A Falling Brick???? A falling brick?! What were they thinking???

Rating: Null/10 (8 February 2003)

As a great fan of the original Final Destination and having seen it over 50 times (literally) I had nothing but the highest expectations for the long awaited sequel as I sat in the cinema this afternoon waiting for it to start. For two years I had wondered in vain whether Carter had really died and whether the sign had really hit him. For two years I wondered the fate of Alex and wondered where he'd be in the sequel. Except he wasn't in the sequel. Because....and this is a kinda minor spoiler- oh dear, he got hit by a falling brick to the head when he was walking along one day, and what's even better- Clear has a polaroid of his dead body on the sidewalk to prove it. The sequel could have been so much better, but instead it simply followed an identical structure to the original. Final Destination was unique, it had something that no film had ever had before, but Final Destination 2 was simply a copy of this structure which was why it ended up so predictable. The film literally is exactly the same. We have the girl and her friends going on a trip...except this time it's in a car instead of on a plane...Oooooh, that makes all the difference doesn't it? Then we have the premonition which you are supposed to believe is actually happening until she wakes up and realises 'Uh Oh...It's gonna come true.' She then proceeds to go crazy and blocks the road to stop any other cars entering the freeway..Sound familiar? Next comes the part where it actually happens before their very eyes, and the next thing, they're all at the police station being interviewed...Anyone else getting that strange sense of deja vu? What happens after that basically comprises of a load of people getting killed in even more ludicrous ways. At least the original Final Destination's deaths were slightly credible and realistic. This sequel just completely goes over the top, with such deaths as a boy running retardedly into a flock of pigeons to scare them only to end up completely disintegrated by a falling glass plate....And how could I forget the barbed wire fence being catapulted through the air, chopping off some poor guys arms and tearing his body in half...I mean for Christ's sake, at least give the audience some credit, we aren't that stupid. Kimberley tries so hard to be the new 'Alex' but fails miserably. There can never be any replacement for Alex, Alex was just Alex and nobody can ever replace him. Another thing is that Final Destination was so refreshing as none of the characters had a clue what was going on, they were all genuinely confused and scared and that's what made it so edgy and tense. In the sequel, they're all just like, "Yeah yeah, so we've all gotta look out for the signs and we know it all already." The most annoying thing about this sequel was that the characters took themselves far too seriously and couldn't even see how ridiculous and laughable the script had become. By the time they were all in the car and started going, "Oh my god...I just remembered, I nearly died once, I was on a bus and a girl got killed by it." I practically had my head in my hands from the sheer cringe worthyness of it all. I'm not saying this sequel is a bad movie. I guess I just felt cheated and let down by the fact that I had such high hopes for it, only for it to turn out to be nothing like I'd expected. The characters are nowhere near as likeable as those in the first and to be honest I didn't even care when they died...I was just like 'whatever'. So go and see this movie if you want a good laugh or if you haven't seen the first one. I think people who hadn't seen the original would find this a lot more interesting as they haven't seen the format before. However if like me you are a huge fan of the original be prepared to feel just a tad disappointed. I wish Alex had been in the sequel! Oh Devon Sawa, how could you? He really was the one that held the entire film together, and without him the sequel just isn't the same. Okay, so we have Clear, but this time around she just thinks shes ace and it's all a little tiresome. Oh well....