Worked In The 1st Movie, Fails Miserably In The 2nd

Rating: 4/10 (22 July 2003)

Final Destination is exactly the same idea as the first (obviously), and that's not bad. But the execution, unlike the first one, leaves us with another bland horror film. First off, this time the survivors are complete strangers, so there is no bond between characters, and we feel nothing for one based on the outcome of another. They tried to fill it in with some hokey love story, but it just wasn't working. And brining back Clear Rivers was a bad idea. It made it way too simple for the people to understand what was going on, and was pretty much put in there to help speed up the writer's poor idea for cheating death. It's also another movie in a long line since 6th Sense that just uselessly throws plot twist after plot twist at you in order to convince you it's really a smart and deftly crafted thriller. It's not. The "big twists" are anitclimatic. The death scenes were much more far fetched than last time, but some are still fun to watch. It's a little gore happy, but that's expected from a horror sequel. They have to make up for the lack of story from the predecessor, so they just whip out the 'ol ultra violence. The cast is nothing better than average. The lead girl was pretty bad though. Sadly, Tony Todd is still gives the best performance, despite being the movie for about 5 minutes. David R. Ellis is just a bland director. Capable, sure, but bland.
It's a throwaway sequel. It takes a the good idea the first one had and throws it away in favor of violent death scenes, which are cool at times and a part of any good horror film, but should not be the main focus. Sure to give teenie boppers a good scare, but any else should think twice about seeing this.
3.5/10
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