The Final Destination 3D Expirence

On what should have been a fun-filled day at the races, Nick O'Bannon has a horrific premonition in which a bizarre sequence of events causes multiple race cars to crash, killing him and his friends. When he comes out of this grisly nightmare Nick panics, persuading his friends and others to leave, escaping seconds before Nick's frightening vision becomes a terrible reality. Thinking they've cheated death, the group has a new lease on life, but unfortunately, it is only the beginning. As his premonitions continue and the crash survivors begin to die one-by-one Nick must figure out how to cheat death once and for all before he, too, reaches his final destination.

I would like to start off by saying I'm a fan of the FINAL DESTINATION series. Even the much maligned third film is starting to grow on me. When it was announced that David Ellis was returning to the director chair (along with screenwriter Eric Bress), I was quite excited, considering that part two is arguably the best in the series. But this one. If I were to describe this film in one word, I would say DISAPPOINTING. In fact, this is one of the most disappointing movies of this year! The fact that the makers of part two has returned just adds on to the frustration.

The movie starts off pretty good. The premonition sequence works fantastically with the 3D, even though it's not as good as part two's brilliant car pile-up. The opening credits is ingenious, showing us the previous films' memorable death scenes. From there on, I was enjoying the film for what it was. This film also contains the most ironic and funniest death scene in the whole series but since everyone knows that people go watch these movies for the death scenes, I'll keep my mouth shut. One paradoxical thing I should say is that the death scenes in here are more for quantity than quality, which is quite unfortunate. However, these deaths work really well with the 3D.

In fact, one can argue that the laziness from the filmmakers is because of the format of the 3D. You see, what's presented on the screen should work in relationship with the 3D. Even the clever foreshadowing from the previous films are quite blatant here, most of them just being premonitions that (like I said earlier) works in relationship with the 3D. The filmmakers have embraced the fact that their film is in 3D and uses all of the tricks in the book to use the 3D to add to the entertainment.

But there's a huge problem: There comes a point in the film where things get tedious, uninteresting, and predictable. Like I said, the death scenes are just so unoriginal and lazy, some even borrowed from the previous three films! Sure, there are some funny scenes and scenes in which the characters in the film are aware that they are in a film, like the SCREAM films. However, you just wish that the filmmakers could have done better from what they were given. You would be thinking, "This is all they can do?" by the end of the movie.

The characters in here are more like an excuse to kill them off later, which doesn't really bother me. It's apparent that this isn't a movie but more of a carnival ride, waiting to see who dies and how they will die. However, I would liked to have known more about two characters in the film that we barely get to see in the film before getting killed off in a gruesome way. The most fleshed out character is played by Mykelti Williamson, who also starred in FORREST GUMP. The main characters are sufficient enough in their role, usually just screaming or looking afraid. It's not that hard to do.

Another problem of in the movie was the pacing. It felt way too rushed with a running time of 75 minutes without credits. There's barely enough time to learn anything from characters or about characters. This is, by far, the weakest in the series because there's nothing new, which means it's going to be predictable. The only thing they have left is the anticipation of who's going to die and even that doesn't work here. Usually, in the FINAL DESTINATION films, there's suspense in how a person is going to die. In here, the deaths just appear out of nowhere. There's only the punchline and not the joke.

By the end of the film, you feel underwhelmed. There's nothing new here. You wished they could have done better. In fact, you KNOW they could have done better. If they were to make a fifth film (which I wouldn't mind), they better put some thought into it. If you're thinking about to watch this movie only ONCE, you should see it in its intended format: 3D AND in theaters. Other than that, there should be no other reason to wait for it on DVD or watch it in theaters in 2D. This is so unfortunate. The film started off big and ended in a whimper