Andrew McMurtryDVD REVIEW: The Final Destination (2009)
ScreenBest Rating: $2 in 2D, $4 in 3D
Death can’t come fast enough for this unnecessary extension to the successful franchise. As with the others in the series, the fourth instalment has a group of people cheating death, before Death comes after them, killing each in an incredibly coincidental way. This story follows Nick (Bobby Campo), Lori (Shantel VanSanten), their friends and a few unlucky NASCAR fans who Nick saves from a grisly death at the race track due to a premonition.
It’s too bad this film is bogged down in false sentimentality and trying too hard to make it shocking for 3D audiences. It seems pasted together rather than a flowing cohesive story. On top of the poor scripting there is overly dramatic acting. The use of cartoonish CGI for Nick’s premonitions is an unnecessary and pointless as are the exploding body parts flying all over the place. It goes for gross out in the place of a real story and has unrealistic deaths that look incredibly cartoonish and are predictable, which takes away all the shock value.
The Final Destination was made specifically as a 3D movie but the cheap 3D glasses are irritating. Although the movie looks slightly more impressive in 3D with the flying objects and explosions, it still doesn’t change the fact that this movie is a cheap excuse to milk a franchise for more than it’s worth and drag audiences through a sequence of unnecessarily gory deaths.
If only they put a bit more effort into the jokes, this could have been a rather good dark comedy. Instead they try hard to make it serious but it’s almost laughable. This DVD set is made worse due to there being no special features, only the 2D and 3D versions of the film. With no shocks and an obnoxious cast, only fans should buy this film. Everyone else should avoid it at all costs. And with more than just word of a fifth instalment into the series, we can only hope it is better than this poor effort.
Death can’t come fast enough for this unnecessary extension to the successful franchise. As with the others in the series, the fourth instalment has a group of people cheating death, before Death comes after them, killing each in an incredibly coincidental way. This story follows Nick (Bobby Campo), Lori (Shantel VanSanten), their friends and a few unlucky NASCAR fans who Nick saves from a grisly death at the race track due to a premonition.
It’s too bad this film is bogged down in false sentimentality and trying too hard to make it shocking for 3D audiences. It seems pasted together rather than a flowing cohesive story. On top of the poor scripting there is overly dramatic acting. The use of cartoonish CGI for Nick’s premonitions is an unnecessary and pointless as are the exploding body parts flying all over the place. It goes for gross out in the place of a real story and has unrealistic deaths that look incredibly cartoonish and are predictable, which takes away all the shock value.
If only they put a bit more effort into the jokes, this could have been a rather good dark comedy. Instead they try hard to make it serious but it’s almost laughable. This DVD set is made worse due to there being no special features, only the 2D and 3D versions of the film. With no shocks and an obnoxious cast, only fans should buy this film. Everyone else should avoid it at all costs. And with more than just word of a fifth instalment into the series, we can only hope it is better than this poor effort.
