Review of The Final Destination (2009) by James S — 19 Apr 2012

Another year, another final destination movie. In fact the only final thing going on here is the title.

This installment goes by the age old adage of "if it aint broke, don't fix it", sticking almost rigidly to the now tried and tested Final Destination formula - big opening death scene which turns out to be a premonition, hapless victims escape certain death before death stalks there asses one by one until his quota is filled for the day.

The no name stars (at least we had Mary Elizabeth Winstead in episode 3!) narrowly avoid being sliced, burned and crushed during a freak stock car accident before spending the rest of the film trying to outwit the grim reaper. We know how this story goes and how it ends, the only question is exactly how each of the cast will meet the untimely demise.

The makers of the final destination series must have a whole load of fun trying to come up with scenarios to kill off their characters. As the series has progressed, the deaths have become increasingly outlandish which is perhaps why this and the 3rd movie surpassed the second for sheer enjoyment value. This one perhaps gives a bit too much away by having our premonistic teen have further flashes of the future which foreshadow what is about to befall the next victim but it doesn't dilute the fun too much. Without giving too much away, all one can say about our collection of death cheaters this time around is that they must be the most unluckiest bunch of people on the planet! Still, the kills are gruesome enough and the film plays a nice occasional game of keep you guessing exactly what will happen next, enough to make sure your bum approaches the edge of your seat, even if you won't be teetering on it.

The end feels much like that of Final Destination 3, a bit of a convenient nothing to tie up the film and get rid of the remaining characters so another bunch can be ushered in for the next part but this still stands up as another decent entry in the entertaining but never jaw dropping series.