The Final Destination ~ review

So what would you do if you have premonitions on how you and your friends would die in about 10 minutes later? Would you run away and tag your friends along with you eventhough you are not really sure if the events that would lead to you and your friends' deaths would happen? For the fans of Final Destination movie series, the premise may sound all too familiar. But would it be too repetitive for a 4th installment?



The Final Destination (or Final Destination 4 to avoid confusion) follows Nick O'Bannon (Bobby Campo) as he tries to save his friends and a few others, including himself, from horrific death staged by Mr. Death himself (not a real actor mind you). The opening scene shows Nick having premonition of horrific accidents at a race track that would kill him and his friends. Freaked out, he rushed out from the stadium along with his friends and a few other spectators. Shortly afterwards, one by one of the survivors died in freak 'accidents'. Convinced by the disrupted death pattern due to his intervention, Nick and his girlfriend, Lori Milligan (Shantel VanSanten) and the security guard of the stadium, George Lanter (Mykelti Williamson) try to warn the other survivors about their impending death.

As a fan of the first 3 editions of the series, I must say that I like this 4th movie as well but of course it's not without flaws. Eventhough the male and female lead are gorgeous on screen, but I feel the acting especially Bobby Campo is a bit stiff. Maybe because I keep comparing him with Devon Sawa from the 1st movie, which is of course unfortunate for him, but I honestly think that he can do better.



The story, after seeing it for a fourth time, is quite predictable but that's fine with me since I was only there to see the death plan that Death had for the characters, and of course the fate of the male and female lead (survive? no?). One thing that bothers me is that the plot seems rushed. It's like they want to finish off the characters as quickly as they can, which I think is a bad way to tell the story. The audience did not even have time to feel sorry for the dead characters which somewhat disconnect the bonds between viewers and characters.



I was a bit disappointed that the director rely heavily on crushed skulls and bodies to reflect the gruesome of the deaths. Whatever happen to slow and tortured deaths like the one suffered by Tod Waggner and Valerie Lewton in the 1st movie? Now that were creepy! Anyway, there are still some creative death scenes in this movie. Some of them to watch out for are the Pool Death, the Carwash Scene, and the Escalator Death. There are tons of gory scenes in this movie so better leave the minors out of it.

Overall, I give this movie 3 stars out of 5. Although some will argue that they have had enough of this movie series, but I beg to differ. I do agree that it's hard to keep the story 'fresh' but it's not impossible. It is likely that The Final Destination will be the last movie in the series but I do hope it's not. As long as they can come out with a fresh and creative story, people would keep on watching. Well, I know I would.


Pictures courtesy of Yahoo! Movies.