Death on the Highway

Rating: 8/10 (19 February 2011)

In one of the best openings, or scenes I've watched, Final Destination 2 takes the lead immediately. Typically, this is where I generally say: "And then it went south from there" or "It got progressively worse."
Thankfully, noit didn't. For horror franchise fans, this was comparably to how Scream 1 and 2 panned out, in regards to quality, intelligence, surprises, keeping it fresh and making a film as equal, if not superior to the original.
There's a new girl in town, and she's lookingat Death. Kimberly's (Cook) about to start a fun weekend with her clichéd friends when all-of-a-sudden (not really, if you've seen part 1) she has a vision of a massive pileup on the forthcoming highway killing her and scores of others. When she comes to, she blocks the cars behind her from entering the highway and this draws attention of police officer Thomas (Landes, one-time Jimmy Olsen).
As stated/spoiled by mentioning the series original film, the crash does take place, though there are several "survivors" thanks to Kimberly's quick thinking. While they're a bit and reasonably shaken up, Kimberly puts the pieces together knowing that this exact thing happened one year prior.
And again, as the "survivors" die in incredibly new and creative ways, the new cast uses the old to help through this mess: Clear Rivers (Larter) and Bludworth (Todd.)
I'm really making this out to be a rehash, and for the most part it is. But, the "new" explanation/revolution is not only thoroughly thought out, but kept the series (ONLY TO THIS SEQUEL) fresh and inventive. Also, Larter up'd the ante, much like what Linda Hamilton did for Sarah Connor in Terminator 2: Judgment Day. So it was nice to not only see her again, but see how much she's grown as an actress by this point.
I've said it before, in regards to Part One, the rest of the case did what was required of them and the movie was well-made and highly creative, though – again – hokey at times. It's recommended to make it a double feature with the first one, even though it even works as a stand-alone film. And finally, as I mentioned, the extremely detailed opening wreck scene is worth the entire viewing.