The Final Destination Review

Written by: alex1176   

"The Final Destination" is the fourth entry in the series and it shows. Usually by the third sequel, filmmakers are basically milking the cash cow for all its worth. Most of the inspiration has transpired and the real reason for the movie's existence is to make money. Director David R. Ellis, who made "Final Destination 2" and "Snakes on a Plane", knew that New Line Cinema wanted to make this installment a 3D event. So writing, acting and story all took a major backseat to "made for 3D" death segments. I didn't see the movie in 3D, but even if I did, it wouldn't keep the film from sucking.

The movie's formula is the same as the others; a group of young men and women are supposed to die in a tragic accident. One of them gets a premonition of the future event and lets everyone know to leave the site. As you probably already seen in the trailers, the disaster that ensues is at a NASCAR event. An exploding racing car flips over the railing and into the crowd. Days later, the survivors discover they are living on borrowed time; Death is out to get them. However, the key to surviving is to stop the "death chainlink" by thwarting Death's attempts.

The idea was novelty when the first picture arrived way back in 2000. "Final Destination" was co-written and directed by James Wong, a writer of "The X-Files" and was quite a horror gem. I loved it, but director David R. Ellis followed up with a "Jackass" version with the second and Wong basically sold out by directing the lame third. This latest by Ellis is up there with the third, in fact it's worse. I saw "My Bloody Valentine" in 3D way back in January and it was great horror fun because of it's "Scream"-like storytelling. The 3D enhanced the movie's mood, but there is no story to tell of in "The Final Destination". It's all about watching cartoon-like deaths in 3D. It's a gimmick posing as a movie and not a very good one at that.

P.S. Most of the death scenes are lame. The best one is perhaps when the heroine is being (MAJOR SPOILER) crushed inside a busted open escalator. And even then...it's noting but a vision in the hero's mind.