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Review by: James Raffoul | Rating:
Two
DVD SPECIAL FEATURES: Filmmakers' commentary; 'Bringing Death
to Life' documentary; Deleted/alternate scenes; Music videos;
Trailer; The Terror Gauge; 'Cheating Death: Beyond And Back' documentary;
Choose Your Fate; Fact Track.
IF EVER there was a top five movie list with most unbelievable
(or unfortunate?) ways to die in a film, a few prize picks from
Final Destinations 1 & 2 would surely be up there with the
best of them.
Think of head decapitation by a surf-board in Lethal Weapon 2,
or perhaps Woody Harrelson blowing his arse off in The Thin Red
Line, and you catch my drift.
Final Destination 2 delivers a fresh new cast, all of them essentially
teen scream beautiful and as close to death as ever before, now
that they've unwillingly interfered with death's design. It was
the Grim Reaper, of course, who struck in the original, and only
one surviving character appears in FD2.
The opening scene is slickly-handled and, given its due, the
choreographed crash sequences are right out of the top drawer,
given added suspense by the trickery of director, David Ellis.
Things begin when young Kimberley (AJ Cook) has a horrific premonition
of a major pile up on Route 23 on the US East-coast highway. She
is on route to Phoenix on a road trip with her dope-smoking buddies
when she forsees the events that are about to unfold before them.
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Pulling over and blocking the route that the cars were about
to take, the crash does eventually unfold and carnage ensues.
You are then immediately aware (if you saw the first film) that
those who should have died, are about to stop counting their blessings
and start popping their clogs.
True to form, they do, and one by one their deaths become more
satirical and, judging by the gasps from the audience (me included,
on a couple of them), gorier and more gruesome by the victim.
Once the first unwitting sole is impaled by a ladder through
the eye (wait till you see that one), the group becomes aware
that a similar pattern is unfolding, just like the events of the
first film, and those who should have died on Flight 180.
Hence, they set up a steering committee to help save each other,
but does it do them any good? Haven't they learnt from the first
film?
At just over 90 minutes running time, Final Destination 2 is
nothing more than a good bit of fun, even if there are times when
you find yourself being tested by the implausibility of the whole
thing.
For instance, one hapless loser gets sliced into three by a flying
wire, only for the people around him to get up and move on as
if nothing has happened - even though they've just spent the best
part of the film trying to save the poor sod. Likewise, the presence
of only three cops in the whole state of New York to serve and
protect means there is definitely trouble ahead.
However, you sense that the actors must have been laughing between
takes, because this is nothing more than a half-serious Scream-type
flick, with pretty people running about and getting knocked off
life's list in the most in-peculiar fashions.
Eventually, as death catches up with (nearly) all of them, and
normal life and reality resumes, you are left with what is now
becoming a Final Destination favourite…… the final scene.
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