Final Destination 3 Review
by samseescinema (sammeriam AT comcast DOT net)February 11th, 2006
Final Destination 3
reviewed by Sam Osborn of www.samseescinema.com
rating: 3 out of 4
Director: James Wong
Cast: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Ryan Merriman
Screenplay: Glen Morgan, James Wong
MPAA Classification: R (strong horror violence/gore, language and some nudity)
Final Destination 3 is a claustrophobic, uncomfortable picture that tortures us with chunky, exploding gore and the kneading suspense that tiptoes up to it. But make no mistake, this is no multi-layered psychological horror. Final Destination 3 is a one trick pony and knows it. The film's even aware it's the third in an already tired franchise. But Director James Wong succeeds by grabbing hold of these limitations and squeezing them with a tightly gripped vice, milking them for all their worth.
We open at an amusement park, on a group of four seniors poised for graduation. They prance about, acting stupid and like teenagers at an amusement park, the boys egging their girlfriends into line for the famed roller coaster. Moments before starting the ride, Wendy Christensen (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) has a vision of the ride malfunctioning and every passenger meeting a brutal, bloody, high-flying demise. Making a scene, she forces the ride attendee to let the entire back train car off, not able to free the rest of the passengers. Of course, the ride malfunctions and kills a volley of teens, including two of the original group of four. Having "escaped death", the Reaper is now after the lucky passengers of the back train car. Luckily, the digital snapshots Wendy clicked off before the ride are riddled with clues as to the upcoming deaths of her fellow escaped passengers. Now on a mission, Wendy and her friend Kevin Fischer (Ryan Merriman) set out to convince and save their fellow students from their speedily approaching deaths.
Final Destination 3 was made for teenagers and, surely, will be primarily watched by them. The R-rating shows that James Wong has courage both in his film, and in the deviantly clever sneaking skills of his teenaged demographic. Rest assured, it'll be 90% adolescents sitting and screaming in that theatre, whether or not the ticket clerk is checking ID's.
But Wong takes this obvious demographic one step further, with a sly, subversive twist to the scripting; all in order to scare the teenies a stomach-twist more. All the deaths of Final Destination 3 are principally set and involve the stereotypical locales of teenagers. The set-pieces include an amusement park, a tanning salon, a drive-thru restaurant, and a weight room. But the list goes on, and is complemented by the stereotypical high school students to inhabit and inevitably die within them.
Luckily, Final Destination 3 spares us two mildly believable characters in Wendy and Kevin; acting as a refreshing oasis to the pigeonhole stereotypes the remaining characters inhabit. Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Ryan Merriman do fine in the roles, but they're inclusion is only obligatory. Final Destination 3 doesn't ask us to care about its characters, but instead, demands that we relish watching them die. Fortunately, the deaths are acrobatically creative sights to see.
Each death warrants three reactions from the audience: a hiccup of shock, followed by nervous laughter and, finally, applause. Like the previous two films, Final Destination 3 inhales with its suspense, and exhales with the gory finishes. The build-up is maddening in its tension, reminding us that we're soon to be shocked and deliciously nauseated. It builds to such heights that we're tempted even to break loose and shout loudly at the screen, "Just die already!" This is due in part to the ingenious puzzling aspect of Wendy's photographs. We're made aware of each of the snapshot's elements, so when it's time for another victim to meet his/her end, we notice each clue with mounting, frustrating nerves.
Final Destination 3 marks a pleasant start to February, and, hopefully, a pleasant end to the Final Destination franchise. Wong has redeemed his original film and, with any luck, will decide against following up on his hook-em-for-a-sequel ending. What he's created is gory, B-level fun.
-www.samseescinema.com
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