Final Destination - Series Retrospective

Every October, I try to do a horror-themed post in recognition of the Halloween season. However, for reasons that even I don’t really understand, I wasn’t able to do one last year. There were only three posts that were published on this site last October and they were all reviews for films that weren’t even close to being a part of the horror genre. With that in mind, I wanted to make up for the lack of horror content last year by making sure that I do have something horror-related for you guys this year. Technically speaking, I already sort of did one a few weeks back with my retrospective on The Addams Family films since, as I noted in that post, the live-action Addams Family films from the ’90s have become staples of the Halloween programming blocks for several networks. However, since that’s more of a family-friendly franchise, I also wanted to do a post that would cover a horror franchise for the older demographic. Back in 2018, I did a retrospective on one of the most iconic horror franchises of all-time, Halloween, just in time for its latest installment. Naturally, this could have potentially led to me doing a retrospective on another classic horror franchise such as Friday the 13^th or A Nightmare on Elm Street. However, when it comes to those franchises in particular, there’s a bit of a complication that fans of both franchises will undoubtedly recognize; the fact that their iconic antagonists had a full-blown crossover film that was released in 2003, Freddy vs. Jason. Because of this, I feel that if I was ever going to discuss those franchises, I’d have to do both so that I can cover them in their entirety, and at this point, I really don’t have any time to do something like that for this year’s Halloween. After all, we are talking about a pair of franchises that have at least 8 or more films to their name. So instead, I decided to cover a franchise that has a much smaller amount of films to cover. Plus, the franchise in question is one that I’m a lot more familiar with as it was one of the first big horror franchises that I ever watched. And so, with that in mind, for this year’s Halloween post on Rhode Island Movie Corner, I’ll be tackling the Final Destination franchise.

As I’ve noted plenty of times over the past few years, it was only until recently that I started to gain a greater affection for the horror genre. Nevertheless, I did watch a few of the big-name horror films in the early 2010s when I was first truly getting into the field of film criticism, and if you were to ask me which horror franchises were the ones that officially kicked things off for me, there were two in particular. First, there were the Scream films, which is a franchise that I covered on this site way back in 2014, and then there’s the topic of today’s post, the Final Destination series. This is a franchise that is based around a simple but effective hook. In each installment, a group of characters ends up surviving a fatal accident such as a plane crash or highway pile-up because one of them has a premonition where they witness it happen. But while they manage to survive that initial brush with Death, they’re eventually picked off one by one in a series of elaborately staged accidents. This premise is what bolstered the franchise for its initial five-film run from 2000 to 2011, and while none of the films were necessarily big hits with critics, they did do quite well with audiences. In other words, all five films were solid hits at the box-office, collectively grossing over $665 million worldwide, and while it’s been nearly a decade since the franchise’s most recent outing, there have been talks of a potential follow-up. It’s also been reported that this new film will shift things up a bit by focusing on first responders who, unlike the traditional protagonists of these films, experience death regularly. But until then, we have the first five films of this series which, as we’ll soon find out, end up varying quite a bit when it comes to their overall quality. With all that in mind, be mindful that death could be around any corner (and yes, I fully recognize that saying that is tragically ironic given our current worldwide predicament…) and remember that, “In death, there are no accidents, no coincidences, no mishaps, and no escapes…” as we look at the Final Destination films.

FINAL DESTINATION (2000)

It all begins, of course, with the original Final Destination from 2000, which was spawned from a script that writer Jeffrey Reddick had written for a potential episode of The X-Files. Said script was then reworked by director James Wong and producer Glen Morgan into the film that we know today. It’s a film that certainly fits the bill of being a ‘franchise-starter’ since it effectively sets up many of this franchise’s definitive aspects, such as its main premise (represented in this instance by a group of high-school students (plus one of their teachers) surviving a plane crash) and its elaborate Rube Goldberg-esque kills. Admittedly, it’s far from perfect, mostly due to some undercooked plot-threads (e.g. the main protagonist being hounded by a pair of FBI agents) and director James Wong’s habit of relying a bit too heavily on foreshadowing. But in the case of the former, it seems like this was mostly due to poor test screenings that resulted in some plot-points being cut and, most notably, a fully reshot finale that, to its credit, is superior to the film’s original ending. With that in mind, the film works quite well as a horror-thriller with some excellent death-centric set pieces that still manage to stand out even when compared to some of the most iconic and FAR more graphic moments from the sequels. It also has one of the better ensembles of the franchise as led by Devon Sawa as Alex Browning, this film’s main protagonist whose deadly premonition is what kicks everything into motion, and Ali Larter as Alex’s fellow survivor and eventual love interest Clear Rivers. There’s also a key appearance by horror icon Tony Todd (AKA ‘The Candyman’) as William Bludworth, an enigmatic mortician who offers Alex and Clear some cryptic insights on Death’s grand design. And so, in conclusion, the best thing that I can say about the first Final Destination is that when compared to its sequels, its admirably straightforward in its approach. While I wouldn’t necessarily call this the ‘best’ installment of the franchise, it’s still a generally well-polished film that, as noted before, effectively got the ball rolling for one of the most prominent horror franchises of the 2000s.

Rating: 4/5

FINAL DESTINATION 2 (2003)

With both director James Wong and writer/producer Glen Morgan occupied with other projects, Final Destination 2 underwent a notable change in direction. Directorial duties were taken over by the late David R. Ellis, a long-time stunt coordinator/second unit director who would then go on to direct 2006’s internet sensation, Snakes on a Plane. Sure enough, Ellis’ background in stunts contributes greatly to this film’s set-pieces, with many of them being some of the best in the entire franchise. For one thing, it certainly helps that they were largely done with practical effects, especially since the same cannot be said for some of the kills in the sequels. However, the best of the bunch is this film’s big accident sequence, which comes in the form of a massive highway pile-up. The film also does a nice job of feeling like a natural continuation of the franchise, whether it’s the reveal that the events of the first film spared the lives of this film’s group of survivors or by having Ali Larter return as Clear, the sole survivor of the first film’s main protagonists. Larter’s return makes up for the film having some of the weaker main characters of the series, although this is technically more of a script issue rather than anything having to do with the actors playing them. Nevertheless, while Final Destination 2 was, ironically, the lowest-grossing installment of the series (it’s the only entry that didn’t gross over $100 million worldwide), it’s widely regarded by fans as a superior sequel, and really, it’s easy to see why. Not only does it feature some of the best examples of what these films are mainly known for (i.e. their kills) but its efforts to expand upon the franchise’s lore results in a film that is arguably a lot more narratively consistent than its predecessor. And because of this, it is easily one of the franchise’s best installments, especially when compared to the next few films.

Rating: 4/5

FINAL DESTINATION 3 (2006)

After being unavailable for the second film, co-writers James Wong and Glen Morgan returned for the third Final Destination film in their respective roles of director and producer. But while Final Destination 2 successfully managed to be a natural follow-up to the first film, Wong and Morgan elected to have the third film adopt a ‘back to basics’ approach. Because of this, Final Destination 3 largely feels like it’s taking a step backward as far as this series’ progression is concerned. In other words, while Wong and Morgan do succeed in making it feel more in line with the first film, that also means that it carries over the same issues from that film which, for the most part, had been fixed in the second film. So once again, some plotlines don’t get the attention that they probably should’ve while James Wong’s over-reliance on foreshadowing is even more apparent here than it was in the first film. And if that wasn’t enough, this is where the one thing that is arguably the biggest problem with some of the later Final Destination films officially starts coming into play; the fact that most of its characters are wholly unlikable and are just there to be killed off. However, if there’s one exception to this, it would be this film’s main protagonist, Wendy Christensen, played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead in her first leading role. Winstead does a terrific job in making Wendy one of the more sympathetic protagonists of the franchise, especially since the same cannot be said for all the other characters in this film. Plus, to the film’s credit, it does have its fair share of memorable set-pieces, whether it’s a fiery pair of kills that occur at a tanning salon or this installment’s big accident sequence on a high-speed roller-coaster (occasional gaps in logic notwithstanding). Thus, while I’ll admit that there may be a bit of bias in the following statement since this was the first of the series that I ever watched, I’d say that Final Destination 3 is a decent albeit forgettable entry in the franchise. While it certainly boasts many of the issues that would end up becoming even worse in the next film, it manages to do just enough to avoid being a total disaster. It’s by no means the best film in the series… but it’s also far from being its worst.

Rating: 3/5

THE FINAL DESTINATION (2009)

When it was first released, it was reported that The Final Destination was going to be, fittingly enough, the final installment of the franchise… although this only lasted about a year or so once it was confirmed that a fifth film was in the works. It may have had something to do with the fact that this ended up being the highest-grossing installment of the franchise, especially since it was filmed and presented in 3-D right in the midst of the medium’s resurgence. At the same time, though, it was downright savaged by critics… and they weren’t wrong about this one. Like Final Destination 3, this film is largely undone by how frustratingly by-the-numbers it is. Without any noteworthy attempts at expanding upon this well-established premise, it’s nothing but a rehash of the previous films with some of the most mediocre set-pieces in the franchise’s history. Aside from only a few exceptions, none of them even come close to being as memorable as the ones from previous films (not even this film’s big accident sequence, which is just a simple auto race crash). It also doesn’t help that a lot of them were CG-based with effects that, to be perfectly blunt, didn’t even look good at the time. But just like Final Destination 3, this film’s biggest shortcoming is that you don’t give a single crap about any of the characters. Apart from Mykelti Williamson as a good-natured security guard named George with a tragic backstory, the rest of the characters in this film are way too one-dimensional and, in some cases, not particularly well-acted. Because of all this, it goes without saying that The Final Destination is easily the worst installment of the franchise. Sure, it may have seen the return of Final Destination 2 director David R. Ellis, but overall, it’s basically the antithesis of everything that worked in that film.

Rating: 0.5/5

(And before you ask, I didn’t see this film (or the next one, for that matter…) in 3-D, which means that, just like Jaws 3-D, watching this in 2-D means that we’re left with a film that tries a bit too hard to go all-out with its 3-D effects).

FINAL DESTINATION 5 (2011)

And so, as noted earlier, the commercial success of The Final Destination paved the way for the fifth film in 2011, but for this one, there was another big change in direction. Instead of just maintaining the directorial pattern of shifting between James Wong and David R. Ellis, this film served as the directorial debut of Steven Quale, who was previously known for his work as a second-unit director, most notably on James Cameron’s Titanic and Avatar. And because of this pivotal change in direction, Final Destination 5 is a massive improvement over the franchise’s last two outings in every possible way. For starters, it boasts a whole bunch of terrific set-pieces, including, of course, its big accident sequence involving a bridge collapse. And yes, a few of these are still a bit CG-heavy, but unlike the last film, there is, at the very least, a better balance between practical and digital effects. But perhaps the biggest improvement here is that, after two films that were full of utterly detestable characters who were nothing more than kill fodder, this film features some of the franchise’s better characters. Sure, there are still quite a few one-note meat bags here and there, but the film makes up for this with two of the franchise’s most sympathetic leads, main protagonist Sam (Nicholas D’Agosto) and his girlfriend Molly (Emma Bell). Plus, there’s also a solid human antagonist in Sam’s best friend Peter (Miles Fisher), who’s so affected by these proceedings that he ends up taking some truly drastic measures, and we even get Tony Todd returning for another cameo as Bludworth the mortician. The latter development is especially significant since the character didn’t appear in the last two films (although Todd did make a notable voice cameo in 3). And then, to top it all off, there’s this film’s excellent final twist, which I won’t spoil here for those who haven’t seen it but will note that it does a fantastic job of connecting this film to the rest of the franchise. With all this in mind, Final Destination 5 is, in every way imaginable, the best installment of the franchise. Like Final Destination 2, it successfully manages to be a natural follow-up to its predecessors but it’s also arguably the most polished entry of the bunch thanks to the solid direction from Steven Quale, its great set-pieces, and one of the franchise’s best ensemble casts. Plus, until the long-rumored sixth film comes out, this one allowed the franchise’s original run to end on a great note rather than a terrible one.

Rating: 4.5/5