"There is always some sort of wart that branches off of a film franchise, and I want Final Destination to remain wart-less." - My review of Final Destination 3.
I said it, and now I feel like I had my own premonition. "The" Final Destination is the wart branching off of the series. I put quotations around "the" to show it is wrongfully stating it's the end. "The" has become such a universal word in movie sequels. Some films, like Fast & Furious chose to remove it and cause confusion to some people. In ten years, give or take, it will be easy to confuse The Final Destination, with the original (Final Destination). The DVD cover for this film is traditional, and doesn't indicate any sign of this being the forth film. Why not just Final Destination 4? But I will say the 3D was used to perfection in this film. Coming from a person who finds 3D to be the new, and disappointing, feature in film, The Final Destination utilizes it with full force. It's honestly, one of the best looking films with it equipped. There are shots of things actually flying into the audience that made several flinch. This is the rare, and by rare I mean first, case I would've recommended seeing it in 3D if I wrote my review sooner.
It also looks like James Wong and David R. Ellis are doing the ping-pong directing treatment to this franchise as well. Wong got one and three, and Ellis got two and four. It seems whenever Wong takes over, he provides a darker tonality to these films, while Ellis provides a shed of light, and what looked to be backstory from the second film. Unfortunately, the backstory here is slim, and near nonexistent.
The story is the same. Only this time at a Nascar race. A young boy, who this time we barely know anything about, named Nick (Campo) has a premonition of a deadly crash at the race leaving him and his friends dead. He awakens, warns the crowd of people behind him, him, his friends, and some other strangers evacuate and they are left to die in the order they would've if they stayed in the race-track.
One severe problem with this film is we don't know enough about the characters to care. We get backstory seconds before they meet their fate, which defeats the purpose of even giving it. We know the one guy is a racist, and the security guard is black. I'm not encouraging racism in any way, shape, or form, but I think the only reason they wanted the southern character to be racist is so they could squeeze some inner-hatred towards one of the members (there is a reason besides the racism, but I won't spoil it), and to make use of the dreaded n-word. That's it. Both characters are gone in the blink of an eye. Not like they had any significance anyway.
Final Destination has always been about dark themes and supernatural events occurring. This is a no comedy zone, but comedy feels the need to join us. Why? Because everyone knows that comedy exists in horror films because the characters, and the screenwriter, think they are being clever when they're really ruining what has potential to be a straight-forward creepy film. The humor in this film takes an outrageous increase in this film for whatever reason, and it sucks. I could "woulda, coulda, shoulda" this all I want, but it shoulda been straight-horror, minimal comedy like the rest of the series.
All the other films started off with our characters, mainly our survivors, exchanging some typical buddy to buddy dialog, and a father-daughter talk in the second film. This, we are two minutes in and they enter the track, just like that. Give me a reason to care or form a relationship with these characters when the movie doesn't even bother.
I'll also say the ending gives the idea that the producers ran out of money, and opened up a cheap art program to complete it. It's terrible. I did like the effects on the opening intro paying homage to past deaths in the first three installments. To use it as the end is a sign of laziness and complete and utter disgust and carelessness of the audience.
The Final Destination has one or two okay death scenes, but they are loaded with CGI so they could utilize 3D. In the theater with my glasses, I didn't notice all that much. Seeing it on DVD and on TV in 2D, it's insanely noticeable and uncanningly fake. In a way I'm glad this isn't "The Final" Destination. To end on this would be like ending a walk-a-thon with someone stepping on your foot. You came all this way, to get stepped on.
Starring: Bobby Campo, Shantel VanSanten, Nick Zano, and Mykelti Williamson. Directed by: David R. Ellis.
I said it, and now I feel like I had my own premonition. "The" Final Destination is the wart branching off of the series. I put quotations around "the" to show it is wrongfully stating it's the end. "The" has become such a universal word in movie sequels. Some films, like Fast & Furious chose to remove it and cause confusion to some people. In ten years, give or take, it will be easy to confuse The Final Destination, with the original (Final Destination). The DVD cover for this film is traditional, and doesn't indicate any sign of this being the forth film. Why not just Final Destination 4? But I will say the 3D was used to perfection in this film. Coming from a person who finds 3D to be the new, and disappointing, feature in film, The Final Destination utilizes it with full force. It's honestly, one of the best looking films with it equipped. There are shots of things actually flying into the audience that made several flinch. This is the rare, and by rare I mean first, case I would've recommended seeing it in 3D if I wrote my review sooner.
It also looks like James Wong and David R. Ellis are doing the ping-pong directing treatment to this franchise as well. Wong got one and three, and Ellis got two and four. It seems whenever Wong takes over, he provides a darker tonality to these films, while Ellis provides a shed of light, and what looked to be backstory from the second film. Unfortunately, the backstory here is slim, and near nonexistent.
The story is the same. Only this time at a Nascar race. A young boy, who this time we barely know anything about, named Nick (Campo) has a premonition of a deadly crash at the race leaving him and his friends dead. He awakens, warns the crowd of people behind him, him, his friends, and some other strangers evacuate and they are left to die in the order they would've if they stayed in the race-track.
One severe problem with this film is we don't know enough about the characters to care. We get backstory seconds before they meet their fate, which defeats the purpose of even giving it. We know the one guy is a racist, and the security guard is black. I'm not encouraging racism in any way, shape, or form, but I think the only reason they wanted the southern character to be racist is so they could squeeze some inner-hatred towards one of the members (there is a reason besides the racism, but I won't spoil it), and to make use of the dreaded n-word. That's it. Both characters are gone in the blink of an eye. Not like they had any significance anyway.
Final Destination has always been about dark themes and supernatural events occurring. This is a no comedy zone, but comedy feels the need to join us. Why? Because everyone knows that comedy exists in horror films because the characters, and the screenwriter, think they are being clever when they're really ruining what has potential to be a straight-forward creepy film. The humor in this film takes an outrageous increase in this film for whatever reason, and it sucks. I could "woulda, coulda, shoulda" this all I want, but it shoulda been straight-horror, minimal comedy like the rest of the series.
All the other films started off with our characters, mainly our survivors, exchanging some typical buddy to buddy dialog, and a father-daughter talk in the second film. This, we are two minutes in and they enter the track, just like that. Give me a reason to care or form a relationship with these characters when the movie doesn't even bother.
I'll also say the ending gives the idea that the producers ran out of money, and opened up a cheap art program to complete it. It's terrible. I did like the effects on the opening intro paying homage to past deaths in the first three installments. To use it as the end is a sign of laziness and complete and utter disgust and carelessness of the audience.
The Final Destination has one or two okay death scenes, but they are loaded with CGI so they could utilize 3D. In the theater with my glasses, I didn't notice all that much. Seeing it on DVD and on TV in 2D, it's insanely noticeable and uncanningly fake. In a way I'm glad this isn't "The Final" Destination. To end on this would be like ending a walk-a-thon with someone stepping on your foot. You came all this way, to get stepped on.
Starring: Bobby Campo, Shantel VanSanten, Nick Zano, and Mykelti Williamson. Directed by: David R. Ellis.