Final Destination 2 Review

 

Time for round two of the Final Destination series.

Final Destination 2 is a supernatural horror movie and acts as the sequel to the first film. While Zide/Perry Productions produce, New Line Cinema distributed. Jeffrey Reddick wrote the story, but the screenplay was written by J. Mackye Gruber and Eric Bress, with David R. Ellis directing.

The story is, it's been one year after the explosion of Flight 180, and college student Kimberly Corman and her friends are heading to Florida for spring break. Then Kimberly gets a premonition about a pile up on the highway she along with other drivers are taken. While Kimberly and eight other people survive, they soon start dying in mysterious and gruesome ways. They learn it's Death itself, but unlike the Flight 180 survivors Kimberly and the others might have a found a way to defeat Death.

• Negatives

I've got nothing.

• Mix

There's two things that could've been approved on. One of the being the characters. There's only two you'll truly care about, those being Kimberly and Thomas Burke. These two are the main focus on their connection is the heart of the story. The same can't be said for the other characters. I didn't hate them I just thought they were okay and serviceable. There's also another character from the first movie that comes back, and I did enjoy their part, but you really need to watch the first movie in order to understand who they are and why they're just broken.

Then there's the story. Yeah I know Final Destination isn't known for it's strong storytelling and yes it's easy to argue they can be the same a lot of times. But even with that in my mind while the story has some of the same beats as the first, there is that one thing that separates it from the first. That being how "only new life can defeat death". Because of that new bit of information, our characters find a possible way to defeat death and find out who the new life is. Without going into spoilers, this plot point gives our characters even more stakes and also kind of acts like a ticking clock.

• Positives

Now I'll keep this part as short as possible because some of praises will be similar to my review of the first movie. Start with the pacing. Unlike the first movie from beginning to end the pacing is great. You can pop this movie into your DVD or Blu-Ray player or stream it, and never once feel like you've been sitting around for ungodly amount of time.

Then there's the tone. This is the one where the franchise started to add more dark comedy into the mix. Which I don't mind as long as it's done well, and there were some moments that were pretty funny. Like how Eugene takes the chance to be a dick and tell the story of the Flight 180 survivors but the way he describes it is more spooky ghost story than a tragic event. It's a small moment but still gets a good chuckle out of you.

Alright now for the big one, the kills. Once again we provided with some very creative kills. Sure you'll see them coming, but it's also interesting to piece together what exactly Death is gonna do that's gonna get our characters just absolutely slaughtered. And this next part isn't anything new, but man that highway pile up...just...wow. There's a reason why that scene to this day still remains in our heads. 1) A highway pile up is a very real possibility. It's not crazy to picture something like that happening in real life, especially since highway pile ups have sadly happened in real. But my point is, Final Destination 2 was probably the reason why some people didn't rush to their driver's license. The other reason for why that pile up still remains in my memory is because it's just some amazingly done practical effects with some moments that probably had some CGI sprinkled in. That scene was so crazy that one of these days I gotta see some behind the scenes footage to see how that was done.

Final Destination 2 might go back to some familiar territory, but there's plenty of fresh ideas to help it stand out. And above all else does provide some good popcorn entertainment just like the first movie did.

My final rating is, Good.

Alright the first two are done that just leaves three more to go. So come back on Thursday, Oct 16th, for my review of Final Destination 3. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.