Running time: 97 minutes
Starring: Devon Sawa, Ali Larter, Kerr Smith, Kristen Cloke, Seann William Scott, Chad E Donella, Amanda Detmer, Tony Todd
Rating 8 out of 10
Occasionally, life throws up situations which defy all logical explanation: premonitions, feelings or simple gut instincts which warn us of impending doom and spookily turn out to be true after the fact.
In Final Destination, Alex (Devon Sawa) is sitting on Flight 180, awaiting take-off with the rest of his high school French class, when he is blinded by a terrifying vision of the aircraft exploding in mid-air. Gripped with terror, Alex flips out and begs everyone to leave the plane.
Following a struggle, Alex and six other people are ejected from the flight including his teacher Ms Lewton (Kristen Cloke), who tries to sweet-talk the airline staff, but to no avail.
Before the group has time to rue the lost opportunity to visit Paris, Alex's vision proves tragically correct, and the plane explodes a couple of miles from the airport. The other six survivors struggle to understand how the boy could have predicted such a terrible event, returning to their sleepy backwater town and a so-called normal life.
When one of the septet meets a grisly end and Alex turns up soon after at the scene of the crime claiming to have foreseen the tragedy, alarm bells start ringing once more, and gradually Alex realises that the group's ordeal is only just beginning. The angel of death which was meant to have taken their lives on Flight 180 has followed them back home and is trying finish the job. Banding together, the fugitives of fate attempt to understand how they can once again cheat death, this time for good.
Marking the directorial debut of James Wong, who co-wrote the screenplay with fellow X-Files scribe Glen Morgan and Jeffrey Reddick, Final Destination is everything that Scream 3 should have been: a smartly written, ironic thrill ride which holds the audience in a vice-like grip and refuses to let go.
The death sequences are breathtaking in their ingenuity and complexity, almost straying into the cartoonesque (a la Wily Coyote) as everyday objects suddenly becoming instruments of torture and destruction. Ms Lewton's untimely demise - involving a computer, a bottle of vodka and a badly placed tea-towel - is guaranteed to have audiences screaming with delight.
Sawa plays the terrified would_be hero with real conviction, making us believe completely in his terrifying dilemma, and Ali Larter is haunting as the young woman who heeds Alex's blood_curdling warnings. Kerr Smith (Jack in Dawson's Creek) plays effectively against type as a high school bully who foolishly believes he is in control of his destiny.
Wong's direction is incredibly accomplished. He doesn't try to be too clever with his shots or to overstylise the film, gradually tightening the narrative screws by relying as much on eerie cinematography as on the cast and the writing.
Buckle up tight, make sure your seat is in the upright position and take notice of all the emergency exits. Final Destination is one seriously bumpy ride.
In Final Destination, Alex (Devon Sawa) is sitting on Flight 180, awaiting take-off with the rest of his high school French class, when he is blinded by a terrifying vision of the aircraft exploding in mid-air. Gripped with terror, Alex flips out and begs everyone to leave the plane.
Following a struggle, Alex and six other people are ejected from the flight including his teacher Ms Lewton (Kristen Cloke), who tries to sweet-talk the airline staff, but to no avail.
Before the group has time to rue the lost opportunity to visit Paris, Alex's vision proves tragically correct, and the plane explodes a couple of miles from the airport. The other six survivors struggle to understand how the boy could have predicted such a terrible event, returning to their sleepy backwater town and a so-called normal life.
When one of the septet meets a grisly end and Alex turns up soon after at the scene of the crime claiming to have foreseen the tragedy, alarm bells start ringing once more, and gradually Alex realises that the group's ordeal is only just beginning. The angel of death which was meant to have taken their lives on Flight 180 has followed them back home and is trying finish the job. Banding together, the fugitives of fate attempt to understand how they can once again cheat death, this time for good.
Marking the directorial debut of James Wong, who co-wrote the screenplay with fellow X-Files scribe Glen Morgan and Jeffrey Reddick, Final Destination is everything that Scream 3 should have been: a smartly written, ironic thrill ride which holds the audience in a vice-like grip and refuses to let go.
The death sequences are breathtaking in their ingenuity and complexity, almost straying into the cartoonesque (a la Wily Coyote) as everyday objects suddenly becoming instruments of torture and destruction. Ms Lewton's untimely demise - involving a computer, a bottle of vodka and a badly placed tea-towel - is guaranteed to have audiences screaming with delight.
Sawa plays the terrified would_be hero with real conviction, making us believe completely in his terrifying dilemma, and Ali Larter is haunting as the young woman who heeds Alex's blood_curdling warnings. Kerr Smith (Jack in Dawson's Creek) plays effectively against type as a high school bully who foolishly believes he is in control of his destiny.
Wong's direction is incredibly accomplished. He doesn't try to be too clever with his shots or to overstylise the film, gradually tightening the narrative screws by relying as much on eerie cinematography as on the cast and the writing.
Buckle up tight, make sure your seat is in the upright position and take notice of all the emergency exits. Final Destination is one seriously bumpy ride.
