Newsfeed
Printer-Friendly ModePlot line reaches Final Destination
February 13, 2006 —
There is an old saying that applies to Final Destination 3: If you've seen it once, you've seen it a thousand times. The first Final Destination was a breath of fresh air in a horror industry that had been stale since the second Scream movie, and Final Destination 2 offered a slight twist on the original plot, making it a sequel worthy of the name.
But, oh, how the mighty have fallen.
Final Destination 3 is essentially a retelling of the first movie using a different cast and a different starting point. While the first used a premonition about a plane crash to set things rolling, this latest installment uses a premonition about a rollercoaster crash. Then, just like in the first movie, everyone who escaped death begins dying.
The only difference between the original Final Destination and the third is that the first movie was entertaining. Final Destination used imaginative death scenes that kept the viewer wondering exactly how the characters would bite the dust. Whenever it looked like one thing was going to kill one of the teens, something unexpected would happen that would catch everyone off guard.
The third movie is full of uninspired death scenes that are predictable and rely too much on gore to appeal to the audience. The movie even resorts to giving hints about how the deaths will occur. While this doesn't ruin the movie, it certainly takes away from what made the previous installments so enjoyable.
Aside from the bloody fatalities, there is little happening in this fast-paced horror dud. One by one the characters are presented with the theory that they cannot cheat death, and moments later they die.
There is nothing more to the story than this - not that we would want to learn anything more about these characters anyway.
Much like any other horror movie of the past decade, Final Destination 3 follows around a group of too-old-for-high-school high school students who are nothing but boring stereotypes straight from the horror movie casting mold.
Every member of the cast is a virtual unknown, and the characters they play have no connection to the events of the first two movies. This is actually a good thing because it makes it that much easier to forget that this movie was ever made.
What is startling is that director James Wong wrote and directed Final Destination 3 as well as the original. Perhaps this explains why the two movies are so similar, but it does not resolve the issue of why the third one fails at nearly everything it sets out to accomplish.
Lately, people have been complaining about horror movie remakes like The Fog and, more recently, When a Stranger Calls, because a lot of times it is just unnecessary for these movies to be made. Perhaps people will soon turn their attention to horror movie sequels like Final Destination 3.
We needed another Final Destination like we needed another Chucky movie. But at least the Chucky franchise no longer takes itself seriously. Unfortunately, I now feel the same way about Final Destination.