First Final, Forgettable,Four Following?

Rating: 4/10 (2 August 2014)

Final Destination can safely be described as a 'teen horror' largely peopled by and clearly aimed at teenagers.
The plot, such as it is, concerns Alex Browning (played by Devon Sawa) who is preparing for a school trip to Paris, France. His premonition of imminent disaster leads to him and several other characters leaving the subsequently doomed flight. However, 'Death' will not be cheated so easily...
The first act of this film leading up to and including the destruction of Flight 180 leads us to believe that we are watching a horror film with serious intent. Whilst there are comic vignettes being played out in typical teen fashion there is an underlying build up of tension.
Unfortunately for this viewer at least, as soon as the characters are delineated and plot development clearly laid out, any serious intent is drowned out by an over-clever reliance on the formulaic filmmaking which has become the norm with this genre. Lead - or rather, 'stock' - characters other than our hero include the obligatory quirky girl Clear Rivers (Ali Larter), tough guy Carter Horton (Kerr Smith chewing up the scenery), his trampish girl Terry Chaney (Amanda Detmer), the hero's best friend Tod Waggner (Chad Donella), Billy Hitchcock (Sean William Scott) and teacher Valerie Lewton (Kristen Cloke). We can gain virtually no satisfaction at this point in working out the survival rate and the order of demise. Minor, yet somehow more interesting roles are given to Tony Todd as mortician Bludworth (a wasted part seemingly used simply to explain what is going on), and Daniel Roebuck alongside Roger Guenveur Smith as FBI Agents Weine and Schreck respectively, nicely bouncing off each other. Death's modus operandi veers between extremely complicated with lots of red herrings along the way (Tod's suicidal tendencies giving way to an eventual accidental hanging; Mrs. Lewton and a bizarre combination of steam, gas, electricity, alcohol, fire and kitchen knives), to the dramatic take-your-breath away split-second splattering moment (both Terry and Billy).
Unfortunately this is not enough to sustain our interest for what seems an overlong hour and a half. Clunky dialogue, predictable turns (particularly the 'twist' ending) and a story that (despite other reviewers - probably much younger than myself - claiming otherwise)is hardly original in concept leaves us with a finished product which whilst not being 'bad' simply does not rise above the dross that makes up the vast majority of this genre. for this we have to blame director and co-writer James Wong along with his writing cohorts Glen Morgan and Jeffrey Reddick. The overuse of foreshadowing along with too many visual references - '180' pops up again and again which would be fine if the film were released under the working title of Flight 180 - in-jokes like naming characters after famous horror stars and directors; and an obsession with people sitting on toilet seats all indicate the fun the makers were having. All of which simply detracts from the point of the exercise. Background music courtesy of Adam Hamilton and Shirley Walker could best be described as a cross between forgettable and bland but fortunately remains firmly in the background.
The estimated budget for this film was $23 million, most of which, judging by the credits, went on special effects which were actually fairly impressive. Unfortunately special effects alone seldom make great movies.
Up to this time, this film has spawned three sequels and a prequel. It is to be hoped by this reviewer at least, that they are improvements on the original...