DVD Review

Title: Final Destination 5

Director: Steven Quale

Stars: Nicholas D'Agosto, Emma Bell, Miles Fisher, Ellen Wroe, Jacqueline MacInnes Wood, P.J. Byrne, Arlen Escarpeta, David Koechner, Courtney B. Vance, Tony Todd

Distributor: Warner Bros

Running Time: 92 Minutes

Reviewed By Adam A. Donaldson

There’s three types of 3-D: the type that’s artfully integrated into the film as a storytelling mechanism, the type that’s added to blockbusters for so-called added value, and the type that’s used for the express purpose of having stuff jump out of the screen at you, usually in horror movies. Final Destination 5 is unabashedly one of those films from the third category. Like its predecessor, The Final Destination, the filmmakers are so giddy about having everything from glass, to steel rods, to blood and guts fly out of the screen at you, that watching it at home on DVD without 3-D TV does nothing to diminish it.

It’s worth noting that 3-D is also probably the reason this franchise keeps going, after all, the last film was called THE Final Destination. Finality has always been an issue when it comes to horror movie sequels, but writer Eric Heisserer and director Steven Quale find a surprisingly elegant way of getting around that in this film. It’s so surprising that I’m hesitant about spoiling it, and a little ticked that I didn’t figure it out before since I clued in on a couple of hints and thought nothing of them. Combined with an ambitious set piece to kick off the film, and a go-for-broke gusto when it comes to the film’s gore, Final Destination 5 is perhaps the series' most entertaining entry.

In this chapter, Death comes for a group of employees of a paper company on their way to a corporate retreat. While crossing a suspension bridge, wannabe chef Sam (Nicholas D'Agosto) has a vision of the bridge collapsing and of hundreds of people dying; getting snapped in half by cables, crushed by cars, plunging to their deaths in the water and getting impaled by the mast of a yacht. Cue the freak out, and Sam flees with his girlfriend Molly (Emma Bell) and several co-workers who get to the other side of the bridge in time to see the whole thing come down. Now since they’ve escaped Death, Death wants to come and collect them one at a time. Tony Todd returns as William Bludworth, the coroner who knows the rules of Death, and knows that the survivors are in deep trouble.

The biggest stumbling block to the film, for me, is that they’re so formulaic: somebody gets a vision of disaster, that person and a group of others escape doom, Death starts picking them off, they figure out what’s going on, and then try to beat fate only to usually fail miserably. And if there’s to be a Final Destination 6 then the writer or writers is going to have to explain why, if Death is so fickle about getting all the names on his list, then where are all these life-saving visions coming from?

On the other hand, I’m not sure such metaphysical implications are apropos for a film series like Final Destination. Really, when it comes to these films, it’s all about the gruesome death scenes, and if I were to judge this film solely on the “No-they-didn’t!” factor of the kills, then it would definitely be a five star effort. Unfortunate “accidents” involving gymnastics, laser-eye-surgery, and acupuncture make for some pretty cringe-inducing finales for many of the characters, but there was a pretty glaring logical fallacy in the film’s climactic showdown, but here again I’m using big words when I really shouldn’t be. As for the cast, I found them mostly unimpressive. They do their jobs well, and that job is to die horribly and make us feel it. Mission: accomplished. Besides, credit should be paid to any casting agent that can get horror icon Tony Todd, respectable actor Courtney B. Vance and comedian David Koechner into the same cheesy B-movie.

The extras on the Blu-ray/DVD/Ultraviolet Copy Combo Pack including two alternate death scenes, which basically just toned down/less exaggerated versions of two of the deaths, "Final Destination 5: Circle of Death, Your Final Destination" featurette, and a visual effects featurette. As for the film itself, it will definitely satisfy any blood lust you have in seeing pretty young things trying to outwit fate and succeeding poorly. And what more can you ask for from a movie that’s the fifth one in a series called “Final Destination"?

Written by :

Adam