/5), and an unusually persistent elevator (3/5). In one case, the jaws of life have the opposite function (4/5), and in another case a flying fence executes a mortal ballet (5/5). There are also three explosive deaths that are a little cheap (2/5). The characters this time around all get premonitions (again, mostly just false reflections in windows), and they spend a lot of pointless time trying to cheat Death's plan (their ideas mostly centering around a "new life"). The final scene, just as in the first film, is an over-the-top nyuck-nyuck moment. "It's all in fun," Death seems to be saying.
Final Destination 3:
This time around it's a roller coaster catastrophe (4/5). The movie has a creative idea by putting the premonitions into poorly shot yearbook photos, and Death continues to get up in people's faces with ominous/ironic songs and smug little omens (before one death, characters at a drive-in watch as the word "control" disappears from the digital menu). The first "catch-up" death in a tanning salon is perhaps the best of the film (5/5), although there's a nicely intricate set-up later in the film that involves a nail-gun (5/5). A runaway truck and horse and a falling sign constitute some of the film's weaker executions (2/5, 3/5, and 2/5, respectively). Elsewhere in the film, the movie's token "I'm Gonna Live Forever!" character battles death in a weight room (4/5). The movie concludes with an intense subway scene that is kinda cool, but also sort of a rip off as far as endings go. (4/5)
The Final Destination [Theatrical Release]:
The opener here is the weakest of the franchise. It takes place at a racing track, and so all of the subtle connections and coincidences get lost in the sprawling chaos of the catastrophe (3/5). The premonitions this time around are ridiculously aggressive hallucinations, and they forecast some rather uncreative demises. One man is murdered by a tow truck in a way that almost makes sense (1/5). Another character bites it at a hair salon in a rather unsatisfying fashion (2/5). There's a clever little two-fer where two characters simultaneously battle watery deaths, although both are almost too cartoonish to be all that scary (4/5 - car wash; 3/5 - swimming pool). The movie's real saving grace (aside from the 3D, which does its job without much fuss) is it's final theater/mall debacle, which is witty, self-referential, and fairly intense (5/5). The close of the movie (and, ostensibly, the franchise) is an unceremonious vehicular accident that is only notable for the X-ray vision it is finally shot in.
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