Savior Gaming

Final Destination failed to me as a horror movie in damn near every way, but damn did I laugh my ass off. I had had heard the series got more crazier and more convoluted as it continues, so with that notion I happily tuned into the sequel. So was my appetite for mayhem and WTF moments quenched?

A year after the fabled plane crash of Flight 180, a group of friends is going on a road trip. Kim, a sweet, pretty good girl has a vision on the road and sees a nasty, bloody pile up. She stalls the road, saving a group from there gory fate while being the sole survivor of her friends. As before, the survivors drop off in strange ways and Kim discovers the similar fates of Flight 180, searching for Clear, the now sole survivor and the only person that can help her. Can these survivors learn from the last groups mistakes and beat death together?

I have to say this was a fun watch. The effects are better, the deaths more convoluted, and there are more of them. I didn’t mind the characters so much this time around and overall I felt was better acted. I felt this movie didn’t try to take itself as seriously which helped. I don’t regard it as a horror in any sense, except for yet a always awesome cameo by Tony Todd. In the end, its a pretty fun movie with some cool kills but it’s kinda disposable. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

I hate to say it as a horror fan but I’m really damn late to the party here- like a decade and a half too late almost. I remember seeing the 5th movie in theaters and having a lot of fun with it but never really getting the chance to dive into the series until now. So how does this cult horror classic hold up almost 2 decades later?

Alex was a normal kid on his way to a end of the year field trip to France with his classmates. At first, he notices little things here and there that he takes as just pre-flight jitters. Suddenly, Alex has a terrible vision of the plane exploding and crashing killing all on board. Waking from the vision, seeing the scenarios identically, he throws a fit that gets him and handful of others off the plane. It does indeed go up and the passengers all die, except for them. With there lives in ruin, haunted by the tragedy, it doesn’t end there as circumstance takes over and the survivors begin dying one by one as death comes to collect what he was cheated from…

I know many have a soft spot for this series so I have to say I can’t see this as a horror movie. Dark horror comedy perhaps, but taking the plunge and calling it a serious horror movie is a leap not even Superman can jump. I laughed my ass off most of the movie, when I didn’t want the bully character to die or wasn’t guessing where the kill would come from. Tony Todd’s cameo is genuinely creepy and better than the movie deserves. The acting isn’t great but the effects aren’t bad to compensate. There are great ideas in here and a couple decent serious dramatic moments but nothing seems to really take off for me. Still, I had fun as a goofy sort of dorky kind of way. In the end, it comes down to what you are ultimately looking for, if you want a laugh and some interesting kills then Final Destination is a good pick. Want something genuinely scary, go somewhere else. May the gaming gods bring you glory..