Final Destination 5 Review

Final Destination 5 Review

Like many things in this world the Final Destination franchise has evolved over the past ten years. The initial film in the series was incredibly mild in comparison to the gore-fests we have been treated to in the last few outings. Of course the first Final Destination had nothing to live up to, and while not without its moments of graphic and vicious violence, the shock of the idea of someone getting hit by a bus was enough in that film, they didn't feel the need to show the aftermath.

Next came Final Destination 2, which upped the death toll, as well as increased the gore by a factor of 10. It is with this film that the series took a turn and became something more graphic. It held on the the same concepts as the original but laid the groundwork for what the series was to become in the future.

The next two entries are more famous for having some of the most memorable and gruesome death scenes ever put on film. These entries were a test of wills. I honestly think that the creators simply wanted to test our limits. How many vile and horrific deaths are we as an audience willing to take before we walked away from the series. These entries are void of story, plot, and character. Depending on how you look at things the fact that we didn't walk away is either a good thing or a bad thing.

This brings us to the newest entry to the series Final Destination 5. My personal opinion of this movie probably will have no bearing on whether or not you will see the film, these movies have a polarizing effect on people, but I actually thought that this entry in the series was much more in line with the first film, albeit just as gory as we have become accustomed to in the latter entries.

I won't go into plot details, essentially it has the same plot as the other films. A group of people survive a horribly tragic accident after one of them has a vision. These people were not meant to survive the accident and are now being picked off one by one by Death. In Final Destination 5 our group of survivors witness a bridge collapse. Just like the other films the initial disaster is massive in scale with an even more massive body count. Our survivors this time are told that if they kill another person to take their place then Death will essentially balance the books.

If you pay carful attention to the background images, background characters and background scenery, if you do you will catch enough clues to the fantastic twist at the end. You may think that spoils the surprise but it is actually a twist that is more satisfying if you know that its coming.

As I said before this film does a much better job of balancing the gore and horrifying deaths with a quality story. While you know who and when the characters are going to die, the deaths in this movie are not what you expect. Every time I thought I knew how the victim was going to die, I was happily surprised by the different yet equally brutal outcome. Yes I am not ashamed to admit that I chuckled and enjoyed the brutal ways that these characters were ended. Perhaps that makes me a sadist, or a sick and twisted individual, but from the sounds around me in the theater I was not the only one. Enjoy!