The Final Destination – DVD Review

Film, Reviews, Top Story

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Sometimes it is possible to just go too far when continuing a film franchise. That especially holds true in the horror genre although I’m not entirely sure that the Final Destination series even fits in as horror or thriller or what. Here is a franchise that can keep having film after film come out, but never really change a thing. The only differences are the “kill scenes,” and even then some of those are rather similar. You’re going to get almost exactly the same storyline every time but now they appear to be even more predictable. One hope here is that they can come up with creative enough kills to keep interest going for an hour and a half.

A group of friends have decided to take in a day at the local racetrack to watch some speeding cars and if they’re lucky, some crashes. One of the kids, Nick, has an odd vision while sitting in the stands and is convinced there’s going to be a tragic accident that ends up killing all four of them and countless others at the track. Upon coming out of his little stupor, he gets all of them out and a few others before the accident occurs, therefore saving them from death. From that moment on though, all those spared begin dying one by one because they lucked out and missed “their time.” All four kids try to stay alive and figure out a way to break the chain so that they can cheat death but time is running out.

Alright, this franchise is done so just let it go. There are only two changes in every film and it is the way the original tragedy goes and some of the big kills. Sadly, even the over-the-top kills are becoming boring to me. I’d much rather see some sustenance behind it instead of nothing more then death scenes because then it just ends up as a bunch of clips thrown together and that’s all. Let’s not forget that the predictability factor is just getting ridiculous now as each death is set up like an old Rube Goldberg contraption. Halfway to each death, I was already done with it and hoping it would hurry and just get it over with.

One of the only cool things done in the film is the little references here and there to the first three in the franchise. The entire opening credits sequence showcases an x-ray look at most of the kills we’ve seen in the past and is truly enjoyable. Throw on top of that the mentions of the original flight from the first film and even a sign that advertises for “Clear Rivers Water.” Other then that, there’s not a whole hell of a lot that could draw me back or make me even imagine why another film in this franchise would ever be made.

The film is shown in Widescreen format and all looks fine in the 2D version so there are really no problems to be found there. Now the disc comes with two pairs of 3D glasses for the other version and of course they are the old school red and blue lenses which is to be expected. Sadly, the 3D version of the film is not that awesome. Some moments are really cool with the effects that fly out at you, but there is a lot of “ghosting.” What I mean is that there are far too many moments that the 3D is not crisp and you end up seeing double a good bit of the time. I’m sure it was better in theaters with the 3D sunglasses, but it doesn’t transfer over well to home systems.

The film is heard in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and things improve here as opposed to the video quality. Sounds are heard from all around you with great special effects as well as the music while never overpowering the dialogue.

Additional Scenes – Nine deleted scenes make up this feature and they are actually quite good. Kind of odd how much gore they cut out here even though it is an R-rated flick. Well worth checking out.

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When it comes to “time being up” then it obviously is on this film franchise, because the only other thing they could do differently was 3D and now that’s over without much success either. At least the first two films had a storyline and some form of a plot that made you care about the characters and what was going on but those days are now long gone. The special features are decent with some nice additional scenes, but where on earth is the Nightmare on Elm Street featurette? Yeah, it may have been really short and I understand that Blu-ray releases get more special features usually but it’s not like that is something that needs to be seen in just high-definition. Bah, kill this series now. Just kill it.

And poor Mykelti Williamson. You’ve come…not a long way since Bubba Gump.


New Line presents The Final Destination. Directed by: David R. Ellis. Starring: Bobby Campo, Shantel VanSanten, Mykelti Williamson. Written by: Eric Bress. Running time: 82 minutes. Rating: R. Released on DVD: January 5, 2010. Available at Amazon.com