Review of Final Destination 2 (2003) by Josh P — 14 Sep 2009

After watching Final Destination, you're going to get as creeped out as you can in the series. You'll know exactly where this one is going as soon as it starts. What makes this one special for me, though, is that now that Part 1 established it, Part 2 ran with it and pretended to be nothing more.

The car crash sequence that started the movie off pushed me almost as far as the plane crash did in FD1. It was the most exhilarating, relentless and impressive car crash I've ever seen on film. What followed were deaths that were just as mean-spirited when it came to offing its characters.

I reacted aloud to almost every death here and laughed, not on a camp level but just out of pure shock. The humor also rubbed me the right way. It never got to "American Pie" type of humor and was circumstantial rather than forced.

It also got the right reactions out of me. David Ellis kept the movie very stylish. Even the deaths were shot with class! He gave a tiny bit of suspense off during the deaths and did some cool tricks with scenes.

He did a good job. A.J. Cook was cute and did her part well as the heroine. Michael Landes got me on his side even though he had no reason to. Strong showing. Ali Larter didn't always have the best lines but it was nice to see her again.

She's also pleasant to the eye. Jonathan Cherry kept me laughing as the drug-addicted badass. He was funny. Alas, the movie was not perfect. The characters here were nowhere near as developed as they were in the original.

They were basically given a name, a stereotype and even the audience as a whole knows they're going to die. All of the actors playing them had a decent handle on their character, so at least they didn't annoy me.

Tony Todd shows up again in another campy, confusing and useless scene. Seriously, do something with his character or kill him off! There are also points in the whole "Death's List" explanation that I don't fully get.

I'm probably just too dumb for that one though. The kills are atmospheric and graphic, the humor is on and funny, the characters are fun to watch and the ties to the first one are clever. I enjoyed this one as much as the first (though the first is technically better) for different reasons.

Watch the original to get creeped out, watch this one to have a blast. Watch both in one evening and call it well spent, or tell me to fuck off and don't listen. Your call!