Friday, August 19, 2011

THE FINAL DESTINATION (2009)

If this film had been the first FINAL DESTINATION movie...there wouldn't be a franchise right now. Four completely forgettable dorks go to a race car track. One has a premonition about some poorly rendered CG race cars flying into the stands and exploding into cable channel quality CG flames. The dude freaks and runs out of the stands taking various people with him. They're all saved, blah, blah, blah. Death's design.

I'm sure the makers of this film meant well, but the movie looks fucking terrible. The special effects are so bad you can actually tell when something is about to happen before it happens. That's unacceptable. As entertainment, FD4 is passable (to laugh at), but that's really it. The kills are boring, the characters I wanted to murder myself, the special effects suck and there's absolutely nothing added to the FD story. Even the one brief topless scene was a yawner.

Only worth watching if you are really, really bored.

Part 1 - Final Destination (2000)
Part 2 - Final Destination 2 (2003)
Part 3 - Final Destination 3 (2006)
Part 5 - Final Destination 5 (2011)

This shot was the highlight of the movie.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

FINAL DESTINATION 3 (2006)

The series hit the wall a little with this one. Instead of an airplane crash or an awesome highway pile up, we get a lame looking roller coaster crash. On the bright side, the girl who has the premonition and saves everybody is hot. I guess they learned their lesson when they killed off the hottest girl at the beginning of the second film. Anyway, she sees everybody dying and freaks out. Other people miss the ride because of her freakout, which ends up saving their lives.  Naturally, Death comes looking for them.

Everything you would expect happens.  The deaths are amusing, but the entire thing kinda was not as much fun as Part 2. Maybe that's just me or maybe it's because there was only two main characters whereas in Part 2 the entire group hung out a lot together at the same time and it kept you guessing as to who was going to die next. This time around the two leads went around visiting people right about the time that they died. That's weak and leads to zero suspense. But whatever, it's still a entertaining watch and Mary Elizabeth Winstead is nice to look at.

Worth a viewing, but it's nothing to get overly excited about. Oh yea, here's the topless chick at the tanning salon.

Part 1 - Final Destination (2000)
Part 2 - Final Destination 2 (2003)
Part 4 - The Final Destination (2009)
Part 5 - Final Destination 5 (2011)

Fate of the two survivors from Part 2.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

FINAL DESTINATION 2 (2003)

This is one of those rare situations where the sequel is actually better than the original.  Not that the original was bad, I thought it was really good, but part 2 is just better. 

Instead of an airplane disaster, this time it's massive highway pile-up that was so badass, I actually watched this movie twice in the theater just to see that scene again. Anyway, this chick saves a random group of strangers by jamming up the entrance ramp and now Death is all pissed off...or maybe the story is even deeper than that.

An engaging story is nice, but we're mainly here for the kills and FD2 fucking delivers! Some of the best of the entire series actually. I can't decide which one is my favorite, but the dentist office one is great and really funny. One of the things that makes Part 2 so successful is the ground rules are already laid and it just gets straight to the action and never really lets up for the entire movie. A fun ride from beginning to end (especially during that first hour), hilarious kills, fast pace, some tits, minor blood/gore and in my opinion the best entry in the entire series. Check it out!

Part 1 - Final Destination (2000)
Part 3 - Final Destination 3 (2006)
Part 4 - The Final Destination (2009)
Part 5 - Final Destination 5 (2011)

FINAL DESTINATION (2000)

Right as he and his fellow students board an airplane headed for France, high school student Alex has an intense vision of the plane exploding and killing everybody. He wakes from the vision and when he sees some of the minor things in the vision coming true, he freaks the fuck out and runs off the plane like a 1990's daytime talk show guest who just found out his girlfriend is pregnant with his neighbors dogs 3rd cousin. A few people go with him (not all voluntarily) and as they stand at the terminal arguing, the plane takes off and explodes into a million pieces. Alex's vision has thrown a monkey wrench in "Death's design" and they are all suppose to be dead, but they're not. So now Death has to correct the books, but I don't think he likes correcting the books because when he comes for you it seems to always be in brutal, disgusting and sometimes elaborate ways.

The idea for this movie is brilliant and in 2000 it was a breath of fresh air in a genre that was kinda stagnate with poo-poo like THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, STIGMATA, HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL and I STILL KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER stinking up the New Release Horror section at the neighborhood video stores. I mean, it's still not a hardcore horror movie, but it's a great guilty pleasure. The best part is the elaborate lengths that Death goes to get his kills. At moments, especially later on in the series, it's almost like Death grew up watching Wile E. Coyote and Roadrunner cartoons and that's where he got all of his ideas. It's great! The biggest crowd pleaser in this installment has to be the bus.

I understand this film was targeted to the teenage crowd, but I think the film would have been even better if the kills had been bumped up a few notches on the gore meter. Also, some nudity would have been nice.

Definitely worth checking out.

Part 2 - Final Destination 2 (2003)
Part 3 - Final Destination 3 (2006)
Part 4 - The Final Destination (2009)
Part 5 - Final Destination 5 (2011)