Review of Final Destination 2 (2003) by Jason D — 13 Jul 2014

It was only a matter of time before Hollywood cranked out a sequel to the original surprise-hit Final Destination film, however FD 2 manages to be uniquely diverse while still incorporating some of the elements of the first film.

In this one, the young lead (A.J. Cook) has her premonition about a horrible (and very gory) car pileup on the highway (one of the coolest sequences ever). She manages to hold up the on ramp where all the people who died in her dream are stuck, and then the pileup happens.

Naturally, the time is wasted as all of these survivors are haunted and killed by Death, one by one. There are some correlations between this one and the first that work out pretty nicely, especially the small twist that has each of these survivors somehow connected to the victims of the first film.

Tony Todd shows up again as the mysterious mortician and adds even more fun and ambiguity to the role. If only they had truly capitalized on that and made him Death. Could've been awesome. Aside from that, the cast is mostly Canadian and unknown save for TV work and such.

Ali Larter (from the first film) reprises her role, and the deaths in this one are even more inventive and gruesome. The second entry loses a lot of that serious tone from the first film and hams it up a bit this time around, but manages to not overdo it too much, thanks to some fun and clever direction from David R.

Ellis (who would go on to direct the infamous Snakes on a Plane as well as the fourth Final Destination). Despite the slightly dumbed-down plot, this is a great movie.