Dir: James Wong

The original Final Destination was a great thriller. It was a refreshingly new and interesting idea that had emblematic subliminal messages and shockingly gruesome deaths. Sadly, only the latter was evident in this film. In my opinion, the franchise should have ended at one. However, with Hollywood’s desire to churn out manufactured replicas to make money, it is little wonder this turned into a trilogy.

The plot remains the same as the previous two, with only the setting being different. A girl has a premonition that the rollercoaster she is sitting on is about to crash and she, with six of her friends, gets off when they should have died. Death subsequently haunts them in the order they were supposed to die on the ride.

The problem with this film is that there is no progression from the last two. The second film was disappointing and this was no rollercoaster ride either. The characters just accepted their fate; there was no attempt to overcome death.

The plot outline was repeated from the first film, but where the first had a clever mix of eerie symbolism, this film had absolutely nothing beneath the surface. The audience knew the story from the outset and Wong wasted time recreating the previous two films. The characters were bland and the actors could not change this. Rather than being suspenseful and intriguing the film turned into a ‘most gruesome death’ competition. The audience knew who was going to die, it was just how they would die that they didn’t know and the lack of a gripping screenplay really damaged the film. Needless to say, the only thing interesting about this film was the chain of events that lead to each death. One death extremely uncomfortable to watch involved two girls trapped in massively overheated tanning beds.

The music was out of place and, at times, incredibly cheesy. The script tried to be funny and, in a psychological thriller about death, it was really out of place. There were many references to the first film which was a nice touch, but there was only one reference to Final Destination 2 which seemed like an admission that it really wasn’t that good at all. There were also unnecessary references to 9/11 which didn’t need to be there and, to me, appeared quite tasteless.

The dialogue, as with the second in the franchise, was abysmal. But really this was a manufactured replica that played off the success of the first film. It is written by different people, directed by a different person and doesn’t have the same cast. The only thing it has in common with the original is the brand name and plot, which has subsequently become repetitive and inane. 

In my opinion, the franchise should never have become a trilogy. They say three is a crowd and this was most certainly the case. For every beginning there is an end, let’s hope this was it.

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