Arts & Events : Movies & Film
REVIEW: 'The Final Destination' sends series out with a fizzle
Sep 3, 2009, 8:07 PM
By JOSEPH BURGE for DigitalBURG.com
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WARRENSBURG, Mo. — When "Final Destination" appeared back in 2000, moviegoers didn't know what to expect. The cast was composed of a slew of "X Files" alumni, and yet it managed to only, marginally, impress audiences.
Viewers took the story, which centered around teens escaping a plane crash due to a premonition, with a grain of salt.
Three movies later, the "final" installment, ironically named, "The Final Destination," is still trying to reboot the same formula a fourth time. The studio brought back the director of the second film, decided that no one from a previous film should be referenced longer than 30 seconds, added 3-D, and decided that the idea of premonitions was so great that there should be a thousand – leaving the idea of common sense back in 2000.
The story is completely annoying. As a group of college kids go to see a NASCAR-type race, Nick O'Bannon (Bobby Campo), the main character, has a vision involving a large car crash, which results in the deaths of several people. As a result of the incident, O’Bannon throws a fit, runs out, and causes people to chase him – resulting in them not dying.
Basically the story sets out on the same path as all of the others. Accidents begin occurring, causing the deaths of people who were supposed to die in O’Bannon’s original vision.
He and his girlfriend, Lori Milligan (Shantel VanSanten), set out on an elaborate journey to save the people who are set to die. The only catch in this film--setting it apart from the others--is that instead of just seeing the original disaster, O’Bannon sees each individual death, of every person, before it actually happens. However, even more confusing is that he doesn't just see the deaths, he sees random images, which are clues to those deaths. From the very start, this movie is unappealing.
But what makes this movie worse is that bad writing is combined with bad acting. The only person in this movie with real acting experience is Mykelti Williamson, who we can remember fondly as Bubba in "Forrest Gump." In fact, Mykelti has such a long history of good acting that people may expect more of him. His portrayal of George Lantar, the security guard of the race track, is laughable at best.
Campo and VanSanten serve, at the very least, as eye candy in the film. All the acting in this movie is rigid and unbelievable. The mood changes are so rapid that the characters seem unsure how they want to feel.
The writing in this movie is torture. The story skips from one death to the next, giving as little story as possible. In fact, a huge problem in this film is that it barely follows any of the others. Furthermore, this movie leaves us with more questions than the previous films had – it essentially concludes nothing. For being "The Final Destination," there really is nothing final about it.
Little is expected from writer Eric Bress, who has only made two movies, “The Butterfly Effect" and "Final Destination 2," and whose major body of work is "Kyle XY," a teen Sci-Fi show on ABC Family television.
The director, David R. Ellis, should best be remembered for his work on "Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco" and "Snakes on a Plane." Both had something to bring, but failed to use it.
The deaths are completely outlandish and hardly acceptable – even in 3-D. At least the deaths in the first film were believable. Not only that, but O’Bannon’s "visions" are so detailed, that when the people die, it isn’t surprising.
The 3-D in this movie is only used to cover up the fact that it is mediocre. It's another case of taking a really bad story and masking it with 3-D, so that the average moviegoer is too busy marveling at the special effects to realize that what they are watching is trash. But the 3-D used in this movie is such that it is barely used, and when it is, it hardly adds to anything.
Overall, this movie is not good. It lends itself to predictability, it features bad writing, bad acting and a horribly written plot. Although teen thrillers are often bad, there's corny and then there is "The Final Destination." There was an already low standard for this series and "The Final Destination" managed to go lower. This movie is a barely passable 2 out of 5.
