FINAL DESTINATION 5 REVIEW

Everyone thought that the fourth Final Destination movie, called just ‘THE Final Destination’ was going to be the last, mainly because the studio said so. But what do you know, it made some dollah at the box office and now there’s another one! Wahey! Are you excited?

NO WAIT COME BACK!

It’s actually pretty good! Yes, it may be the fifth movie but it has some nifty ideas. I’ll begin with the opening credits, which are properly amazing. Great use of 3D, and a great use of shattering glass, they really were very impressive – probably the best 3D credits I’ve seen yet, which admittedly isn’t a very long list but still, it’s very good.

The movie has the EXACT same storyline as the other ones – a group of young people dodge a disaster (bus crash….ish) thanks to a premonition and then sneaky old death follows them and makes sure they die, because it’s all part of His Plan. No joke, it has the same story. What makes it interesting though, is the little changes they’ve made to certain aspects which, whilst good, make the movie borderline unreviewable as they’d spoil the entire thing. Needless to say, there are a good few surprises and I even gasped at one point.

The cast are, handily, completely disposable and not remotely likeable, but the death scenes – surely the reason people go see it, you SICK AUDIENCE! – are very inventive. Even after five films they’ve found novel ways to bump people off. I just hope I’m never stuck in a lift with the writers.

Like I said, Final Destination 5 has a structure and plot that does not lend itself to review well – but I was really surprised. It changes up from the first 4 movies sufficiently well enough to actually justify it’s existence, and whilst the acting is shambolic, nobody has to act that long anyway as the death scenes are long, and drawn out. The use of 3D must  be commended here – at one point blood splatters all over the screen and it’s really convincing.

No, it’s not the best or smartest horror around, and some parts of it are laughably stupid – for example, a truck passes them with “TAGERT” spelt out. Say it aloud. But I liked how they avoided the same thing again for the fifth installment, and proper fans of the movie will be over the moon with delight – especially when they show a montage of past deaths in the credits. Makes a change from outtakes!