New Line Cinema | Review by Dan Taylor
The
original FINAL
DESTINATION with Devon Sawa (IDLE
HANDS), South Jersey native Ali Larter
(JAY &
SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK) and Seann William
Scott (THE RUNDOWN) was a fun horror flick
that had a couple memorable moments of jolting
gore sprinkled in its story of airline crash
survivors who find that Death is pissed
that they ruined his grand design. One by
one the Grim Reaper picks them off in complicated
scenarios that make their deaths seem like
freak accidents. Clever and satisfying on
a junk food horror level, a sequel -- like
death -- was inevitable.
Though released in 2003, FINAL
DESTINATION 2 gets started one year after
the airline explosion that set the first
film in motion. On the way to Spring Break,
Kimberly (AJ Cook) envisions a series of
events -- biker chick flashes boobs, guy
flicks lit joint out the window, cop gets
his head Gallaghered by a log -- that result
in a massive pileup of twisted, flaming
metal and dead bodies. Snapping back to
reality, she stops her SUV on the ramp to
the freeway and "saves" the people
that she "saw" die in her mind's
eye.
Of course, since it's a FINAL
DESTINATION flick we know what's coming
next. The "survivors" realize
that they have only succeeded in pissing
death off once again and he comes looking
for them. With the help of FD1 survivor
Clear Rivers (Larter), they piece together
a way to foil Death's grand scheme and set
about trying to stay alive.
Once again, the formula works
on a purely junk food level. The opening
vision starts the clock and we know that
most -- if not all -- of the characters
are going to pay with their lives. Surprisingly,
instead of stepping back from the edge,
FD2 director David Ellis pushes the envelope
and delivers a surprisingly gory mainstream
horror flick. The deaths are appropriately
complicated and feature more than a few
red herrings in order to POW you at the
payoff.
Some good twists, great deaths,
unexpected mayhem and a surprise or two
make FINAL DESTINATION 2 a worthwhile way
to spend 90 minutes.
My only complaint? The flick
continues the completely overdone habit
of naming horror film characters after genre
legends. The first film featured characters
named Browning, Lewton, Chaney, Murnau and
Hitchcock while the second installment throws
in some Cormans and Carpenters for good
measure. It was a little clever when Fred
Dekker named some NIGHT OF THE CREEPS characters
Cronenberg, Cameron, Landis and Raimi. 17
years later it just gets in the damn way.
