The Final Destination 3D (2009) (Blu-ray Review)
DIRECTED BY: David R. Ellis
STARRING: Bobby Campo, Shantel VanSanten, Nick Zano
RATED: UR/Region: O/2:40/1080P/NUMBER OF DISCS 1
AVAILABLE FROM Warner Bros.
By 2009, the Final Destination series had already figured out its formula pretty damn well: somebody has a horrible premonition, everyone cheats death, and then Death gets increasingly creative about collecting the outstanding debts.
So naturally, for The Final Destination, the brilliant idea was to throw the whole thing into REAL 3D!
Because nothing says “horror franchise” quite like somebody getting a tire thrown directly at your face.
The fourth entry has the usual setup, with a premonition saving a group of people from a catastrophic disaster before Death starts working its way through the survivors. And yes, the series still has plenty of creative deaths to offer. That’s the one thing you can usually count on with these movies: eventually somebody is going to die in a way that makes you look around your own house and think, “Well, I guess I’m never using that again.”
Unfortunately, this one just doesn’t have the same spark as the earlier movies.
The decision to use the then-new RealD 3D gimmick makes perfect sense on paper. It’s a Final Destination movie! Things fly toward the camera! People get impaled by random objects! This should be a match made in heaven.
Or, more accurately, a match made in eye strain.
And honestly, I don’t think it works as well as Final Destination 3 did with its old-school 3D presentation. Final Destination 3 seemed to understand that 3D should make the movie more fun, while The Final Destination sometimes feels like it’s simply pointing things at the audience and shouting, “LOOK! THIS IS IN FRONT OF YOU!”
Here’s a pole.
It’s coming toward you.
Here’s some debris.
It’s also coming toward you.
Here’s a character you don’t particularly like.
Unfortunately, that one isn’t coming toward you fast enough.
That’s another problem: the characters.
The series has never exactly been famous for deep character development, but the people in this movie are particularly difficult to care about. They’re mostly walking bags of bad decisions, questionable attitudes, and terrible survival instincts.
And normally, that’s fine.
They’re supposed to die.
That’s the fun.
But there’s a difference between rooting for somebody to survive and simply waiting for them to get out of the way so Death can move on to the next person.
The finale is where my patience really starts to wear thin. I’m not a fan of the movie seemingly playing around with rewinding time and essentially undoing what we’ve just watched. It feels like the filmmakers are trying to pull the rug out from under the audience when the franchise really doesn’t need that trick.
We’ve already accepted the rules.
Death has a list.
People cheat Death.
Death kills them anyway.
Simple.
You don’t need to start messing around with the remote control.
And then there’s the ending itself, which should leave you with that familiar Final Destination feeling of, “Holy shit, that’s horrible.”
Instead, I mostly found myself thinking, “Well… there goes everybody.”
That’s not quite the same thing.
These movies are supposed to give you doom and gloom, but they work best when you actually feel something for the people getting killed. Here, the ending doesn’t really leave you feeling bad for anyone, and that says quite a bit about how unlikeable these characters are.
When a Final Destination ending happens and your reaction is basically “Eh, they had it coming,” the movie has probably done something wrong.
There are still some entertaining death sequences, and if you’re watching a Final Destination movie primarily to see elaborate Rube Goldberg machines of human destruction, you’re going to find things to enjoy. The franchise’s trademark creativity is still here, even if some of the kills feel more interested in the 3D gimmick than in actually being clever.
But compared to the first three movies, this one feels like a step backward.
The Final Destination isn’t completely worthless. It has some fun kills, some ridiculous set pieces, and enough over-the-top nonsense to make it watchable. But the characters are harder to care about, the 3D doesn’t feel as effective or as fun as Final Destination 3’s old-fashioned approach, and the finale’s time-rewinding nonsense doesn’t do the movie any favors.
At least Death is still having a good time.
Everyone else?
Not so much.
And considering the entire premise of the franchise is that Death always wins, you’d think I’d be rooting for the victims a little harder.
Instead, by the end, I was basically Death’s biggest cheerleader.
“Come on, buddy. You got this. Just finish the job.”
Extras
- Body Count: The Deaths of The Final Destination
- Racecar Crash and Mall Explosion
- Deleted Scenes
- Alternate Endings
