even if i did not know that director and co - writers
james wong and jeffrey reddick of the creepy final destination
helped create the hit television show the x - files , i would have inevitably made a connection .
the similarities are very apparent from the inexplicable phenomenon- like plot , to the mysterious characters , to the overall dark , ominous settings .
it would have been perfectly fitting to see fbi agents mulder and scully investigate this case , they witness stuff like this on a weekly basis ( in fact mulder and scully would have been a much more welcome change to the bland one dimensional fbi agents seen in this movie ) .
another more important similarity , is that both succeed in entertaining and thrilling at the same time .
this is a great accomplishment for a teen horror movie , especially when compared to some of the trash , of the same genre , released in the last couple of years ( urban legend and i still know what you did last summer are classic examples from the bunch ) .
what helps final destination is its unique premise .
unlike your average horror flick in which some invincible psycho with a knife chases blonde cheerleaders , the villain presented is unusual , it 's the grim reaper .
this being already has predestined when and how you will die .
according to the brief history lesson given in this film , everyone was meant to die at a certain time , some people at 100 , others at 17 , whatever death chooses .
what is unique about death is that it 's already dead , so you ca n't really kill it .
the only way to defeat death is to cheat it ; the question is how do you do that ?
this dilemma is what faces alex and a group of teenagers .
alex has been having some dreams that the airplane which will take his class on a trip to paris will crash , leaving no survivors .
alex begins to realize that his dreams are a little too real and eventually gets himself and six others kicked off the plane right before it takes off .
shortly after , the plane does indeed crash leaving some of the seven survivors confused and others feeling immortal .
however , death is n't through with them yet .
it gradually kills off the seven one by one , leaving those currently still alive frantically trying to trick death again .
the plot allows for some of the most creative , original death scenes i have seen in a while .
some scenes build up the perfect amount of tension until an elaborate climax
, others are so unexpected they will leave your jaw wide open in shock . creativity and originality are two adjectives lacking in most horror films nowadays but final destination is not like most horror films .
sure , it has your traditional share of jerks and outsiders ( ali larter 's character is particularly annoying ) , but the shocks , from the beginning to the end , are extremely entertaining
.
also director wong has the sense not to take the movie too seriously .
he knows its just another entertaining guilty pleasure that wo n't win any academy awards ( not even a golden globe ) .
the myriad of inside jokes and gags ( the characters are named after famous horror directors , one character who plays a jerk is named carter , like x - files creator chris carter , and a song by john denver , who died in a plane crash , plays whenever death is near ) show this movie is a bunch of guys having a good time making a movie .
and from this , i had a great time watching the movie .
succeed in entertaining and thrilling its unique premise i had a great time watching the movie build up the perfect amount of tension until an elaborate climax will leave your jaw wide open in shock creativity and originality a great accomplishment some of the most creative , original death scenes i have seen in a while extremely entertaining