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Film Reviews

The Final Destination

Newline Cinema

Having been written by Eric Bress and directed by David R. Ellis, both of whom also worked on Final Destination 2, there is a sense of keeping it in the family with this new instalment. The Final Destination will hopefully be THE FINAL one in the franchise though as anymore would ruin the films good name. This one however, has been given a bit of a reinvention because of the incredible 3D effect.

As usual the film opens with a tragic scene, in this case a car crash at McKinley Speedway. Nick O’Bannon (Bobby Campo) experiences the tragedy in a premonition and is able to convince some of the individuals involved to leave the 180 section of the building before the crash actually takes place. The survivors begin to die violently in freak accidents, but as you may recall, “In death, there are no accidents”. What Nick comes to realise as the film concludes, is that things are not as clear-cut as they were in the previous situations (films). Like Alex, Kimberly and Wendy before him, Nick attempts to follow his premonitions to save others from death. As he drifts off at the end of this one, he realises his premonitions were red herrings from Death, manipulating the situations so that the remaining three individuals were exactly where he wanted them in his final plan.

There are a few common factors in this film in relation to the previous three films. There is the repetition of the name McKinley; there is the presence of 180 in the section they are sitting at in the stadium and also the fact that Lori begins spotting warnings in her environment, much like Clear did at the end of the original film. Where the death scenes are concerned, they are superior to the previous flicks, not only because of the 3D effect created so you are involved within the scene, but because they are quite odd. From being blown up by a tow truck, killed by a flying rock, crushed in an escalator, hit by an ambulance or simply flattened by falling debris, they are simple and realistic ways of being killed; this makes the shots even more scary. In terms of the 3D experience, this film is as exciting as My Bloody Valentine in the ways in which the death scenes are elevated from the screen, pull you in and make you jump out of your seat on numerous occasions.

The Final Destination is an exciting, enthralling and very engaging conclusion to the franchise.

Michelle Moore