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52 out of 65 people found the following review useful:
Death Becomes You, 4 November 2001
Author: 3rdRockSatan from UK

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Final Destination, or ‘Flight 180' as it was titled right up until the last minute, was a surprise hit of 2000. It was made with a modest budget of $23m it grossed a nice sum of $53m in the US. It was in the UK, however, where the film really shone, up against the massive epic Gladiator at the time the movie managed to gross a none too bad £11m but what made it better was it was a true sleeper hit, it spent 14 weeks in the UK film charts. With no big name actors, and no major publicity the film did so well because of word of mouth and the word was it was damn good.

I admit I was sceptical at first in reading about Final Destination. It seemed like a tired teen horror movie that seemed to be spewing out of America at that time, indeed it was only until about 3 weeks in to it being released that I actually lifted my bum off my sofa and put my bum on the seat in front of the big screen to actually watch the movie. I loved it, and it was made better by the low expectations I had of it. It isn't groundbreaking but it is effectively chilly at times, the acting is surprisingly good and the plot is pretty fresh.

James Wong (X Files) came up with the idea of the movie, about cheating death, and it does seem to have a kind of X Files ring to it. The story goes as follows. Alex (Devon Sawa) is off, with his classmates, to France. Now being in America France is like our version of…America, so it's a pretty big deal. While on the plane he has a premonition of the plane exploding, slightly scared, he wakes up and finds that some of his premonition turns out real. Scared for his life, and the others on the plane, he cause a fuss which sees him and several other classmates chucked off the plane. Some of his companions are none too pleased…until they see Flight 180 blow up, killing everyone on the plane.

Thus begins the cat and mouse chase by Death himself. One by one, in seemingly ‘accidental' ways, the survivors of the ill-fated crash are dying. While others dismiss the idea of Death coming for revenge, Alex isn't going to let it go and soon he convinces friend Clear (Ali Larter) that it is up to them to try and stop Death himself.

As this happens we can witness some of the most imaginative death scenes ever. Thanks to the movie not having a masked killer doing the rounds the death scenes are not limited to the ‘knife in back/stomach/head/eye' routine. Indeed, the first death scene is both funny and horrific all in one because, like with many of the deaths in this movie, it can really seem as that can actually happen. It gives you something to think about.

The special effects, for a movie with as small as budget as this, are excellent (apparently they did actually spend half of their budget in the SFX). The plane crash is one of the most realistic you will see, its worrying to watch.

For a movie aimed at the teenager end of the market, and for a genre renowned for hammy acting, the people in this movie actually do a good job.

Devon Sawa, no stranger to movies, is perfect at playing the lead role of the troubled Alex. Kerr Smith (Dawson's Creek) does a major turnaround from what you are used to seeing him as, this time he's the typical school jock, flash car, blonde girlfriend, bad temper, but luckily he doesn't play it into overkill. Another nice surprise is Sean William Scott (American Pie, Road Trip, Too many teen movies), while we are used to seeing him as the guy who cracks jokes and makes fun of the others, he plays the geeky guy this time, and he provides us with quite a bit of comic relief. We also have a nice cameo of Tony Todd (aka the Candyman) as Bludworth, who plays the man at the morgue, he is suitably chilling, and is set to play a larger part in the sequel.

Suspense wise this film doesn't fail either. In many films like this you are guessing who will be killed next. Not so in this movie. You are actually told who is going to meet Death next. However this doesn't spoil it. Suspense is carried over by how the person will die. If you know a person is going to die as soon as the camera pans of them, and their all alone, then your waiting in anticipation for them to die, but there are many false scares along the way. Also the suspense is kept up throughout the movie, it doesn't seem to drag too much at any time.

There are very few bad points to the movie. Obviously it will depend on your taste whether you like it or not, whether you consider it too ‘teeny' or too teeny but just right anyway. This film does have fun as well as generate scares.

It is worth noting that there is an alternate ending to the movie and quite a few deleted scenes, namely a main subplot where Clear becomes pregnant. I think that it was wise to omit these parts, the ending seemed cheesy, but the one we are left with is excellent.

Final Destination, thanks to an imaginative story, nice acting and some elaborate death scenes breathes new life into the tired genre of teen horror. It is not as widely recognized as the Scream trilogy, but in many respects it's better. Lets hope the sequel maintains the high standard it has set.

FINAL DESTINATION IS

Different Nicely acted Filled with imaginative deaths

FINAL DESTINATION IS NOT

Low on suspense A typical teen horror Going to be shown as in-flight entertainment

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83 out of 141 people found the following review useful:
The best movie I've seen in years, 22 March 2000

Author: evilseed99

This is without a doubt the best horror movie I have seen in the 90's so far. It is everything you could ever want. It has great acting. A great story. The atmosphere is creepy and real. Not to mention the death scenes are original and quite gross. They leave many disturbing images in you head. I don't want to give away anything. It's worth every dollar I spent on seeing it. I might just go see it again. Final Destination is movie making at it's finest.

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40 out of 56 people found the following review useful:
Thrilling with a creepy atmosphere. *** out of ****., 31 March 2000

Author: Blake French (dlfspartan@aol.com) from USA

FINAL DESTINATION / (2000) ***

Starring: Devon Sawa, Ali Larter, Kerr Smith, Chad E. Donella, Amanda Detmer, and Kristen Cloke. Directed by James Wong. Written by Jeffrey Reddick, Glen Morgan and James Wong. Running time: 90 minutes. Rated R (for terror violence and language).

I think it is safe to say every individual has different feelings about death. Some fear it. Others deny it. Most are weary in some way regarding decease. "Final Destination" is a perfect thriller for skeptics, detailing seven confused individuals who accidentally escape demise, discovering the impossibility of defrauding their destined time. The film's atmosphere provokes cringe through a presumably omnipresent force stalking the characters, producing audience participation whether the Grim Reaper is footsteps away from us all.

Devon Sawa ("Idle Hands," "Wild America") is a high school senior named Alex Browning. He and his French class are at an airport flying to Paris for a field trip with their teacher, Ms. Lewton (Kristen Cloke). Once on the plane Alex begins to experience a dream-like vision of the jet exploding in midair killing all of its passengers. As the plane is about to descend, Alex notices his illusion gradually comes to life. This leaves him no choice but to cause a small riot leaving him and six other passengers thrown off the flight.

Students Carter (Kerr Smith), the ignorant jerk and girlfriend Terry (Amanda Detmer), Alex's best friend, Tod (Chad E. Donella), other peers Billy (Seann William Scott), Clear (Ali Larter), Ms. Lewton and Alex watch from the airport as their late flight bursts into flames within minutes after takeoff-leaving these characters suspiciously confused about fate.

The film wastes no time depicting its setup. The rushed opening leads to lack of character development. Whereas the character's personalities are clear, we feel little remorse for many of them. The dramatic premise is horrific and revealing, playing like an extended "The X Files" episode without paranormal detectives. "Final Destination" is creative and full of variety; we witness the plane crash from two different perspectives, as a passenger and an observer.

Days after the crash, the survivors begin to die in unusual manners-almost as if a curse of death was placed on them for cheating demise. Alex digs deeper and discovers his companions are being killed by strange coincidences in the order they would have died from the explosion on the flight. In desperation, he attempts to contradict death for everyone remaining while under superstition of two disillusioned law enforcers.

There are a few overlooked characters in "Final Destination," mostly adults who seem to have an IQ score in the mid-nineties. The teenager's parents are left out most of the story. There is also a briefly creepy appearance by a mortician but is short-circuited by the plot. He is one of the many characters who end up explaining a lot of the plot to us.

Most recent teen horror romps feature a madman chasing characters with sharp objects. "Final Destination" is too smart to fall in that cliché, however. It has a punctual reason for inhabiting teens: these are young people full of energy and life, all the more reason for them to fight death.

The film, written by Jeffrey Reddick, Glen Morgan and director James Wong, never explains why the Alex character has visions of upcoming disasters. The idea makes for an intriguing story, but there are no interesting subplots or side characters here. Therefore without being backed up by supporting stories the filmmakers must thoroughly justify the character's reason for being. Wong seems to overlook Alex's illusions, a concept holding the entire movie together.

Although "Final Destination" provides many edge-of-your-seat surprises and tension, the film likes to poke fun at many of its scenes. Like the average teenage thriller, the movie takes itself seriously about three quarters of the time-leaving the last quarter as comic relief. Certainly having nothing against comedic sequences in horror flicks, I just prefer a movie true to its genre. Even though "Final Destination" is nowhere near perfect, it is the truest film to the teen slasher gender along time.

"Final Destination" is brought to you by New Line Cinema.

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31 out of 40 people found the following review useful:
original and scary, 14 February 2002
Author: Special-K88

Inventive, effectively eerie spine-chiller is a step up in the teen horror genre. Teenager Sawa has a horrific vision of his plane crashing just moments before its departure on a class field trip. He and several others exit the plane only to discover that it does in fact crash, but things take a shocking turn when the remaining survivors soon begin to die in the most mysterious ways. Story is intriguing, the suspense flows well throughout, and there are enough violent deaths to satisfy the target audience. The ending is a bit of a disappointment and should have been planned out better, but overall this is one of the better films of the genre. ***

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41 out of 60 people found the following review useful:
Finally a horror film worth a lot of Praise!, 26 March 2000

Author: acidcross (acidcross@hotmail.com) from Los Angeles, California

Final Destination has made my list as one of the best horror films in the wake of the teen/slasher revival. in fact it's the most original horror film since the original Scream and it may be better than Scream. There have been many cheap imitations(Urban Legend, i still know what you did last summer, etc) but this one is a keeper.

The film begins with the most exhillerating 15 minutes in recent memory(and if you're afraid of flying be prepared to be shocked). Alex browning(Devon Sawa) is getting ready to leave on a class trip to France. while on the plane he has a vision that the plan is going to explode. Later he awakes from this vison and immediately he goes crazy telling everyone the plane is going to explode. eventually 6 students and alex leave the plane and sure enough moments after the plane takes off it explodes. This is where the story gets interesting by getting off the plane Alex soon realizes that him and his friends have cheated Death and they have to figure out when death is coming back at them.

The one thing i thought was trully good about this film was whenever "Death" came after the remaining students that got off the plane it wasn't some grim reaper type guy you could see. whenever death was around it was very subtle. shadows, wind, etc. death never showed his ugly head. he used everyday thingst o kill his victims. in fact it was stuff that you could accidentally do in your home and that is what makes this film scary.

The acting is great. Devon Sawa proves that he can carry a film. he has great talent. Ali Larter is a terrific actress who is well on her way to becoming the best actress ofher generation, but Kerr smith of dawson's Creek shines here. he was really good and i hope to see him in more films.

Great film worth every dollar i spent to see it. 10

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21 out of 25 people found the following review useful:
What if you could predict your death? Would you prevent it or let it come?, 15 November 2006

Author: Kristine (kristinedrama14@msn.com) from Chicago, Illinois

I finally decided to give the Final Destination movies a chance, I didn't want to see them when they were released because of the actors, just a bunch of Dawson Creek teen drama TV actors, and I figured the movie would probably suck or be a Scream rip off. But today I decided that maybe I should give these movies a chance, I heard from a couple people that they were pretty good. I apologize to the writers and director of Final Destination, because this was one of the better horror movies I have seen in a while.

Basically, Alex and his fellow students, including four teachers, are going on a field trip to Paris, but Alex has a horrifying nightmare of the plane crashing horribly and exploding killing everyone. Right before they take off, he screams and tells people to get off, but only 6 follow him, one of which is in a fight with him, one of which believes him, one of which who was late for the flight, one of which was a teacher comforting him, one of which was his best friend, and one of which is the girlfriend of the guy who is in a fight with Alex. The plane explodes, killing everyone, thinking they're safe, Alex realizes that they were meant for death and it has a pattern, but it's a matter of playing Death!

Final Destination is original and a terrifying story that brings up the interesting subject of fate and destiny and if you make it or things should happen naturally. Not to mention the pretty cool death scenes that occur in this film is any horror fan's dream of watching. This is one of the better horror films of this generation and I'm looking forward to the next sequel.

9/10

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17 out of 21 people found the following review useful:
Scared Me Good, 19 December 2000

Author: dee.reid from United States

I have to admit that when I first saw the previews for Final Destination, I didn't think much. But after reading several reviews that said how good it was, I thought about seeing it, but couldn't because of a busy year.

The story is about a kid named Alex(Devon Sawa) who just so happens to have a fear of flying. With a class of 49 students, they are going to France on a field trip. When Alex has a horrific premonition about dying in plane crash, he freaks out and is kicked off the plane with five other students and teacher. Minutes after getting kicked off, and Alex is calm, the unexpected happens, the plane actually does explode.

Over the next few weeks, however, teachers, the survivors, as well as the police become increasingly suspicious of Alex. Some of his friends even think of him as a god. Anyway, the survivors of the plane crash soon begin dying in gruesome and sometimes horrific fashions. Alex soon discovers that by getting off the ill-fated flight, that he had intervened with Death's predetermined pattern. Death, however, has made a new pattern and Alex must find out what it is to save his friends as well as himself.

I have to say that this movie scared me and my parents good. I also must say that this film deserves a lot praise. Although the plot is not original, however the antagonist is, Death itself. What I really liked about it was that Death never showed itself and that it turned simple everyday items into murder weapons.

Of course no horror movie is perfect. There is one beef I do have with Final Destination. Some of the death scenes are pretty creative and terrifying, but some of them seemed to have been forced. I mean who is going to place a beverage on top of a computer monitor?

Other than this one minor flaw, Final Destination is still a great and scary horror film.

8/10

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18 out of 24 people found the following review useful:
Final Destination: 8/10, 18 December 2003

Author: movieguy1021 (Movieguy1021@comcast.net) from Anywhere, USA

When you go to watch a movie like Final Destination, which is obviously a teen horror movie, you take your chances. You could get something genuinely creepy yet tongue-in-cheek, like Scream, or you could wind up seeing something like Darkness Falls or They. You just never know. When Final Destination came up on my Netflix list, I didn't know what to expect. Would it be something original and scary, or just some lame dud? Thankfully, it turned out to be the former.

Alex (Devon Sawa), along with about 40 others, are all set to take off on a plane destined for their senior trip in France. Right before it is set to take off, however, he has a premonition that shows him that soon after takeoff the plane will crash and everyone on board will be dead. He and others are forced off of the plane, and, sure enough, the plane crashes with everyone else on board. While everyone thinks that Alex caused the accident, he knows that they were supposed to die on board. Soon, everyone who was supposed to be on the plane start dying one by one.

Knowing that this was written and directed by the same team who did Willard, I knew that a lot of the movie wouldn't be just needless blood, but that there would be some sort of a creepy atmosphere to it all. And, by gum, there was. Although it wasn't as atmospheric as the aforementioned movie, and it relied a lot on sudden violence, it was still creepy. It seems like horror movies today rely on quick jumps to scare the audience. Final Destination sure had some, but also the music and the general movie itself was thrilling. When you could see that something was going to happen, you wanted to yell at the character to not do so-and-so. Then you sit back and enjoy the ride.

Something else that surprised me was how many special effects were needed. That was one major drawback. At times, the special effects didn't look real AT ALL (re: the bathroom scene), or there were too many when less is more (re: the final, climactic storm). One other thing that upset me was the constant need to do odd lighting. Because of the off-again, on-again lighting, it's sometimes impossible to tell what's happening. In Final Destination's pursuit to become something ultra-modern, nifty camera movements are tried, but for the unnecessary reasons. For example, a long, overhead tracking shot is used when two people are going to the bathroom. Very unnecessary, if you ask me. I just realized how much Glen Morgan and James Wong are fascinated with people going to the bathroom. There must be a few scenes of that in Final Destination, and one quite humorous one in Willard

I also thought that the movie took too long to get started. We understand that Alex will see the plane crashing, but for about the first half hour that's all that's `implied'. It's very annoying. Thankfully, the characters aren't as stupid as they usually are in teen horror movies, and I did like all of the talk about `death's pattern', etc. Overall, get on board to Final Destination and it won't crash.

My rating: 8/10

Rated R for violence and terror, and for language.

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9 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
A relatively interesting premise, but Final Destination ultimately sinks nearly to the level of the mass of bonehead teen thrillers that have been so prevalent in the 90s., 23 August 2001

Author: Michael DeZubiria (miked32@hotmail.com) from Luoyang, China

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

(spoilers) Final Destination starts off really well, with our unlikely hero Alex in a great scene where he has a dream that the airplane that he is on with all of his high school friends (what high school goes to Europe for a senior trip?!) is going to explode upon take off. This is unquestionably the best scene in the film, both for its creativeness as well as its effectiveness. This kid falls asleep on the plane as everyone is boarding (another common occurrence among high school kids on planes filled with their friends, I'm sure), and has a dream about a defective seat back table and a subsequent, and pretty impressive, explosion on the plane that kills everyone.

As the plane is going up in flames and people are getting sucked out through the hole in the side of the plane and burning to death and whatnot, Alex wakes up in a cold sweat and a frantic panic. Suddenly back to reality, he climbs over people trying to get back to the seat where his dream takes place, and when he gets there, he finds the same defective seat back table that was in his dream and therefore concludes that it was a clairvoyant dream and starts yelling that the plane is going to explode. Not bad for a movie that doesn't appear to be anything more than the latest teen slasher movie. And to top it all off, the part where the plane actually does explode (as seen from inside the airport), and especially the brief pause before the windows of the airport explode inward as well, is also one of the more satisfying scenes in the film.

Unfortunately, it's pretty much all downhill from there. It seems that by avoiding being blown to bits on the plane, the kids who got off (some whether they liked it or not) seem to have `cheated' Death, and Death doesn't seem to be too happy about it. They are apparently being stalked by Death, as he (or, more likely, she) begins killing them one by one in increasingly outlandish and sometimes laughable death scenes. Is this really as original and entertaining as the explosion scene at the beginning of the film? Probably not. In fact, not even close. A bunch of scared teenagers being killed off one by one. Can you name another movie where this has happened? Can you really name a horror movie made in the 90s where this HASN'T happened?

On the one hand, you KNOW that nothing like these scenes would ever happen in real life. For the most part, computers that people have in their homes do not have anything in them that would explode if vodka were accidentally spilled into the monitor, and even if there was something like that inside it, it probably wouldn't explode through the screen, the strongest part of the entire thing. I also fail to feel any sympathy for someone who strangles in the bathroom because he thrashed his legs around while hanging by his neck from a cord, kicking his feet everywhere except directly underneath him. Take some knowledge, people (as this poor guy would have said), if you ever find yourself in a similar situation, stand up. It'll save your life. And don't even get me started on the power line at the end of the film that whipped around like a severed worm in fast forward. This is just garbage, couldn't they think of something better than that? Power lines do not behave like loose fire hoses on full blast when they are cut, they behave like cut cords. Probably the only death scene in the film that was really shocking and impressive (as well as relieving, given the character) was the one with the city bus.

On the other hand, this stuff does have a sort of purpose. Sure, every death in the film was ludicrous (even the rather grisly one dealt to Seann William Scott), but this gives shape to the character of Death. It's one of the film's good points that the Grim Reaper wasn't personified as a huge shape in a black cloak, stalking the kids and killing them. That would have put Final Destination in the same stagnant pool with all of these other goofy teen slashers and also would have ruined the movie beyond all hope. Instead, we get these outlandish and often ridiculously exaggerated death scenes, so it almost gives the feeling that Death is taking time out of his busy schedule to hand these people their asses personally. As Mallory Knox would say, `There's no escapin' here!'

There are very few interesting things about this movie, other than such things as that you can see Tony Todd, known as virtually nothing other than the Candyman, in a small role as the freakiest mortician on the planet. Also, it's interesting to ponder what would possibly have made Alex so hated and feared for saving those people's lives, especially when he is alienated the most by the very people that he saved. Carter, in particular, develops an unfathomable hatred for Alex that swells to the exploding point. You'd think those jerks would be grateful.

At any rate, the film as a whole is entertaining enough, but doesn't make much progress in attempting to elevate itself above the recent abundance of terrible teen thrillers and slasher movies and horror films. It is far above the abysmal level of such messes as I Know What You Did Last Summer and Valentine, as well as hideous spoofs like the Scary Movies, but Final Destination is definitely not meant for a more mature audience. If you decide to watch it, try to enjoy it for what it is, but keep your expectations low.

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23 out of 39 people found the following review useful:
death like time has got its own plans, 24 October 2003
Author: dbdumonteil

Without being an absolute masterpiece, "Final Destination" is a good fantastic movie that deserves to be watched. It borrows several elements from other movies or novels such as "Scream" or "And then there were none" but it exploits them very well. And this is helped thanks to a clever script that includes a few qualities, notably this one: we can't really see death but we can feel its presence and its cleverness. Moreover, the suspense is well lead during all the movie until the end.

But if "Final Destination" isn't a masterpiece, it's because it also contains faults: for example, how can Alex, the hero of the film succeed in seeing these odd visions about "accidents that are going to happen"? Then, he doesn't get on well with one of the main characters (you can consider him as his worst enemy) and however they'll be compelled to help each other in order to escape from death. You could also say that certain sequences are predictable while some are on the verge of unlikely.

Nonetheless, a rather good fantastic movie.

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