The "Final Destination" Franchise

[StevePulaski]

Final Destination (2000).

The gang in Final Destination.

Rating: ★★★½

What makes Final Destination rise above other films of its horror genre is there is no designated killer. It's all just a series of "accidents" triggered by a non-present force. It's crafty, campy, and of a different breed. It's smart, stylistic, without being too over-the-top. The only scene I can think of in this film that pushes the limit is the scene where one person is strangled to death. It's clear the screenwriter pondered on how force can strangle someone.

This is another horror film where you don't know how to feel when watching it. Tense? Scared? Freaked? Sadistic? Excited? When I saw this film, around the age of seven, I was nothing but amazed. I kept trying to figure out what the hell was making these things fall and what was leading these people to die. When I watched movies, up until around ten, I truly didn't pay attention to any dialog (odd now how I brutally critique films that lack it), I just went along for the ride.

Alex Browning (Sawa) is going on a class trip on a red-eye flight to Paris. Just before take-off, Alex has a brutal premonition where the plane explodes, and everyone dies. Upon awakening, Alex, like anyone, is freaked out and his panic causes classmates an orphan Clear (Larter), his bestfriend Tod (Donella), the teacher Ms. Valerie Lewton (Cloke), his rival Carter (Smith), Carter's girlfriend Terry (Detmer) and goof-off Billy (Scott).

Sure enough, the plane explodes in a fiery burst killing everyone. Alex, now realizes, he has an unprecedented ability to vision an accident before it occurs. Now, the people who made the lucky attempt to get off, and dodge death, are now killed off one by one in the order they would've died on the plane. The order I won't spoil because they explain it thoroughly (and I mean thoroughly) in the film.

Over the years, the dialog in this film has gotten more attention by me. First it was about the deaths, then I listened to information that was around the deaths (like a few minutes before it would happen), then I would go crazy researching the film to get every pinpoint detail on the film before going back to watching it with my undivided attention. I was a mess. I loved the film. I loved every frame of it. Loved its dare to be different style of film-making, and loved every character, even the antagonist bully.

There are some movies you can't put a price on and Final Destination is the one for me. Despite its questionable premise, it tackles it in a fantastic, and enjoyable manor. It doesn't get too comical (you can save that for the fourth film), and even though you could see sequels in the film's headlights, you anticipate them to be just as good as the first if the film sticks to its formula, limits its comedy, and has believable, realistic deaths.

Starring: Devon Sawa, Ali Larter, Kristen Cloke, Kerr Smith, Chad Donella, Seann William Scott, Amanda Detmer, and Tony Todd. Directed by: James Wong.

[StevePulaski]

Final Destination 2 (2003).
Rating: ★★★

Here we have sequel, that is essentially the same as the first film, but provides a lot more thrills and a lot more special effects than the first. Final Destination 2 has the same scheme as its predecessor - the hero of the film, this time a female named Kimberly (Cook), is on a road-trip with her best friend and her two pot smoking buddies. She has a premonition on the road that she is one of the many victims to a deadly traffic pileup. She blocks the on-ramp so no one can get by, the premonition comes true, various people survive, but are then killed off in the order they would've died if she hadn't blocked the road. There we have Final Destination 2.

It's safe to say we get more of a variety in our characters this time around. In the original, it was all students aboard a flight to Paris. This time, we have a student, a mother, a teacher, a lottery winner, a pregnant women, a drug-addict, a self-centered woman, and a police officer. Clear Rivers (Larter) from the original film returns here to pair up with Kimberly and police officer Thomas Burke (Landes) to try and stop death's design.

The idea is we all have a fate, but the flaw is we can cheat it. In this case, Kimberly and the crew's fate was to die in the pileup, but due to her lucky premonition everyone is saved. After you cheat death and save yours and many other lives the only way you can prevent the rest of the gang from dying is for the person who had the premonition to commit suicide or have a child being born, creating new life somehow saving the rest of the people. You're better off not to question the idea, and just go along for the ride.

The special effects in this are sub-par to the first film. The problem with the first film was that some of the death sequences were at night, and some, didn't involved many crafty designs, or twists and turns, most likely because it was the first of its kind. They didn't know their standard. But still, Final Destination had some memorable and quite impressive death scenes. Especially when you consider frequent hidden hints and "180" appearances.

Final Destination 2 offers a bit more build-up by showing something falling, shifting, sliding, moving, etc. The trigger effect that leads to these deaths is perfect, and reminds me why I love this franchise. It can go above and beyond everything if it just remains realistic and plausible.

There are a few problems sadly. For one thing, some scenes in the morgue and the mental-institute are poor build-ups to the main event. They last long, and tend to ramble. It's best to try and make the rule make sense to you, rather than listen to a bunch of people talk about it. My advice; watch the first film. Watch it again. Get an idea of how this design works, and then continue to watch the remaining films in the franchise. Eventually, it will come to you. Patience is a virtue.

One question I asked myself in the first film was "Why Alex?" Up until about halfway through, I asked "Why Kimberly?" The film provides logical information on why it's Kimberly's turn to have the premonition. But I still I have two questions; (1) Why does this premonition aspect exist if its purpose is to mess up Death's plan? Don't you think Death (I love how I'm using him as a real person right now) would try everything to stop this premonition?

And the premonition sequence lasted about four minutes in this film. You couldn't tell me Kimberly sat stopped on the on-ramp, in utter silence with two talkative pot-buddies in the back seat and her annoying blonde friend without them shaking her or talking to her, and no one from other cars behind her came up to knock on her window. They took all the plausibility, pumped it into the death sequences in the film, but at the same time, drained it from the events leading up to the deaths. Never heard of that happening.

Clearly, I'm over-analyzing what is supposed to be an enjoyable horror flick. That it was. Final Destination still remains calm, and not cocky, and cartoonish like one would think. While some franchises get carried away, for now, Final Destination is on the right track.

Starring: Ali Larter, A. J. Cook, Michael Landes, and Tony Todd. Directed by: David R. Ellis.

[StevePulaski]

Final Destination 3 (2006).
Rating: ★★★

The third installment of Final Destination is starting to show some ware and tear on its jeans, but sneaks by with a recommendation simply because of its formula, its cast, and some of the most unique death scenes of the series. The cast is charismatic together, the plot remains the same, and the death scenes, like I said, are of a Rube Goldberg creation.

The story, I shouldn't repeat, but I'm going to. Young Wendy (Winstead) has a premonition before boarding a roller coaster at an amusement park with her friends that it will derail because of a dropped camcorder, killing all of them. Wendy forces various people off the coaster and winds up causing a scene that, once more, becomes reality as the coaster derails. The gang now realizes that Death is angry for them once again disrupting his "carefully" concocted plan, and now they are going to die in the way they were meant to on the roller coaster.

I don't care if Final Destination 10 hits theaters in 2018, I will still see all these films like the makers want me to. I have nothing against these films, but even creativity runs dry. One has to think, how much longer can they come up with inventive ways to kill people? The answer is many. Even in its third resurrection, the kills in this are good. There is one at a fast food restaurant that is far-fetched, but gruesome fun. And another unsettling destruction in a subway.

The DVD version of the film, the "Choose Their Fate" edition only, gives you the option to find out what happened to two of the luckies in Final Destination 2. Nothing special, and I won't spoil the two names, but it's good to know at least the series is going above and beyond.

Final Destination 3 is a lot murkier than previous installments. This could possibly be because of James Wong returning as director. The first movie had an essence of dark in it, but still remained a little neutral in the tonality. A lot of this is very dark in its scenery, and a lot of the characters have meaner, less-optimistic personalities than the first two. No problem, there, I like my horror dark, as long as the picture is view-able. It's just strange how they'd want the series to go from neutral, neutral, dark, then downright comical come time for The Final Destination.

What really stands out from FD3, that doesn't in the other films, is the soundtrack. Many of the songs are borrowed from the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas music library from fictional stations like the country themed K-Rose, and the desert rock oriented K-DST. I loved that game, and especially the music. The icing on the cake is the, yes dark, cover of The O'Jays' Love Train by Tommy Lee to conclude the film. All I can say is they knew how to pick the music for this.

I'm giving Final Destination 3 three stars because the imaginative mind still lurks inside the series, and it hasn't gone down just yet. I always said, between the three year gap between the third and the forth movie that they should cease making them. Leave the trilogy, a solid, dependable one. As long as these films rake in the cash, they'll spit them out like a broken vending machine. There is always some sort of wart that branches off of a film franchise, and I want Final Destination to remain wart-less.

Starring: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Ryan Merriman, and Amanda Crew. Directed by: James Wong.

[StevePulaski]

The Final Destination (2009).
Rating: ★★

"There is always some sort of wart that branches off of a film franchise, and I want Final Destination to remain wart-less." - My review of Final Destination 3.

I said it, and now I feel like I had my own premonition. "The" Final Destination is the wart branching off of the series. I put quotations around "the" to show it is wrongfully stating it's the end. "The" has become such a universal word in movie sequels. Some films, like Fast & Furious, chose to remove it and cause confusion to some people. In ten years, give or take, it will be easy to confuse The Final Destination, with the original (Final Destination). The Dvd cover for this film is traditional, and doesn't indicate any sign of this being the fourth film. Why not just Final Destination 4?

But I will say the 3D was used to perfection in this film. Coming from a person who finds 3D to be the new, and disappointing, feature in film, The Final Destination utilizes it with full force. It's honestly, one of the best looking films with it equipped. There are shots of things actually flying into the audience that made several flinch. This is the rare, and by rare I mean first, case I would've recommended seeing it in 3D if I wrote my review sooner.

It also looks like James Wong and David R. Ellis are doing the ping-pong directing treatment to this franchise as well. Wong got one and three, and Ellis got two and four. It seems whenever Wong takes over, he provides a darker tonality to these films, while Ellis provides a shed of light, and what looked to be backstory from the second film. Unfortunately, the backstory here is slim, and near nonexistent.

The story is the same. Only this time at a Nascar race. A young boy, who this time we barely know anything about, named Nick (Campo) has a premonition of a deadly crash at the race leaving him and his friends dead. He awakens, warns the crowd of people behind him, him, his friends, and some other strangers evacuate and they are left to die in the order they would've if they stayed in the race-track.

One severe problem with this film is we don't know enough about the characters to care. We get backstory seconds before they meet their fate, which defeats the purpose of even giving it. We know the one guy is a racist, and the security guard is black. I'm not encouraging racism in any way, shape, or form, but I think the only reason they wanted the southern character to be racist is so they could squeeze some inner-hatred towards one of the members (there is a reason besides the racism, but I won't spoil it), and to make use of the dreaded n-word. That's it. Both characters are gone in the blink of an eye. Not like they had any significance anyway.

Final Destination has always been about dark themes and supernatural events occurring. This is a no comedy zone, but comedy feels the need to join us. Why? Because everyone knows that comedy exists in horror films because the characters, and the screenwriter, think they are being clever when they're really ruining what has potential to be a straight-forward creepy film. The humor in this film takes an outrageous increase in this film for whatever reason, and it sucks. I could "woulda, coulda, shoulda" this all I want, but it should of been straight-horror, minimal comedy like the rest of the series.

All the other films started off with our characters, mainly our survivors, exchanging some typical buddy to buddy dialog, and a father-daughter talk in the second film. This, we are two minutes in and they enter the track, just like that. Give me a reason to care or form a relationship with these characters when the movie doesn't even bother.

I'll also say the ending gives the idea that the producers ran out of money, and opened up a cheap art program to complete it. It's terrible. I did like the effects on the opening intro paying homage to past deaths in the first three installments. To use it as the end is a sign of laziness and complete and utter disgust and carelessness of the audience.

The Final Destination has one or two okay death scenes, but they are loaded with CGI so they could utilize 3D. In the theater with my glasses, I didn't notice all that much. Seeing it on Dvd and on TV in 2D, it's insanely noticeable and uncanningly fake. In a way I'm glad this isn't "The Final" Destination. To end on this would be like ending a walk-a-thon with someone stepping on your foot.

Starring: Bobby Campo, Shantel VanSanten, Nick Zano, and Mykelti Williamson. Directed by: David R. Ellis.

[StevePulaski]

Final Destination 5 (2011).
Rating: ★★★½

Final Destination 5 is an extraordinary revival to the long-running series that started eleven years ago. Not only does it display an excellent, glossy, well-utilized 3D formula, but it also revives the series after a lackluster fourth installment. Ever drop your iPod or cell phone by accident, while your headphones are plugged into it, and the cord of the headphones barely saves it from hitting the ground. Think of the device as The Final Destination, and the cord as Final Destination 5.

The 3D scheme, just like the previous film, is perfect. I don't think I've seen a better 3D film ever. I stated that the fourth installment of this series, while poor in comparison to the previous films, presented an excellent 3D nature. This does the same only better. But I can see a 2D viewing will make the whole look and feel awkward, and pointless. If you're going to see Final Destination 5, the theater is the place.

The story doesn't change. A young male (D'Agosto) has a premonition on a bus with co-workers to a retreat that upon driving on a suspension bridge, it will soon collapse and kill everyone on the bus. He awakens, makes a commotion, gets many people off of the bus, then realizes his premonition has come true. But "Death" is now coming back, picking off every character piece by piece in the order they would've died if they stayed on the bridge.

Special effect work, along with use of well-crafted death scenes, deserve nothing but applause here. This is why I love the franchise, and why I have loved it for so long. By the fifth film in horror franchises, they have already shown signs of ware and tear, but not Final Destination 5. It's still got spunk.

Suspense is back too. Full force. In The Final Destination, we hardly got any contrived suspense and everything happened so quickly that we were left without a shock or suprise in our system. Most of the deaths were just quick, instantaneous little scenes that accomplished almost nothing. Here, you can't even trust every little sign or camera close up on an object. It may not even have anything to do with the death scene. Even the trailer does a good job of not showing all the death scenes. They show parts, but not the actual execution. Brilliant job to the editors.

The ending? Back in business. No cheaply made short in an art program to pass as an ending like the fourth film. We get an ending that will satisfy any fan of the series. It shows itself to be something we didn't expect - a prequel. A long time fan of the series, like myself, was left in disbelief and shock. The good kind.

Even the design has been tinkered with to give the slight feeling of a new formula taking effect. I will not explain it because it's not the most simplistic of schemes, but it does prevent repetition. Eric Heisserer, the screenwriter for all four previous films, has stepped up his game and has given not only a new entry in Death's plan, but more character development making up for the emptiness in, yes, the fourth film.

Though the film is great, and honestly one of the better sequels in the franchise, there's one minor problems. The dialog between the characters is so wooden, stiff, and dull it needs acupunture treatment from the elderly Chinese woman in the film. Miles Fisher, the doppleganger for Tom Cruise in the Top Gun days says his lines like the director is holding a cue-card right in front of him. It doesn't help matters, but it doesn't completely destroy them.

This is the first time in the entire series that (1) a new director was brought in to play (Steven Quale, respectively) and (2) viral marketing was used. Steven Quale darkens the series and uses special effects to the film's advantage. The previous installment was directed by David R. Ellis who ultimately influenced comedy on the series rather than keeping the eerie format like he did in the second film. Miles Fisher also recorded a song and music video called "New Romance" to pay homage to the series while adding a Saved by the Bell style setting. You need to see it to believe it.

From the disgustingly gruesome 3D, the excellent premonition sequence in the beginning which is arguably the best of them all, the darker approach, the character development, a clever piece added to the puzzle, the return of a very spooky character, a fantastic full circle ending, and the icing being a fantastic montage at the end, Final Destination 5 pulls the series back to its feet and tells it "You're not done yet soldier. Just stop moseying around the comedy field."

Starring: Nicholas D'Agosto, Emma Bell, Miles Fisher, Arlen Escarpeta, David Koechner, and Tony Todd. Directed by: Steven Quale.