Filmmaking by numbers - but entertaining

Rating: Null/10 (20 June 2000)

No one is ever going to claim that "Final Destination" is great cinema but it does what it sets out to - and very effectively. Storyline goes: kid has premonition of crash on plane, kid and some others get off plane, plane crashes, kid realises they were supposed to be on the plane and die when death starts stalking them. That's about it. If you don't get it, the Candyman turns up about halfway through to explain it. Seriously.
The deaths we see are pretty funny too, as director James Wong alternates between the classic horror-movie drawn-out death scenes and sudden, shocking demises after which you're surprised to find you're not covered in blood. Wong clearly keeps his tongue firmly in his cheek at all times, while the cast, who presumably know this isn't meant to be "serious", play the whole thing with the kind of wide-eyed innocence and seriousness it needs. None of your "Scream" style Jamie Kennedy nods and winks to the camera here - all the skill, frankly, is off-camera. Although, to be fair, you couldn't call it inspired - there's nothing we haven't seen here before in Carpenter or early Craven.
The "teen" leads (none of them a day under 20, and Kerr Smith is knocking on 30) are adequate, although the vague romance between Ali Larter and Devon Sawa (who makes these names up?) is less than convincing. Hardly important, though. As Bill Friedkin said of "The Exorcist", you'll get out of it what you bring to it, and if you've suspended disbelief bigtime and gone along with the ride, the ending will be about the best 30 seconds of cinema you've seen all year.