Final Destination
2000 Directed by James Wong
Synopsis
No accidents. No coincidences. No escapes. You can't cheat death.
As teen Alex, five classmates and their teacher board a plane for a school trip to Paris, Alex has a vision of doom and convinces his friends to deboard, saving their lives. But now, it seems Death feels cheated and is out to claim each survivor. Alex attempts to figure out Death's grand design as, one by one, the others suffer horrific fates.
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The last time I've seen this was in the theatre and back then I didn't really like it. The idea to make the Grim Reaper the killer in his very own slasher flick was cool but it ultimately doesn't deliver that much suspense. What are the odds if you can only postpone the inevitable? This also marked the first time I realized that in slashers the plot is just a clever framework to show creative death scenes.
On today's rewatch it was more than that. This is actually a grim metaphor for life itself. We cheat death every day of the week. People live and people die. And what do you gain? Three weeks, two months, a year? Death can get you at any time, and in the end he will get us all.
Jesus, I really hope the sequels are more fun.
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I liked this movie a lot more when I first watched it. However, I find the "premonition" sequences (after the main one) really confusing, because there's no rhyme or reason as to why we see certain ones, and not others.
Also, there seemed to be inconsistency in the ways that Death could influence the physical world. My understanding is that things could only be effected using natural methods (wind blowing, water leaks). However, at times there seems to be a more hands on engagement (for example, when the slippery fluids of the first boy's death are sucked back up into the toilet sink - that isn't physically possible).
I looked over these things as a teenager, as I was more…
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“In death there are no accidents, no coincidences, no mishaps, and no escapes.”
-Bludworth (Tony Todd)Film 11 of October 2012 – Halloween Season of Horror!
I thought long and hard about which film to include in my October Halloween project to best represent the turn of the decade, as there were more horror films than ever before to pick from. Something influential from the millennium, such as American Psycho? Something later, or foreign, such as Martyrs? In the end, I opted for Final Destination. Why? Well for one thing, it officially marked a dispatch from the teen slashers of the 1990’s, brought on in abundance in the wake of Scream. Beyond that, it's also pretty intelligent and just great…
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If Death has the power to control water and lock car doors and create magical seat-belts, why does he have to go through so much trouble to kill his victims? His schemes seem way too elaborate. Why not just give the people aneurysms or have them fart so hard that it blows out their rectums? Death has no imagination.
P.S. If I had a premonition and no one believed me and then it came true, my smugness could power a small country. The urge to yell "I told you so" would be so overwhelmingly intense that my children would be born with malignant chips on their shoulders. I would tattoo the words "Fuck you I was right" on my forehead and then dance on some graves. I would go to all the nonbelievers' weddings and punch everyone in the dick.
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This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.
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It's easy to forget that the first film in this franchise is actually a very good horror film.
After the slasher craze and Scream rip-offs in the nineties it was refreshing to see that there was still some creativity to be found within the genre. The succes of this film naturally stems from the fact that it has one of the best villains ever, the Grim Reaper himself.
The ways in which the cast is killed off one by one are often very creative indeed and make for some gruesome watching. The cast is ok, but they are (as usually is the case in this type of film) merely servicable to a very clever script. And Tony Todd is in it, which is always cool.
It is a shame that such a creative genre film was followed by such paint-by-numbers slapstick horror sequels. I'll just stick to this one and leave the rest be.
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The last time I've seen this was in the theatre and back then I didn't really like it. The idea to make the Grim Reaper the killer in his very own slasher flick was cool but it ultimately doesn't deliver that much suspense. What are the odds if you can only postpone the inevitable? This also marked the first time I realized that in slashers the plot is just a clever framework to show creative death scenes.
On today's rewatch it was more than that. This is actually a grim metaphor for life itself. We cheat death every day of the week. People live and people die. And what do you gain? Three weeks, two months, a year? Death can get you at any time, and in the end he will get us all.
Jesus, I really hope the sequels are more fun.
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feels like a first draft for the third film. not as good as I remember.
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clever.... i suppose
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[Seen in 2000, not sure when, neglected to date stamp back then]
Yes! It resembles an episode of ‘The X-Files’ in its creepy, pseudo-supernatural tones, but suffers the slings and arrows of cinematic repetition. It never quite caramelizes its episodic and stringy structure. After an expert opening act, it devolves at lightning speed into yet another botched attempt to blend a realistic tone in a far-fetched premise.
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If you look past all of the plot holes it is still a terrible film.
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The first, and probably best, film of the long running franchise., directed by James Wong and starring teen acors stars Devon Sawa, Ali Larter, Kerr Smith, and Tony Todd.
Sawa portrays a teenager who "cheats death" after having a premonition of himself and others perishing in a plane explosion and uses it by saving himself and a handful of other passengers, but is continued to be stalked by Death by claiming back their lives which should have been lost in the plane in a manner of inventive, gory ways. The cast do a decent job and don't abibde by a tacky, cheesy horro cliche of dumn students unaware of what is happening. They have their own demons to battle as…
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I liked this movie a lot more when I first watched it. However, I find the "premonition" sequences (after the main one) really confusing, because there's no rhyme or reason as to why we see certain ones, and not others.
Also, there seemed to be inconsistency in the ways that Death could influence the physical world. My understanding is that things could only be effected using natural methods (wind blowing, water leaks). However, at times there seems to be a more hands on engagement (for example, when the slippery fluids of the first boy's death are sucked back up into the toilet sink - that isn't physically possible).
I looked over these things as a teenager, as I was more…
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You should watch your step if you suddenly hear 'Rocky Mountain High' by John Denver.
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I absolutely LOVE these movies for entertainment purposes. Strictly for entertainment. As far as like storyline goes, these movies blow. Haha.