Final Destination (2000) Directed by James Wong
The time the early 2000s came around, horror movies were still rather original, it was before the rush of remaking every single 70s and 80s horror movie that was worth a shit. Final Destination was a unique idea that spawned a bunch of sequels, the quality of the films dropped steadily after the first film much like any other horror franchise. Special effects and unique death scenes are the staple of this series and the farther the series went, the more extreme those two got.
The plot involves a group of teenagers going on a trip to Paris when a boy named Alex has a premonition of their death by plane crash. The freaks out and the group decides to get off the plane. The group stands by at the airport as the plane explodes in the air. From there death hunts down the group one by one in bizarre ways that appear to be accidental or suicide. The deaths are almost a Rube Goldberg effect where dropping a ball could result in a truck running over your face or something. The idea is kind of cool albeit farfetched at times, but an original idea is always welcomed with open arms in horror. Alex and Clear spend the movie investigating what is going on and how they can stop it. Through out the movie Alex has strange feelings or premonitions about the danger around him.
The special effects in the movie are pretty good, you get some pretty gory deaths through the film with lots of blood splatter early cgi. The acting is pretty decent and the characters are your early 2000s teen movie tropes, complete with Sean William Scott! Devon Sawa plays Alex and I actually enjoy him in this movie. It is almost like Sawa has disappeared over the years, he started off in Little Giants as the QB and had a string of movies through the 90s and 2000s like Idol Hands, which is a fun little horror comedy.
As the movies went on the story became less and less of a focal point and the deaths were brought to the forefront. People would watch these movies every time just hoping to see something bat shit crazy, and for the most part they were satisfied, but in the process the quality of the films drastically fell. While the first was pretty decent the subsequent sequels weren’t really anything great, more like movies you turn your brain off and watch to see the fun and unique death scenes.
All in all, Final Destination was a fun original idea that was beaten into the ground with numerous sequels. If you have a chance to see the original movie then check it out. If you enjoy the first film, watch the others they aren’t horrible but don’t expect them to be as good as the first. I would give Final Destination a solid B. James Wong is a pretty good director and he takes care in his movies and that really shows in this film. The story is fun and unique, the acting is competent and the death scenes are fun and sometimes surprising. Watch this movie and enjoy it!
