Final Destination lacks subtlety but is too tame

Rating: 6/10 (2 June 2013)

From the opening titles it's clear Final Destination is a film about death and the makers really lay it on thick as if the audience is incapable of following a storyline without constant reminders about the subject. There are images of death, deathly screams, even a copy of Death of a Salesman.
In the beginning we join Alex (Devon Sawa) a superstitious 17-year-old who is preparing to go to France on a school field trip. "You've got your whole life ahead of you," says his dad, like a black cat crossing his path to smash a mirror over his head.
When Alex and his classmates arrive at the airport, director James Wong continues to treat you like the big idiot you are. Alex is handed a 'Death is not the end' flyer and the camera zooms in on the word terminal. Numbers are significant throughout the film, as if to say, 'your number's up'.
Before the flight takes off, Alex has a premonition that it's going to blow up. He and some of the other students are subsequently removed from the plane and are sitting in the lounge in time to see it explode in a fireball. But there's no escaping death and one-by-one the grim reaper picks off the survivors.
You spend most of the film trying to guess how they are going to die and Wong often leads you down the wrong path ­– like when Tod (Chad Donella) starts to shave and nicks his neck and then plucks his nose hairs with a pair of sharp scissors – neither of these things get him but you're made to think they will and you start to see danger everywhere. It's after the death of his friend that Alex starts to piece together the clues: "Death has a new design for all of you."
When Final Destination was released in 2000, it was an original concept. It went on to win awards, including the Best Performance by a Younger Actor, and spawned a series of films. But it hasn't aged well and when you watch other horror films it seems rather tame in comparison.