Makes you think!

Rating: 8/10 (29 August 2009)

FINAL DESTINATION was a pleasantly surprising flick when I first saw it not long after it came out and it still keeps me interested. Of course, you'd think a film with horrific deaths and populated mostly by teenagers would be a mindless slasher flick, but this is, frankly, not. The film draws you in immediately as it postulates that "Death" has a plan. It gives clues to the the film's protagonist Alex Browning (excellently played by Devon Sawa) at the outset. Alex is scheduled to go on Flight 180 to France on a trip with his fellow senior students and their chaperones, including Miss Lewton (effective Kristen Cloke of SPACE:ABOVE AND BEYOND).
Fellow students include the shy Clear (sexy Ali Larter of HEROES). Clear is an orphan whose parents died in a tragic accident and she has a strange emotional connection to Alex, even though they had never spoken before the trip. Also there is the abrasive Carter (menacing Kerr Smith of DAWSON'S CREEK), Alex's best friend Tod (Chad Donella), Carter's girlfriend Terry (Amanda Detmer), and the goofy Billy (comic relief Sean William Scott of American PIE fame).
Alex has a premonition that the flight will crash and in the ensuing melee and confusion, Alex, Miss Lewton, Clear, Carter, Tod, Terry, and Billy all end up off the plane and have to take a later flight. When the plane does indeed explode and crash, everyone realizes that Alex was right! What's really interesting is that Alex is not really looked upon as a hero, but rather as a spooky freak! There are varying levels of relief, curiosity, and fear exuded by all the characters after this incident and it is the fact that the plot went in this direction that makes FINAL DESTINATION a rather fascinating film.
In the ensuing months, each character, still spooked out by the crash, avoids Alex, except for Clear, who is drawn to him in an almost psychic way. I find Alex and Clear coming together rather touching and it is not done in a predictable, maudlin way. They simply have a strong bond, a connection. One by one, the plane survivors begin to die rather gruesome, mysterious deaths as "Death" indeed does seem to have intended them to die, so Alex sets out to try to cheat "Death"!
That's what is really scary about this film: Instead of the killer being a physical being, it is "Death" itself! How do you control it? How do you stop the ultimate killer? While this film could have devolved into parody or inanity, it never does. The dialogue is very good and the performances uniformly exceptional.
Character actors Daniel Roebuck and Roger Smith (as federal agents investigating the mysterious crash and Alex's story) also do a fine job of making the film work. Veteran actor Tony Todd (CANDYMAN) also deserves praise for his spooky performance as a caretaker that Alex and Clear go to for help on how to cheat death. A very provocative film.