Review of Final Destination 3 (2006) by Thequietgamer — 13 Dec 2017

James Wong returns to the director's seat for this third entry in the teen-slaughter series. Unfortunately, what fans liked about the first movie hasn't been recaptured here. Final Destination 3 plays like a more mediocre version of the second film. The few clever deaths that it does have lack the original's surprise and the second's entertainment value. But at least there's some gore.

Where the movie really stumbles is in it's plotting and characters. The previous films also suffered from a bland and generic group of survivors, but at least we didn't have to listen to them whine as much as new lead Mary Elizabeth Winstead. The film drags it's feet getting to the stuff we want to see (the deaths) by forcing us to watch her get freaked out by nothing at the beginning of the film, and mope around for the rest. Everyone else is just there to add to the body count, although Kris Lemche is pretty entertaining. The plot loses the attempts at complexity and depth noticeable in Final Destination 2 in favor of falling back on formula.

One thing I do appreciate about the movie is that it keeps the more playful, self-aware tone of the last movie. It makes things a little easier to tolerate and means that the kills themselves have some imagination going for them, even if they lack the punch of the earlier (and later) entries. I feel more could have been done with this though. It never quite embraces the sense of fun it tries to continue with. Like I said, we watch our lead mope a lot.

There are some moments here and there where Final Destination 3 has something going for it. It just never really reaches the heights seen elsewhere in the series (which weren't all that high to being with) and takes too long getting to the good stuff. It can be quite the slog to sit through. A shame as it saw the return of James Wong at the helm. He directed the first Final Destination, which is still to this day the one most consider to be the best of them. None of that was really recaptured here. Nor were any of the good things from the second. The lack of which lead to what is arguably the most disposable entry in the franchise.

5.