Only visions I ever see are more slasher movies...

Rating: 6/10 (30 March 2000)

It looks like an interesting movie, doesn't it? High-school kid has horrible vision of an exploding plane while his plane's sitting on the runway, freaks out, and leaves the plane, taking a few classmates and a teacher with him. Boom! Plane explodes. Did the kid save them, or is he just off his rocker? Don't look for anyone you recognize in the cast. I've watched about a billion movies, and I recognized only the last guy I listed up there (Tony Todd, from Candyman). Basically, this is a movie in the young-people-scared-out-of-their-wits vein that was popularized with the Scream films. This one, fortunately, is well-written, albeit with some plot holes. Still, it's an intriguing premise. Does Death have a plan for each of us? If so, then this kid's act of getting people off the plane screwed it up royally, and now Death's really ticked off and - surprise! - one by one, the survivors are picked off. But this is a tiny cut about the standard people-being-killed-one-by-one movie. It's not just a matter of how people are killed in this movie; that would be the easy, tried-and-true method. In Final Destination, the fun is in figuring out who's next, and if the premise is to be believed (that Death does have a plan), then the mystery of who is supposed to die next will keep you guessing. There's some pleasure in figuring out who's next, since there are some characters you kind of hope get it sooner rather than later. That said, the acting is nothing to speak of - rather bland, really - and the direction itself is really bad. But the story's interesting and the effects, gory as they are, are frighteningly realistic. PRO: Story, effects. You want blood, you got it! CON: Acting, directing, effects. This is NOT for squeamish people. My score: 6