A decent idea turned into a fantastic horror movie!

Rating: 9/10 (14 September 2006)

"Final Destination" caught me completely by surprise. After watching the trailer I figured it to be another typical teenage driven horror movie with little substance or unique qualities to set it apart from the pack. I'm really glad I gave it a go after reading a few good reviews though, as it turned out to be so very much more than that. This is a rare and wonderful case where an at most decent idea is turned into a really fantastic film due to good performances, direction and great scripting.
Without giving too much of the story away, let me just say that Alex manages to avoid death under very strange circumstances. In doing so, he also saves the lives of five of his schoolmates as well as his teacher. But when one of those near-victims then dies soon after, Alex starts to fear that perhaps by cheating death, Death itself is coming back to set things straight. Sounds silly right! Well I guess it is, but it works really well in "Final Destination" and that's a credit to director James Wong and his cast and crew.
When any and every normal item and scenario suddenly becomes an opportunity for Death to end your existence, life itself becomes a terrifying experience. The creators of this movie had a huge amount of fun with the setup, constantly placing obvious dangers in front of the characters only to have them harmlessly pass them by. Over and over you will find yourself thinking "he's turned the radio on in bathroom, he's gonna get it!" or "that gas has been on for far too long for her to light it, this is it for her!" only to have nothing happen. There are some brilliant scenes in "Final Destination" based on this uncertainty and each one finishes with highly creative and often unexpected death scenes.
The cast are great and in particular Devon Sawa and Ali Larter in two of the main roles. But everyone plays their part in the scenario successfully except for perhaps Seann William Scott who funnily enough went on to be the most successful actor. He hadn't quite perfected his goof-ball antics at this point and while he's mildly amusing, he far more regularly appears to be quite pathetic and annoying. Tony Todd (of Candyman fame) has an unforgettable cameo which was a nice touch also utilizing a legend of the genre.
There's a real sense of fun to proceedings even though death is a rather serious topic and that's due to the creators not taking things too seriously themselves. They are playing with you as an audience and rather than frustrating everyone as could so easily have occurred, you'll find yourself happily going along for the ride. This movie was a complete success and with two sequels already released to both financial reward and fan praise, we may not have seen the final Final Destination just yet.