Final Destination Review
by Brandon Herring (moviefan983 AT aol DOT com)May 26th, 2000
Rating: * * *˝ out of * * * *
Rated R: strong violence, gore, language.
Starring: Devon Sawa, Ali Larter, Sean William Scott, Kerr Smith, Daniel Roebuck, Tony Todd.
Running Time: 97 mins
Directed by: James Wong
Teen slasher has been noticeable these days. We've had films such as "Scream" and its 3 sequels, "I know what you did last summer" and its far inferior "sequel", "Urban Legend" and its sequel. What brought out these teen slashers is the fact that they are sadly all hits. Even though I liked some of the films, I did get tired of seeing teens running around getting slashes up, its been done before and nothing is original. Well nothing could have gotten me ready for a terrifying film, that I first saw a preview for on "Next Friday". The trailer truly scared me, and made the film look great, but I knew it would be just another teen slasher movie. Well I was wrong, you never see the killer and the film never drops into that teen slasher feel.
The film starts out with a terrifyingly real plane crash, where a group of students are getting ready to go to France. Aboard the plane Alex Browning (Devon Sawa) has a dream/vision of the plane crashing in a realistic way. Everything that happened prior in his dream, happens when he wakes up, and he goes crazy, getting him and five of his friends kicked off the flight, and one teacher. When he is back into the lobby he explains what happened in his dream, to which no one believes, until the plane explodes, and all the students die. A few months later, weird things are starting to happen, his friends are starting to die by someone....something, Alex along with his friends has try and figure out what is doing this, before it gets them, and he must remember, he cheated death so death is after him.
The film is directed by James Wong and is fantastic. The thing that I found best about the movie was the fact that you never saw who was killing these people, most of which occured on accident in very very inventive ways. Some brilliant ideas really flow throughout this movie, and I found myself stunned in my seat about how far it strayed from being a teen slasher film, this is a real mature adult movie only with a teen cast. The cast is a far cry from being like others where the performances are wooden, this is a cast that is definately talented.
Devon Sawa clocks in one great performance as the psychic Alex who can sense what is going to happen in the future, his character is so well-thought and Devon brings him out brilliantly, and gives us a character we can both relate to, and hope we never have to. Ali Larter (who was previously in "House on Haunted Hill" and "Varsity Blues") gives a great down to earth performance, as a girl who is an outcast, not very well-known, but very special in her own way. The rest of the cast includes Kerr Smith, Daniel Roebuck and the always great Tony Todd round out a great cast.
This is one breathtakingly scary film, that is one of the scariest I have seen. It's inventiveness never ceases to amaze me, the script is brilliantly written, and James Wong is a great new director. I definately recommend "Final Destination" to those who are tired of teen movies, and ready for a hardcore horror flick.
Reviewed by Brandon Herring 3/29/00
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