F || Final Destination 5 || Review

Review by Ben Lee
September 02, 2011
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It's easy to recommend "Final Destination 5" to those who are fans of the series. This newest effort in the long-running series is an enjoyable flick and serves as a return to form after the terrible "The Final Destination". For that very reason, though, folks who never appreciated the early "Final Destination" films will probably find nothing to like here. For the most part, it recycles the same formula and its biggest selling point remains the elaborate death scenes.

Like the previous four films, "Final Destination 5" starts off with the main character experiencing a premonition of a disaster. Sam ("Rocket Science" actor Nicholas D'Agosto) is on a bus with his colleagues, headed to a company retreat. In his vision, the suspension bridge the bus must cross collapses and the delightful mayhem results in the deaths of almost everyone. When his vision ends, Sam drags his former girlfriend Molly (Emma Bell) off the bus. A number of other concerned co-workers--including Sam's best friend Peter (Miles Fisher), Peter's girlfriend (Ellen Wroe) and their boss (David Koechner)--follow and escape their untimely fate.

But Death doesn't take kindly to survivors, so one by one it reclaims the lives it failed to take by creating inventive freak accidents. "Final Destination 5" does the first few deaths almost as well as the franchise has ever done them; each is suitably tense and brutal, exactly what many will be expecting. The film nails the nervous anticipation of watching these demises unfold and ends each execution with gory payoff moments, sometimes from an unlikely source.

The tension is there and the performances are fine, if not spectacular. Jacqueline MacInnes Wood from "The Bold and the Beautiful", playing another of Sam's co-workers, does a top-notch job of acting genuinely terrified at a laser eye surgery clinic, which makes that scene even more difficult to watch. The horror also commendably tries to infuse real personality into the characters to varying degrees of success ("Scream 4", take note). But sadly, the film tails off after an impressive first two-thirds as it focuses on a feeble "kill or be killed" subplot.

The idea itself is new to the series and on paper sounds like a good way to mix things up. Some of the survivors are told by Tony Todd that to escape Death's grasp, they must kill someone else to take their place and in return inherit the victim's remaining days on earth. While in nearly all of the past films there was the inevitability that they would all die, this intriguing twist offers the survivors an inkling of hope. It's just a shame that its execution is both predictable and uninspired, with the script and direction leaning far too much on common conventions associated with slasher flicks. Death disappointingly has little part to play in the storyline's climax, and missing are the nerves and the satisfaction the earlier deaths presented.

However, "Final Destination 5" turns it around with a frankly brilliant ending. It's a twist that mustn't be spoiled and one that longtime fans will be giddy over. In fact, between the ending and the numerous subtle Easter eggs that pop up here and there, the movie feels like it was made specifically with "Final Destination" enthusiasts in mind. That's not to say newcomers will come away disappointed, though. "Final Destination 5" can also be appreciated as an entertaining stand-alone film, so if the idea of Death being an ominous entity sounds appealing and you like seeing characters die in dramatic ways on the silver screen, this horror-thriller is worth considering.

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