One of the smarter horror flicks in a crowded field

Rating: 6/10 (8 July 2000)

In a crowded field of teen horror movies, it's a shame Final Destination didn't stand out more. It's well acted, well directed, and-- for the most part-- smartly written. Trouble is, it's inconsistent. Another problem is that "Concept of Death" is such a hard villain to root against (or for, if that's your taste).
It's refreshing to see high school characters played by actors who could probably get carded-- for the most part. Devon Sawa was great in the lead and played his role straight.
Ali Lerner is one to watch (um, professionally, I mean) though she was more engrossing in the sadly underrated "House on Haunted Hill" (a must-have film for horror collectors whose brief box office life I blame on "The Haunting" for souring audiences, but that's for another review).
Tony Todd's performance as the mortician is fantastic, but it's too brief. He should have been used more, at least in more than one scene.
Death has many ways of killing you in the bathroom, the kitchen, or on the street. You know people are going to die --and the writers know you know-- so the appeal is in "how" they get knocked off one by one. Glen Morgan and James Wong will treat you to some of the best red herrings in horror films, setting up so many ways to die that you're kept guessing.
Sometimes it's over the top. The teacher's death was more like a bloody Wile E. Coyote nightmare, enough was enough. The final confrontation with death is intense but fun-- the teacher's death was comical and uninteresting.
Kudos still go to Morgan and Wong for giving us a real storyline with real enough characters (I'd expect nothing less from the team that gave us Space: Above & Beyond), instead of the usual throwaway dialogue to fill time between killings. At times I wish the script had more balance of drama and horror, but they knew where the money was.
And more kudos go to Wong for raising the bar on airplane disasters in films. The first 15 minutes of the film alone made me feel I got my money's worth.