Uniquely entertaining

Rating: 7/10 (14 July 2016)

Once in a while a film comes along that you have no hopes for, but which pleasantly surprises you anyway. And into the over-saturated market of the teen flick comes FINAL DESTINATION, a dizzying and suspenseful shocker which has to be the best teen horror film we've had since SCREAM - all right, I know that's not saying much, but watch this anyway. Tired viewers will be glad to hear that this teen-orientated film isn't full of moronic dialogue and boring situations set in a school - instead, the film is focused entirely on the central premise, there is no deviation.
Created by the two guys who made THE X-FILES so interesting when it first started - James Wong and Glen Morgan - this is, at last, an original film. There is no bogeyman here, no masked slasher, instead the killer is fate itself. I'd give my right arm for a little bit of originality these days, which is why this film enthralled me so much. The film starts off excellently with a strong sense of impending doom and a horrific to watch plane explosion. It then slows down only to pick up the pace in the second half, becoming both exciting and thrilling. Of course, it's the deaths which are the highlights of the film, and these definitely do not disappoint.
Inbetween them, we get some typical teen angst as the shunned Sawa tries to convince his friends that they're about to die. Sawa, who starred in horror comedy IDLE HANDS, is surprisingly good in the lead role, giving us a likable neurotic who manages to be heroic when the time comes. Okay, so the rest of the cast are merely passable - full of the beautiful but bland faces populating most American soap operas these days - but it's nice to see Tony Todd pop up in a cameo as a creepy morgue attendant who gets all the best lines.
As I mentioned before, the death scenes are outstanding, yes, FANTASTIC; they consist of a series of commonplace accidents which culminate in the victim's demise. They're grisly and surprisingly gory in places, making a nice change these days from relatively bloodless stuff like I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER. Okay, so the fiery, frenetic climax is a bit predictable but there's a nice twist at the very end. FINAL DESTINATION is a clever film, and one to be watched. It has a uniqueness about it which sets it above the rest and it's thoroughly enjoyable too - what more can be said?