johnlink ranks THE FINAL DESTINATION (2009)
Mind you, this is not the first in the series entitled FINAL DESTINATION. This is the fourth. Apparently, in stupid movie translation, ‘THE’ is dumbassian for ‘4’. I’m not sure why I watched this. I knew it was a bad idea when I started it, and by the end I was mad at myself for not just going to bed. In fact, my wife turned to me and said “Why did I bother to stay up for that?” I didn’t have a good answer.
I watched THE FINAL DESTINATION (2009) on 8.1.10. It was my first viewing of the film. TRAILER HERE
This isn’t the 3D version, of course, since I watched it at home and do not own one of those fancy (and silly) 3D televisions. I did see a couple of scenes of this in 3D, and am confident in saying that it wasn’t a problem to see it in 2D. Sure there are moments which were obviously supposed to be 3D, and the dream sequences are so CGId that it’s horrendous, but it’s not like 3D would have saved this film. While the MY BLOODY VALENTINE remake was helped by the 3D, THE FINAL DESTINATION was too stupid and unscary to be so.
In a movie like this, where there is no clear-cut killer, we are supposed to root for people to die. I’m usually not a fan of that kind of film, not because I’m a prude, but because I think that there’s usually very little creativity involved. The first FINAL DESTINATION movie was actually succesful in creating some characters we rooted for, and we wanted to win. The series has progressed downward in acting, writing, filmic quality, and in its worthwhile characters. Liz and I agreed that the romantic female love interest, played by Shantel VanSanten, was really the only worthwhile character in the whole film. The lead male was bland, and most of the others were either horribly performed, horribly written, or just plain horrible people (or a combination thereof).
The deaths were so silly and unrealistic that there was no sense of horror or dread. The film played with its known formula, setting up some elaborate death which never happened, and then having something mundane do the trick. It copied deaths which were well received in previous movies. Mostly, it just played up the lame, and didn’t produce anything really entertaining.
I hear they are making another one, and why not. The formula is easy, the actors get paid nothing, and the movie will make a small amount of money. I wish they would spend a little extra to try and do something new, but that is not what this series is about. It doesn’t care to make anything good, it just wants to bring in some cash. Frankly, I think it is time for this series to die.
SCORES
FILM: 2; MOVIE: 4; ACTING: 3; WRITING: 2 BONUS: -1 (What is this?)
The negative bonus is for some of the worst CGI I’ve seen in awhile. There is a point where a concrete block falls on two people, and the people literally disappear the moment before the rock hits, with the idea that they are crushed underneath. They weren’t even trying when they made this movie.
2+4+3+2-1=10
FINAL SCORE: 2.5
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