The Final Destination (2009)

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Final Destination Reviews

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Right when I started to go against the grain of most criticisms with this series and see them as getting slightly better as they go (as opposed to many critical responses to these movies thus far), I found my opinion tumbling over with the likes of 'The Final Destination,' which even Google would rather see typed in its search bar as 'Final Destination 4.' Another unfortunate victim of the "The" title problem. Most of us agree that this is the worst of the series and with good reason.

The title aside (it was going so simply, dammit!), the truth of the matter is that even getting into the plot seems almost entirely unnecessary. 'FD4' is the perfect example of a bad film because it simply goes through the motions. As much as that could also be said about 'FD3' and 'FD2,' they still at least had a few new ideas to bring to the table with 'FD2,' and, at least for me, made the lead far more believable and likeable in 'FD3.' All 'FD4' here does is go back to bare bones basics but try to make it "cooler" with a metal soundtrack and, of course, the effect of 3D, which makes the CG in this look atrocious.

Nick O'Bannon (Bobby Campo), his girlfriend, Lori Milligan (Shantel VanSanten), and their two friends, Hunt Wynorski (Nick Zano) and Janet Cunningham (Haley Webb), are on their college semester break, and head to the McKinley Speedway to watch a high octane stock car race. Nick has a premonition about a brutal car accident that leaves the stadium in ruins, snaps out of it, warns everyone, fighting ensues, the accident really happens, and eventually, the survivors who manage to escape due to said premonition find themselves trying to dodge death itself. It's the same thing again, but with nothing more to add.

What grinds my gears about the film is that it comes from the same writing/directing team that gave us 'FD2' (David R. Ellis and Eric Bress), and it's remarkable how different it is in comparison. Where the first three films carry an eerie mood with ominous tones that build suspense, this film tosses aside the mood-setting soundtrack, which gets replaced by metal music and makes the whole movie feel like an MTV music video from the late '90s/early '00s that pays homage to the 'Final Destination' concept. It's another awful case of something not being broken, trying to fix it anyway, and making it worse.

Don't get me wrong; metal often suits horror in all the best ways. But my problem here is that the first three films added to the mood. This is akin to when I saw 'Kingdom of the Crystal Skull' and it opened with "You Ain't Nothin' But a Hound Dog" when I've become used to John Williams' adventurous score; it fits, technically, but for an established fan, it's jarring. Beyond that, the CG is awful and dated, even for its time. Remember, this was released earlier, but the same year 'Avatar' was - even with its "tight" budget of 40 million dollars, I feel like it could have looked much better.

I could continue criticizing the film, but I will take a moment to pump the brakes and find something good about it. Though all I can come up with is that it feels like it set out to be stylistic and fun instead of horrific and creepy, that doesn't mean I have to like it. It feels like a gigantic step backwards and a painfully obvious money grab. Even in my review's description of the plot, you get everything the movie has to offer in a straightforward paragraph, aside from the fact that it doesn't even connect to the first three in any way.

So, there we have it. As far as the 'Final Destination' films go, 'FD4' is the one I would probably recommend the least, unless maybe you've never seen any of the series, to begin with, or if you get some ironic kick out of rough, dated CG. However, it's easy to say the first three are far superior in quality in every way, even at their weakest. As luck would have it, despite what I thought might happen after this was released, this doesn't mark the bitter end of the series, which would come back in a couple of years with what is my personal favourite...

1/5

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