I should be reviewing Salem's Lot this week, in keeping with the vampire theme of late, but I am quite stupid and didn't realise until it was too late that the movie is in two parts and, as a result, on two DVDs. Now, I could just review the first half and perhaps end the post on a cliffhanger, but I don't think that'd do much good. Instead, I'm going to focus on the other film I saw this weekend, Final Destination 5. As somebody who doesn't necessarily have much time for these films, while not hating them either, I awaited this entry to the series with slight trepidation. I'd already read, in great detail, about all of the deaths online (I love spoilers, depending on the movie - I'd never spoil Red State, for example) and I was curious to see them on screen. Happily, FD5 is a fun, dumb, harmless little escape that zips along at a lively place and never quite takes itself too seriously.
For the uninitiated, the Final Destination series began in 2000 and has spawned a whopping four sequels in the eleven years since its’ inception – some of which (my personal favourite is the third instalment, complete with roller coaster disaster and bimbos being burnt alive in sun beds) have been great. Funnily enough, although it pains me to admit it now, my 12-year-old self was quite terrified by the original film. The idea of Death stalking me really got to me, although fuck knows why, since, as I’ve grown up, I’ve realised it’s quite a silly concept. But hey, I’m all for dumb fun every once in a while, and if there’s one thing the Final Destination serious does, or at least should, do right, it’s crazy, mind-bendingly complicated death sequences, that make one wince and laugh in equal measure.
ACTING!!
It has been hit and miss over the years, and I managed to avoid the fourth instalment without even realising I’d done so, which doesn’t say much in favour of the series’ staying power. However, the fifth film, the second to be presented in under-whelming 3D (still not impressed), is amusing, inventive and fun, without ever forcing the viewer to think too hard. It opens with an impressive, albeit slightly long, 3D credit sequence, during which fire, knives and shattered glass fly towards the audience, all set to a piece of music that wouldn’t be out of place in a James Bond film.
The suspension bridge collapse, about which everybody has been gushing, is jaw-droppingly awesome, and the deaths incurred by it are gruesome and hilarious, in equal measure. Of course, the main characters (I think there are around 8, but what does it really matter) manage to escape their fate thanks to the main dude’s premonition about the inevitable accident, and they then spend the rest of the film dying in a spectacularly silly fashion.
To make people think of Saw maybe..?
The plot itself, of which there is little, doesn’t really matter, and nor does the character development, or whether we even give a shit about who’s on screen at any given moment. The point of watching these strange little films is to see attractive people being killed in interesting, cringe- or laugh-inducingly, odd ways. Therefore, the most important element of FD5, for me, is whether the deaths are any good.
For the most part, they are. Although the original shock value of wondering if somebody is going to be killed a certain way, only to see him/her killed in a completely different way, has all but disappeared, there were still certain moments that caught me off guard. My personal favourite death was one caused by a gymnastics routine. Although silly, it was the only death that really made me squirm in my chair. Otherwise, I was guffawing with the rest of the room. FD5 is definitely not as funny as FD3, but that has an awful lot to do with the uncharacteristically likeable cast. Usually, the dialogue is painfully awkward and the acting stiff and uninspiring, but with the new cast of unfortunates, the producers have managed to do the unthinkable – create characters that are genuinely engaging.
Spot the weird Tom Cruise dude!
Nicholas D’Agosto is particularly warm as the leading man, while his pal, who looks and acts a lot like Tom Cruise, does a great job of losing the plot about halfway through. Emma Bell, she of the brilliant, criminally underrated Frozen is great in the girlfriend role, and hopefully she gets to ascend from here into the star she rightly deserves to be. She is, after all, so much better than Final Destination. Another happy edition to the line-up is the great David Koechner, starring here as the snarky, disbelieving boss of the company in which the others work. Although he’s a welcome edition, I was a bit sad to see the man I know mainly as Champ Kind from Anchorman die so gruesomely. I couldn’t help thinking “Whammy!” when it happened, and a quick glance to my left assured me that Rich (whose horror collection puts mine to absolute shame) was thinking the exact same thing. It also got me thinking about how silly we all must look in 3D glasses, but how little we care when the film is good and we want to turn excitedly to each other. It’s hard to kiss with them on, but luckily I’ve only smooched during one 3D movie (it wasn’t this one).
The 3D itself isn’t terribly impressive, although I did find FD5 less dark than other 3D films, such as Fright Night, for instance. Seeing people being impaled, while the object shoots out of the screen towards the audience, is by no means revolutionary, but it is quite good fun. Aside from that, nothing much is added by the third dimension. It doesn’t take away from the film though, which is good, but it’s still quite unnecessary. A trailer for a film I am very much looking forward to, Shark Night, had me very excited but, once again, slightly confused, due to the addition of 3D to the proceedings. I can’t imagine why a shark film would need to be in 3D, since sharks popping up out of the water are scary enough all by themselves, but either way I am very excited to see it (albeit, hopefully in 2D). As for FD5, it’s harmless, brainless, gory fun of the best kind, and definitely a welcome addition to a series that should’ve ended years ago. The ending, and so-called twist, had me rolling my eyes, as did the heavy-handed messages about death (including the idea that one can kill someone to save oneself, something which up until now did not exist in the Final Destination universe), which are unnecessarily high-minded for a film with its tongue firmly in its cheek. Still, it’s great fun nonetheless, and definitely worth a look if you’re in the mood for something light-hearted, bloody and relatively short.
Looks way scarier than it actually is
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