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Final Destination 5
| Released |
26 August 2011 |
| Director |
Steven Quale |
Starring
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Nicholas D'Agosto, Emma Bell, Miles Fisher, Ellen Wroe, Jacqueline MacInnes Wood, P.J. Byrne, Courtney B. Vance, Arlen Escarpeta, Tony Todd |
| Writer(s) |
Eric Heisserer |
| Producer(s) |
Craig Perry, Warren Zide |
| Origin |
United States |
| Running Time |
92 minutes |
| Genre |
Horror, thriller |
| Rating |
16 |
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Are we there yet?
The first Final Destination came out in 2000 and while it looked like just another bog-standard slasher flick, it was actually quite good and was a surprise box office hit. Of course in the horror genre, success means sequels and as they rolled out over the years the quality dropped off badly. Final Destination 4 was actually called ‘The’ Final Destination, which gave the impression they were finally killing off the series. We should have known better though. Hollywood horror producers are a particularly shameless breed and once they think they can still squeeze a profit out of a franchise they’ll keep going to the bitter end.
However it’s a pleasure to reveal that the fifth edition of the series is actually quite a lot of fun. It’s filmed in 3-D, which in this type of film means there will be plenty of sharp objects flying at the audience, and this is well signalled by the excellent opening credits sequence. The story runs to the usual format. Sam (Nicholas D'Agosto) is having a tough day. He wants to be a chef but finds himself working as a salesman in a company he hates. He has to go on a company retreat but gets further bad news when his co-worker and girlfriend Molly (Emma Bell) decides to break up with him.
He still has to go on the retreat though so it’s off on the bus with his co-workers including his obnoxious boss Dennis (David Koechner) and various other co-workers with a sliding degree of likeability. Shortly after they begin their trip, the bus has to cross a bridge undergoing reconstruction work. Sam has a vision of the bridge collapsing and him and his co-workers being killed horribly (a very impressive set-piece, it must be said). Panicked, he leads eight of his colleagues off the bus and saves their lives before the events unfold just as he had foreseen them, killing the rest of his co-workers.
However the coroner (Tony Todd), back after appearing in the first two films in the franchise, drops by to tell the survivors that ‘Death’ doesn’t like to be cheated. He warns them to watch their step but also introduces the theory that only way they can avoid death is to kill a person in their place and therefore inherit the time they had on earth. Sure enough the survivors start falling victim to a series of increasingly bizarre and spectacular “accidents” that do make you worry about the health and safety standards of the average American workman.
The accidents are of course properly gory, but they’re done with such relish that they’re really more funny than scary. But that’s no bad thing, as with the first film in the franchise, the dark humour is the real selling point. The performances of the no-name leads are pretty wooden, but Dave Koechner (from The US Office) does raise a few smiles and definitely gets the funniest death scene. There’s a nice twist at the end as well, which gives a nice sense of symmetry to the series.
Overall it’s a lot of fun and in an ideal world, they should end the series on a high. However, it’s quite likely they’ll be back with another instalment soon enough.
P.S. If you’re planning on having laser eye surgery in the near future, it’s probably best to skip this movie.
- Jim O’Connor |
