The Final Destination (2009)

AUGUST 23, 2009

GENRE: SLASHER, SUPERNATURAL
SOURCE: THEATRICAL (PRESS SCREENING)

I never would have guessed that the original Final Destination, which I saw opening night in 2000, would spawn one of the decade’s most popular franchises, to the point where they can began dropping the numbers from the title and actually change its grammar in the process. Because here we are with The Final Destination (they picked an unused “The” up from Fast & Furious, I guess), which is the fourth film in the series, and the first to be shot in 3D.

In a way, it’s a no-brainer that there would be a 3D entry to the Final Destination series (part 3 - the weakest in the series by far - was a contender during initial pre-production; I’m glad they saved it for this superior entry). The deaths have always involved projectile elements of some sort anyway, so why not add another dimension to their travels? In fact, the film has the unique benefit of having a whole bunch of “Comin’ at ya!” moments that won’t be annoying to watch in 2D - the films always had these sorts of shots anyway. It’s like 3D blew up just so New Line could finally deliver a complete Final Destination movie experience.

If not for the sameness of it all, The Final Destination would be the best in the series. In a way, it’s almost charming how strictly it sticks to the established formula, but at the same time, the template is seriously showing strain. As always, there’s a group of people in a crowded area, and then some Rube Goldberg-y event occurs, causing everyone to die. But then we see it’s just a dream, and the dreamer convinces some friends to leave the area, and assorted strangers are pulled into the scuffle. Then the event occurs, and everyone’s like “How did you know?” And then survivors start to die in incredibly complex manners, while the main guy (or girl) notices a pattern and tries to save someone by ‘breaking the sequence’. Which he does, but then they all die later. And like the other sequels, there’s a scene where someone pulls up news articles about Flight 180 (the first film’s original title, which would have been troublesome for sequels). Thankfully, they have dropped 3’s ridiculous “the photos give a clue” idea, but on a story level, this one adds nothing new to the concept.

But while it might be the same, it’s still a hell of a lot of fun. It’s the shortest film in the series (barely 80 minutes), and also boasts a slightly higher “death scene” count than usual, which results in minimal time spent on things no one should be giving a shit about in these movies (character, exposition, etc). Even the “Look, this has happened before!” stuff is kept to about 30 seconds at most, and unlike the same team’s FD2 (1 and 3 are Morgan and Wong, 2 and 4 are Ellis and Bress), they don’t spend time tying it in with the earlier film(s). The awesome opening credit sequence plays over X-ray style animations that re-create the deaths from the other films, that plus the newspaper article scene (more like shot) are the only callbacks. In short, if you haven’t seen any of the others, you need not have to worry about being lost in the plot.

And there are few ways to win me over as easily as putting Shinedown’s kick-ass song “Devour” on the soundtrack during the film’s opening moments. It’s a great fucking song (you can play it on Rock Band), and matches perfectly with the racing footage. And the 3D work here is phenomenal; there’s a shot from ground level as the cars race into the background that ranks as one of the all time best 3D “holy shit” images. And a chunk of rubber from the burst tire (which sets off the accident) actually made me and the guy next to me flinch, which is pretty impressive considering how many 3D movies I’ve seen this year already (I think this makes 5).

Another thing I really dug was how they used a lot of misdirection in the kill scenes. They know we all know the trick, so they go out of their way to introduce “red herring” objects into the scenes. As it turns out, the actual kills are largely pretty simple this time compared to the others. For example, one woman is simply killed when a lawnmower hits a rock, which flies into (and back out of) her head. But before that, we see the guy pouring gasoline, a ceiling fan coming loose, a broken chair, a burning can of hair spray... it’s funny to see people giggle as soon as an object is introduced, because you KNOW it’s going to be part of the sequence, and then feel kind of relieved when its action/reaction causes no harm (and THEN they are killed by something else entirely). My biggest problem with the 3rd film was that they were trying too hard to make the kills elaborate, at the expense of basic coherency (I still have no idea what the hell is happening during the hardware store scene in that one), so it’s nice to see them tone it back a bit while still delivering the gory goods (in 3D!).

The kills are largely relatable this time too, with some playing on basic fears and urban legends. Pool drains, the aforementioned lawnmower/rock combo, the thing that keeps your car from moving in a car wash... all of these things are stuff people are really afraid of, and folks squirm at the site of these events every time. The key one is when Kirsta Allen’s character gets a manicure as she sits on a broken salon chair. The camera lingers on shots of her getting her nails cleaned with a small knife, because you know that if the chair slides back down she’s going to lose that nail, which is one of the most painful onscreen injuries known to man.

It’s also much funnier than usual. We’re supposed to laugh at the deaths, so that’s a given. But the characters are largely funnier than usual, particularly the douchey character Nick Zano plays. He’s sort of like Trent from the new F13 (he even has a sex scene!), and it’s a shame that he dies halfway through, because his insensitive, irreverent quips are missed (“I finished four minutes ago...” is a definite “memorable quote” for the IMDb).

One thing that sort of kills the fun is a racist redneck character. It’s one thing when he whistles “Dixieland” as Mykelti Williamson’s character passes by, it’s another when he actually uses the N word a few minutes later. And an old veteran comments about killing “a bunch of your people” to a young Asian man, which again, isn’t really funny. I know it’s weird to be complaining about unfunny racism in a movie in which we’re supposed to laugh at the site of people being killed, but the spirit of fun is definitely absent from these moments.

I am curious how the box office battle between FD and Halloween 2 will play out. TFD is clearly the better film (and the 3D angle makes a theatrical viewing even more enticing), but no FD film has done as well as Zombie’s first Halloween, and like I said, the formula has gotten a tad stale. Being that they are both R rated horror films, I’d love to see both do well. Pony up the dough, folks! Of course, two weeks later we have Whiteout and Sorority Row, followed by Jennifer’s Body a week after (and Pandorum a week after that!). It’s nice to have all of these choices, but I worry that the audience will be spread too thin across six films, resulting in none of them being successful. Hopefully I’ll be wrong. But even more, I hope those others are like TFD, by which I mean are worth your money AND time.

What say you?

HorrorBlips: vote it up!

16 comments:

  1. And this is why this movie will get my hard earned coin this weekend instead of H2 :) Stoked for this.

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  2. Imo, the acting was very wooden, the humour was not funny and apart from the opening credits sequence and a few of the deaths it was not worth watching.

    Very bland and very dull, an insult to the original film

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  3. Since I don't live in the US, my cash doesn't make a difference in the box office battle. If I did live in the US, I would watch TFD. It opens here next week and I can't wait! Glad to hear it's a fun flick!

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  4. Man, I LOVE part 3. But this one looks fantastic. I cannot wait to see it. I am hoping to double feature it with H2.

    JM

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  5. I went to the midnight showing and loved it..it was great..the 3D was amazing..the opening sequence alone made me applaud along with everyone else in the theater...It had some typical 3D gags but it was a fun movie..Im glad it was short..if it would have been any longer it would have killed it....Def worth seeing..off to see H2 Sunday..btw BC Zombie is gonna remake THE BLOB next..but no RED BLOB...hmmmmm

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  6. Ugh.

    I liked the first and second, but was very annoyed by the third. The reason for that is that while these kind of films are all about the kills, I do like my gruesomeness with a teaspoon or two of intelligence and empathy. And from the sound of it, this movie is following the third's example of junk food horror. This series tried to be a little intelligent once. No more, it seems.

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  7. Double feature with this and H2 today...er, yesterday now. I had a lot more fun with TFD for sure, because I got what I was hoping for: cool deaths, elaborate wind-blowing-things-over sequences (red herrings or not), and 3D goodness.

    I'm not sure I am quite as enthusiastic as you, but I can't say I wad disappointed (unlike H2).

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  8. I'm not sure, but I think Whiteout is more a crime/mystery drama, and not a horror story?

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  9. I went and saw H2 yesterday instead. Probably see THE Final Destination tonight. I hope it's decent.
    check out my horror movie blog for the latest horror news and the occasional creepy treasure!
    http://atomicfox.blogspot.com/
    thanks! :)

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  10. I hated the third movie. The way they figured out who dies and how was... Stupid, imo.

    But from what I've read, this next sequel is gonna be a blast! I can't wait to watch it!

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  11. Love the review...probably could not say it better myself....

    but...I think the racist parts were not supposed to be funny...just make the character(s) more douche-baggy (well the old guy was probably for a laugh)...but the redneck/tow truck guy...just a douche-bag...so when his death occurs...I was not sad...and thought it was awesome and well deserved!
    ....but I could be wrong!!


    Great flick...especially in 3D...More fun than My Bloody Valentine 3D!!!

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  12. I liked a lot, the D-box thing was a plus, but you can enjoy it with the 3-d just fine, I guess part 5 (or The Final Destination 2, I guess) have the setting already played out for them, just follow this films end, ala part 2 could have the set put for 3 based on the ending.

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  13. NO YOUR WRONG THIS REVIEWER WANTS TO BE IN ON A JOKE BUT THE MOVIE TAKES ITSELF TOO SERIOUSLY AT ALL THE WRONG TIMES AND IS NOTTT FUNNY THERE ARE WAY BETTER FUNNER SCARES THAT DONT LOOK CHEAP OUT THERE FOR REAL. THIS MOVIE ONLY APPEALS NOW TO STUPID FRAT BOYS WHO MOCK DEATH LIKE DEATH IS SOOOO FUNNY DEATH TO ME SHOULDNT BE MOCKED LIFE CAN BE MOCKED BUT DEATH IS MUCH MORE BEAUTIFUL THAN THIS CRAP AND PEOPLE ARE NEVER EVIL LIKE THIS MOVIE MAKES OUT TO BE !

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  14. i thought it was just ok.

    they abandoned any story development for some pretty cood 3D.

    the kills were decent.

    i dunno, i love the final destination series, but i thought this was the weakest one so far. unless you're just counting in the cool 3D, it was a paint by numbers installment with mediocre acting and story.

    my favorite part was the intro where they show kills from the other movies via "xray" view.

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  15. watched Both of them.

    I enjoyed both of them.

    Halloween 2 was the better film to me.
    but 3D is always fun.

    I could have used a slightly better immediate ending to the movie for FD4.

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  16. i`m sorry ;
    this was the worst movie i`ve ever seen...
    and i`ve seen a million + of them.

    it`s so sad to see the Final Destination franchise end this way.
    its just BAD bad BAAAAAD.
    awful...
    the characters were awful too by the way.
    and sticking tampons in your kids ears in NOT COOL...
    for any reason at ALL.

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