Destination, horror!
Andrew Ellington | I'm kind of everywhere | 02/09/2010
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I couldn't help quoting Sue Sylvester (pun intended) on this one.
I'm such a gLeek!
Anyways, onto the movie in question...I can't really recommend any of the ludicrous sequels (all of which feel stale and blatantly uninspired in comparison), but I can and will say that the original 2000 `Final Destination', while flawed, is a lot of fun, if by fun you mean a creepy, disturbing frightfest.
Yes, that's what I mean.
The story is pretty basic, if a little (or a lot) far fetched. A kid has a paranormal vision of the plane he is on going down in flames. When he wakes he panics and soon he, and seven others, is ushered off the plane. Then the Paris bound aircraft takes off, and then explodes. These lucky individuals have just cheated death, but death doesn't like being cheated and so, one by one, each of the survivors are picked off in eerily mysterious (and painfully manipulated) ways. Soon, the kid with the vision (his name in the movie is Alex) starts putting two and two together and realizes that they are being killed off in the order they would have died on the plane (really?) and so they have to work together to continually cheat death and start the cycle over again.
The cast is decent, but rather uninspired when you consider the genre and the casts of other films of this nature. None of these `stars' went on to a noteworthy career. Sawa all but disappeared (well, he did disappear) and Ali Larter may have done `Heroes', but then she did Beyonce, or Beyonce's husband ("I'll show you crazy") so, I mean, you get my point. The cast is mediocre at best.
When your most successful star is that pervert from the `American Pie' movies then you know you're in trouble.
The film is propelled by the elaborately and ridiculously intense death scenes that layer the film. Whether a boy is getting ready to take a shower or a teacher is preparing some hot tea, this film knows how to layer on the tension. The deaths are all different, come textured, some shockingly sporadic (that bus came out of nowhere!) and they all hit their mark effortlessly.
That's why you watch these `slasher' movies anyways, right...for the diverse death scenes.
The ending (in the cabin) gets rather sloppy and a tad overdone, but for the most part this film is slick and unique. I hate what it turned into (the sequel was decent, but the third and fourth films just feel like cheap reenactments of this film, with no real life to them), but I'm happy with this film as a whole. If you haven't seen it yet, see it. If you are a fan of the genre (this is no `Scream', but it's on par with `Urban Legend' or the original `I Know What You Did Last Summer') then this is one you won't want to miss."