The Final Destination

(2009)**

Nick, his girlfriend, and another couple are at a racetrack watching the shiny cars go round and round. Perhaps due to the sheer boredom I imagine one would experience at a racetrack, Nick begins to daydream and before you know experiences a vivid vision about a horrible car crash that kills them all. Never questioning this vision for one second he screams like a lunatic and forces his friends and a chunk of the crowd to leave. Wouldn’t you know it, Nick’s vision comes true and the gang’s lives are spared thanks to his histrionics. However, if you have seen any of the first 3 Final Destination films you know that there is no such thing as escaping death. As the story unfolds people in the community begin to die in freak accidents. Somehow Nick figures out that these people were all at the race track and they are being killed in the order that they should have been killed had he not saved them on that fateful day. Will Nick and company be able to disrupt Death’s plan and save their hides?


If Death is after you, don't go to a car wash

First of all, it’s so annoying that this film is called “The Final Destination” rather than “Final Destination 4”. “The Final Destination” sounds like the original film “Final Destination”, why do this? Perhaps it’s a promise to end the series with this installment given the whole “The” thing in the title? I doubt it. Does anyone recall Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter? Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare? Halloween H20? You see what I mean? “The” Final Destination my ass.


Nick's "vision"

If you’ve seen the original Final Destination film you have seen all 4 Final Destination films. It appears that the writers are adhering to the old, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” strategy in creating each installment. Either that or they are being threatened within an inch of their lives if they attempt any originality. It’s actually pretty amazing, the three sequels do not deviate from the original story (i.e., pretty people without any discernible personalities avoid death because of someone’s vision and they all die anyway), not even a little bit. Each version is so cookie cutter than I can’t even recall whether or not I ever watched part 3. Most know that the appeal of the Final Destination series is the elaborate, often swift/shocking deaths. Part of the fun is trying to predict how someone is going to die yet rarely being able to do so. There are a few good deaths in The Final Destination, but nothing so spectacular that I would recommend watching it. To be fair, The Final Destination was originally in 3D, but I did not watch the 3D version, which might have earned it an extra star. It’s clear that director David R. Ellis threw lots of stuff at the audience, which I’m sure enhanced the appeal of this film. If you like the original Final Destination movie than you will enjoy this one as well.