Genre: Horror/Thriller
Director: David R. Ellis
Cast: Krista Allen, Bobby Campo, Shantel VanSanten, Andrew Fiscella, Mykelti Williamson, Haley Webb, Nick Zano, Richard T. Jones
RunTime: 1 hr 22 mins
Released By: Warner Bros
Rating: M18 (Gory Scenes)
Official Website: http://www.thefinaldestinationmovie.com/

Opening Day: 27 August 2009

Synopsis:

Nick and some friends head to the racetrack for the weekend to watch a car race. , when a terrifying accident happens at 180 mph. People will splatter and be ripped apart, one girl gets her head knocked off by a flying tire, massive explosions, and eventually the entire stadium collapses onto the rest of the audience. Then main character "Nick" discovers it was just a vision that's about to happen, and he gets himself and about 12 other people ejected from the stadium. But Death returns to finish off the survivors, with the freak accidents being more brutal than ever.

Movie Review:

To summarize Final Destination, it would be a protagonist that unexpectedly has a premonition and saves a bunch of people from certain doom, only to cause them to thru a series of much more unexpected gruesome death later on. Of course the protagonist will figure out a way to predict the next person that’s marked for death and perhaps save the remaining ones from their fate. The highlight of this franchise has always been the creative death sequences that often involve some sort of Rube Goldberg machinery (i.e performing a simple task by the rather complex fashion and in a chain reaction manner).

The past three installments had followed the very same path and since the formula works, there’s nothing to fix. One possible way to bring the grisly level of this franchise to the next level would be to make the movie into 3D and there were plans to make the last one (the third movie) a 3D movie but back then, it was too expensive and there weren’t that many cinemas which are equipped with the rightful technology to do so. However the revival of the modern 3D film technology, the franchise is back with another installment of deaths by Final Destination style.

Right from the start, viewers are treated with a bloody massacre at a racetrack that stands on par with the previous Final Destinations installments’ opening sequences. The film even went on to pay some sort of homage to the old 3D effects (the red & green anaglyph) and previous films with it’s opening credits which was kinda cool for those who had been following the progress of 3D in movies and this franchise series.

It’s impressive to note that this movie could still churn out rather creative and innovative death sequences for the escapees. There is one (or maybe two) rehash from the previous installments but overall, it does still excel in maintaining suspenseful moments. In this latest installment, there’s a feeling that it’s not that Death had made a blunder once again but Death is actually toying with our protagonist in a fit of boredom.

This movie also wisely avoided spending too much time in building the characters or muse about fate or the nature of death. Even the explanation of how to spot the next victim and attempt to survive the next death moment had been speeded up. Hints are spelt in a more obvious way to our protagonist so that we could get to the next Death moment quickly. In shorts, the filmmakers gave just enough materials to follow the death sequences in cohesively manner.

The usage of 3D technology in this movie also helped push the gruesome factors to the next level. Beside the usual depth of field effects, this movie had just the right amount of objects flying towards the viewers in a scary and impressive manner. The grisly factors also looked slimily good on 3D and this film doesn’t shy away in showing the aftermath’s chunky bits.

If there’s anything that failed to impress, it would be the final scare that comes after the climatic ending. It felt rather puzzling and seems to contradict what just happened in the climatic ending. It’s either I missed something or the filmmakers used a very lazy way to close this film. Either ways, it just a minor nitpick to what had been an enjoyable ride.

In closing, fans that couldn’t get enough of the previous installments will enjoyed this as well. If you are new to the franchise, it wouldn’t be that hard to figure out the real deal in this movie. But if bloody impalements and flying entrails are not your thing, then it would be wise to avoid this movie.

Movie Rating:



(The arrival of a fine mesh of bloody gruesome Deaths and 3D)

Review by Richard Lim Jr