Scary, clever, and original!

Rating: 10/10 (29 December 2001)

Movie Title: FINAL DESTINATION (2001)
Cast: Devon Sawa (Alexander Browning), Ali Larter (Clear Rivers), Kerr Smith (Carter Horton), Kristin Cloke (Ms. Valerie Lewton), Seann William Scott (William Hitchcock), Roger Guenveur (Agent Schreck), Daniel Roebuck (Agent Weine), Chad E. Donella (Tod Waggner), Amanda Detmer (Terry Chaney), and Tony Todd (Daniel Bludworth)
My Rating: *** out of **** (3 out of 4 stars)
Synopsis: His entire high school class is going to Paris, but Alex Browning (played by Devon Sawa) can't seem to shake his fear of flying. Once aboard the plane, he has a violently disruptive premonition which gets him, five of his classmates including Clear Rivers (played by Ali Larter) and Carter Horton (played by Kerr Smith), and a teacher (played by Kristin Cloke) kicked off the plane. As the students watch the plane depart, they witness the horrifying disaster that proves the deadly premonition true. Now having dodged death once, the terror begins as Fate hunts them down one-by-one. Soon the survivors will discover that you can't cheat death and get away with it...
My Review: FINAL DESTINATION is the kind of movie that is so unbelievably suspenseful and intense, that it's hard NOT to shake in your seat. This type of premise for a movie has never been done before, making it officially original.
The death scenes are very clever because they show the audience that there are so many ways that the characters could die in their current situation(s), and that is a very big plus. The acting is very good. As the protagonists, Devon Sawa, Ali Larter, and Kerr Smith all play their roles very honestly and naturally. As the detectives, Daniel Roebuck and Roger Guenveur Smith are very stern and realistic, while at the same time being subtly funny. As the supporting characters, Kristin Cloke, Chad Donella, Seann William Scott, and Amanda Detmer all turn in excellent performances. Tony 'The Candyman' Todd makes a surprising cameo as a sinister mortician, whom I believe to be the Grim Reaper in human form. Although his character seems under-written and useless at first, he is actually very important to the story, which you would know if you have seem the movie. All of the characters bring something unique to the film. In fact, there are no weak links in this cast.
Being a horror movie, it is inevitable that there will be some 'jump scares'. But, the scares for this movie are different because they are unexpected. Usually, you would have creepy yet obvious music playing as the killer jumps out at the heroine, but not in this movie. The composer (Shirley Walker) was very wise not to score the jump scenes, although her score for the rest of the movie is a masterpiece all on its own.

Director James Wong, as well as the cast and the rest of the productive/creative staff have all done a great job in creating a strong, stylish, and surprisingly intelligent horror thriller that is guaranteed to increase the speed of your heartbeat. You won't look at life (or airplanes) the same way again!