Final Destination (2000) Review

“I’ll se you soon”

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

We like to control our fate however possible, but the consequences in controlling something you’re not supposed to can be exponentially high.


PLOT


Inspired by a script originally written for an episode of The X Files, 2000’s Final Destination follows high school student Alex Browning intending to join his classmates to a trip to Paris from JFK Airport. He doesn’t end up going when having a premonition that the plane will have mechanical features and will kill everyone on board from an in-air explosion. He gets kicked out when trying to warn everyone and gets into a fight with rival Carter Horton over it. The others who join them are: Alex’s best friend Tod Waggner, Carter’s girlfriend Terry Chaney, fellow students Clear Rivers & Billy Hitchcock and teacher Valerie Lewton. When the plane ends up exploding upon takeoff, FBI agents Weine & Schreck suspect Alex to be responsible, but Clear is the only one to believe he had a vision. On a memorial service for those that died on the plane taking place 39 days after the accident, a chain reaction of the survivors takes place. It would start with Tod accidentally being hanged in the shower when slipping onto water. The public believe it to be suicide due to no witness, but when Alex & Claire sneak into the funeral home to see his body, mortician William Bludworth confirms it was an accident by revealing Death will claim the lives of the survivors after disrupting its original plan. When the two encounter the other survivors again, Terry would declare wanting to move on but would walk into the street and get hit by a speeding bus. When later watching the news, Alex deduces Death will target the survivors in the intended order they were supposed to die. The next one would end up being Lewton, whose death results from accidentally dripping vodka onto her computer monitor, causing an explosion that strikes her face. The spill also starts a fire and when she reaches for a towel, a knife falls onto her. Alex is only able to pull the knife from her in his intent to save her, but flees before the house explodes. Regrouping with the others, Carter tries to die on his own terms by stopping on train tracks before an actual train arrives. Alex does save him, but the wreckage causes Billy to be decapitated by shrapnel and he goes into hiding knowing his actions only move him up to die next. When hiding in a old cabin that belonged to Clear’s deceased father, he realizes she’ll be next instead of him. As he rushes to her, he does get pursued by Weine & Schreck who find him responsible for the recent deaths. He does find her trapped in her own car surrounded by loose electrical cables which ignite a gasoline leak around her. He is able to save her by grabbing only one cable long enough for her to escape. Six months later, the two take a trip to Paris with Carte to celebrate but Alex shares he never got to skip death again after saving Clear. His worry becomes reality when a bus hurls a parking sign toward a neon sign. Carter saves him when they descend towards him, but the film ends with the sign swinging back to him instead.


THOUGHTS


In a new century of filmmaking, there had to be new ways to keep the audience on the end of their seats. Luckily, director James Wong pulled that off by making the paranoia our greatest weakness as shown here. The whole time, we're biting our nails over the most absurd yet likely accidents to occur, only to see they're not actual accidents of the sort. It is already an obvious thing to say look both ways before crossing the street to avoid getting struck, but it is a bigger deal when it comes to having any liquid near a computer or dry up the floor if it's slippery. Once you see the vision and transition to the real deal of brutal deaths, that are well made from a fantastic editing technique by James Coblentz, you pick up on the point that there is a big difference between fate and free will. We all like to live as long as we wish, but that is truly past our control and the idea to seek that can only make the problem worse. If you do have such an opportunity though, find a greater good and not for selfishness, otherwise your actions will create consequences. Tony Todd was like the mediator as Bludworth because he has seen his fair share of death and knows how the system works to give needed advice. However he knows, he defines the feeling of imminence because he knows the clock is ticking for the next victims and welcomes the inevitable but doesn't stop himself from giving a fighting chance because there's no reason to not help. This still gives us a chance to root for the group that either try or fail to cheat death more than once. Devon Sawa was honestly at his best as Alex because he was a shy guy who had the worst time to come out of his shell. Before this film even became a franchise of its own, he doesn't know why he got that vision, but he used it for the right reason to save others. Even though the mission didn't go his way, you can't hate him for trying. It was tough to watch them all go one by one because it just seemed that their youth proved there was so much for them to live for. Lewton may have been the oldest, but Kristen Cloke was able to present her as one with her own guilt. It was her responsibility to protect the other students that went on the plane and it broke her knowing she couldn't, especially since she allowed the other chaperone to stay on the plane instead of herself. The fact she didn't know to confront her regret made her presented as an easy target. The same can be said with Terry since Amanda Detmer made her way too arrogant to ignore the stakes Alex wanted to address, whereas Seann William Scott showed Billy to be too naive for his own good. I was honestly heartbroken when it came to Tod though because due to also losing his brother George on the plane, Chad Donella showed it would be 
a long time for him to have a clear consciousness before figuring out what he would want to do next with his life. Then there was Carter, who was well played by Kerr Smith, a guy who just tops Terry's self centered attitude since he never really knew he wanted except that he just wanted to live. Before, he was being a prick because he can. Only after would he continue to act out because he wasn't sure what to do next. You root for him wanting to be in control in how we wants to die, but it predictably doesn't go as planned. The fact that it took his selflessness for him to die is quite ironic. The only other character I was genuinely interested in was Clear. Ali Larter really spiced things up with this performance because despite having insecurity issues with her mom neglecting her, she was sure to trust Alex from the start because the feeling was legit and didn't see a reason to doubt the truth he spoke. And from there, it made their bond the strongest of the bunch. It is as shame this wouldn’t be enough to stick around longer as the franchise would progress. This movie is fine on its own, but there are a few things that can be confusing to pick up on during a rewatch. For example, Clear is reading two different books in the first act at the airport before switching to a magazine that backs up her decision to trust Alex throughout. The fact they didn’t keep track of the books nor did they have a scene to show her switch then is pretty annoying because they could’ve just not have books in the first place and go straight to the magazine. It even feels ironic that in the vision, Alex’s classmate Christa goes from sitting next to him only to be next to Lewton when she dies. And during the memorial service, the principal announces 39 people from the school died when the news reported 40. Considering some didn’t even get on the plane due to Alex’s vision, I don’t think any number is accurate. There weren’t even clothes anywhere in the bathroom that Tod was trying to dry once he got hanged by the clothesline. The continuity errors happen so fast it drives me crazy here. Going into the story, how did Lewton know there’d be an 11:10 flight? She was just told the group wouldn’t be allowed back on. If she read the sign there’d be another flight at that time, she could’ve said that too. And why exactly was Clear outside Tod’s home? She’s not clairvoyant like Alex, nor does she have the force like Star Wars, so there is no reason for her to be there other than to warn Alex to not go to the house. Saying she still feels him doesn’t really answer any question when you think about it. And if Terry didn’t see the bus coming, how did no one else? That thing was coming from their left, so they should’ve at least heard it. That’s more confusing than the fact there was actually a bulldozer on that side before the bus gets there. Alex even does become aware grabbing the knife was bad when trying to save Lewton, but leaving it only made it worse. Other than that, this is still an interesting with what they brought to the table. In short, Final Destination is an inventive horror film for changing the way to get under audience’s skin with paranoia. If paranoia is the kind of horror you’re into, check this out.