Solid sequel, maybe a notch better than the first film

Rating: 7/10 (31 October 2018)

The first "Final Destination" movie from 2000 was a rather innovative 'Dead Teenager Movie' in that the killer was Death itself, the Grim Reaper, as an invisible spiritual presence. A group of people, mostly youths, escape a great tragedy due to a premonition of one of them and the rest of the movie involves the Grim Reaper systematically slaying those who cheated Death in various creative ways, usually involving an unlikely chain reaction. The opening tragedy in the first film was a plane crash; in this second film from 2003 it's a horrible highway pile-up; in the third it's a roller-coaster mishap and so on.
There are currently five films in the franchise and they all tell the same basic story with different characters and some nuances; they're all of the same high quality of technical filmmaking. Whether you prefer one or another depends on whether you like the cast and the death sequences (and the locations) because, other than these factors, they're all basically the same, although the fifth film throws in an interesting new twist (Death's victim can find a substitute).
Ali Larter returns as a secondary protagonist while A.J. Cook takes the reigns of the 'final girl.' Keegan Connor Tracy also has a considerable role in the female department while Sarah Carter has a smaller part. While this is a quality assortment of women, the creators coulda done more with them. On the opposite side of the gender spectrum Michael Landes stars as a state trooper. Jonathan Cherry, Terrence 'T.C.' Carson and James Kirk are also on hand. Their importance to the story is in that order. Meanwhile Tony Todd makes his second of four appearances in the series as a mortician who curiously knows more than he should.
I actually like this one a little better than the first one, but like that film, the second half isn't as strong as the first. Is the final scene supposed to be horrific? Cuz it made me bust out laughing.
The film runs 1 hour, 30 minutes and was shot in the Vancouver, British Columbia, area, including Campbell River (although the events take place around New York City).
GRADE: B/B-