Final Destination
Does pre-destination truly exist, or do random accidents and tragedies just happen? In “Final Destination,” it’s the former, as a group of high schoolers, and one of their teachers, survives a plane crash. How do they survive? Because Alex (Devon Sawa) saw it happen as the flight was still preparing to take off, and the scene resulted in him and his fellow survivors being taken off the flight. But no one can live forever, and death always has a time for us all. Would it really be so soon afterwards, though?
The “Final Destination” franchise is a different type of slasher series. It starts with a build-up to the plane crash where we see the students get ready for a class trip to France. Alex’s mother is ready to tear off the previous check tag on his suitcase, but he wants it to stay on there for luck. She tears it off anyway. Is that a sign of what’s to come? “Final Destination” is not one for subtlety, and that’s one of the reasons it doesn’t really hold up on repeat viewings.
The plane crash premonition is terrifically staged by director James Wong, and the scene where Alex, Clear (Ali Larter), Carter (Kerr Smith), Tod (Chad Donella), Billy (Seann William Scott), Terry (Amanda Detmer) and their teacher, Valerie Lewton (yes, a name inspired by the great horror producer, and played by Kristen Cloke) is effective in how it shows us the impact this will have on the survivors. But dealing with Survivor’s Guilt, PTSD and the nature of life and death is not really what this film has in mind (save for in a terrific scene with Tony Todd as a mortician)- I kind of wish it did, because we don’t really get a feel for the trauma these characters are experiencing, or who they are, other than Lewton, except she gets the goofiest and most ridiculous death of any of them. That’s another issue with “Final Destination”- there’s one terrific kill scene in the rest of this film in the one by a set of train tracks, but there’s way too much in the “terror” in this movie that feels as silly as your run-of-the-mill slasher movie. If the film had been more grounded in its approach, maybe it would be more than a silly horror movie.
