Average film, good sequel, doesn't live up to the first.

Rating: 6/10 (18 June 2016)

After finally getting to watching the first film, I've just watched this one last night, hoping it's as good as the first. Let's start off by saying it's not. I did have plenty of criticism for certain aspects of the first film (especially to do with the work of director James Wong), but unlike the first film - this one was never going to be as groundbreaking, original and inspiring.
Not unlike the first film, the story kicks off with a group of youngsters on their way to to party somehow somewhere. During the drive, Kimberly (the driver) has a vision which makes her pull over, ultimately saving the lives of the people stuck behind her on the highway. When the survivors begin dying, Kimberly seeks out Clear Rivers, one of the survivors of the famous plane explosion from the first film, in hopes that she could help her and her new friends "break the pattern" and "beat death's design". The only original addition is new information shared by the creepy mortician (always great to see Candyman Tony Todd, eerie and unnerving as ever).
Besides the obvious lack of originality or even the slightest attempt to offer something new plot and story-wise, Final Destination 2 suffers from two obvious shortcomings (in my opinion of course): First, any attempt to compensate for a lacking story with over-intensified gore scenes is low class in my book; and second, the deaths seem too supernatural, much more than in the first film. Where in the first film some water leak, causing the victim to slip - this time the amount of "coincidents" leading to each "freak accident" feel too much like divine (or unholy) intervention, too deliberate and too far fetched. Not as convincing, not as reasonable, not as good.
The small attempt at a plot twist towards the ending isn't successful, and the ending itself is far too comical (again, not unlike the first film). All in all, as a standalone film the film is average at best, and as a sequel - not more than good. It's still a lot of fun to watch after the first, and it definitely isn't a bad film or a reason to quit on the anthology, it just very obviously could have been better.