Final Destination

Review by Jason Donner

Alex is a lucky little son of a buck.

It seems that Alex had a little nightmare before takeoff about his plane blowing up (which translates into a wicked action sequence) that caused him to totally freak out and get him and several of his cohorts kicked out of the airplane.

Five minutes later, the plane and all of Alex's unluckier classmates goes boom... the way of the Valuejet.

Alex and his buds cheated death.

Death is pissed.

And so goes the plot of Final Destination... a deliciously evil movie about escaping the grand scheme of death without getting yourself killed... which... I guess would be kinda the point. Long story short, a lot of high school kids run around and die in unspeakably horrible ways. There's gore, there's blood, and people are killed in all shorts of neat and stomach-churning ways! Quality family entertainment!

The film stars Devon Sawa of the yuck-fest, Idle Hands and the yucky Wild America... don't hold those against him, though, 'cause the boy's got talent. He plays freaked-out and psycho real good.

Also look for Seann William Scott, that Stifler kid from American Pie. I like this kid... He's goofy. I see a long career in comedy for him.

I liked Final Destination a lot more than I thought I would. This is my kind of teenie-bopper horror flick. No stupid killer in a mask, no googly-eyed anorexic chicks, no boyish Van Der Beak-like momma's boys.... just your average everyday kids confronted by a killer that is without form, without pity, and without compassion... sort of like The Blair Witch, but with a budget.

It's those kinds of things that make Final Destination work. Sure, the movie has its downsides with a jackass boyfriend who's an jackass for no real reason but to be an jackass  and it's little plot contrivances which can easily be explained away since death was basically screwing with the laws of averages, but Final Destination is a great thriller and horror movie.

Go see Final Destination. It ain't Shakespeare, but in this genre... what the hell is?