Final
Destination (2000)
If you want to watch "Final Destination" and make
fun of it and laugh at some of it's cheesy moments,
I suppose you could. There's times where, if you just
don't buy into it, it can get a bit over the top. But
overall, I loved this movie and was deep into it's story.
It riffs off of the classic slasher film genre (create
by the film industry in the 70's) and takes it to a
new place, where the "killer" isn't some deranged lunatic
or someone with an archaic grudge. Here, the "killer"
is simply death, an unknown entity, a supernatural force...
that takes on the characteristics of a typical slasher
film killer.
The film takes it's time getting us through the initial
set- up, a plot twist the preview trailer and pre-release
hype has already exposed. Cutie Devon Sawa (who is already
looking too old to be a teeny bopper heartthrob) causes
a ruckus when he has a premonition that the plane he
is on is about to crash on take-off. Kicked off the
plane with a few friends and acquaintances, he lives
to see his vision come true. But death will not be cheated
and comes, one by one, for he and his cute-as-models
pals.
It's a good idea and filmmaker James Wong (who spent
most of his earlier life making hit TV shows like the
"X Files"), does his absolute best to eek the most possibilities
out of it. He has a great guidebook, a script he wrote
with Jeffrey Reddick and Glen Morgan. He also has an
uncanny knack for making the ordinary, expected, and
mundane seem creepy. One of the coolest moments in the
film is when Wong uses an old fashioned, pre-computerized
airport "arrival time" board, with it's clacking, rotating
messages, to evoke a feeling of doom. It's unnerving.
It's the perfect use of cinema to create the illusion
of foreboding and Wong does it will with numerous little
scenes and devices.
Wong uses special effects well also. There is really
only a couple of "yeah, right" moments in the film and
for the most part, the murder/death scenes are fairly
ify. But in the midst of this, Wong inserts a quick
and gut-twisting death that just hits home. It's simply
whack to our senses makes the more elongated and drawn
out deaths much more easy to accept.
Yes, of course, there are scenes that are really bad.
The school teacher's death is borderline cheese. But
in many ways, it is creative as well. But, really, the
only part of the final that is total crap is the cameo
by Tony Todd ("Candyman") as a mortician. It sets up
the whole plot of the film, otherwise a wise editor
would have cut it out at some point. Todd cannot handle
the delicacies of the script or the piece and overacts
without checks and balances to guide him. It's as if
he's given carte blanche to make the film suck. It's
a shame.
Hey, "Final Destination" is a good film. Of course,
I don't generally like those teenybopper slasher films.
But I'd put this one up there with the best of them.
To pigeonhole it, it's not as good as "Scream" but better
than "Scream 2." And a hell of a lot better than "Candyman."
Note:
Also starring Ali Larter, Kerr Smith, Daniel Roebuck,
Kristen Cloke, Chad Donella and Seann William Scott.
The film was known as "Flight 180" during production.
An alternate ending was filmed where Alex was killed
by the blade of a police helicopter.
Why does Sawa's Alex have a poster of John Waters'
"Pecker" on his bedroom wall?
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