Customer Reviews

Final Destination 2

5 star:		(110)
4 star:		(82)
3 star:		(40)
2 star:		(24)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

I saw this movie movie at a special screening in Canada, and it is even better than the first.Tony Todd has a 5-minute cameo, and I must say the ending is very well-done. I felt so happy when that annoying Johnathan Cherry got it, and the car accident part is very action-packed.The body count and gore is a little higher than in the first movie.I also liked when there is sort of homage to the first movie. Ali Larter is back along with A.J Cook , Michael Landes, and Andrew Downing. Go see it January 31!!

If you liked "Final Destination", you will not be disappointed in "Final Destination 2".

This movie is everything the first movie was and more: heart-pounding suspense that has you captivated from the moment it starts until credits roll at the end. There were so many times in this movie that I found myself on the edge of my seat, mouth hanging open, completely blown away. This is the kind of suspense that creeps up on you ever so slowly, even though you know its coming, and then pounces on you suddenly with a big bang. I don't remember the last time I've seen a theater full of people jump at the same time so many times in one sitting.

The movie begins with Kimberly (A.J. Cook) and her friends heading out for a vacation when she suddenly has a premonition of a massive freeway pile-up in which she and everyone else around her are horrifically killed (this sequence will give you goosebumps). When she and the others avoid the accident, which takes place on the 1 year anniversary of the plane crash from the first movie, Death becomes determined to make sure that they all reach their ends -- one by one, in the same order they were supposed to die in the pile-up. And that's all I'm saying for fear of ruining the movie.

One thing is definitely for sure: I drove home very slowly and very carefully after watching this, avoiding the expressway and any other cars on the road for that matter. If you like suspense, this is your movie. Not recommended for the faint of heart.

Be warned, this movie is not remotely frightening. Whereas the first FD attempted to undercut the silliness of the whole concept with some genuinely creepy sequences, this hare brained sequel simply plays the whole thing for laughs, and gets them. In truth the whole film is really nothing more than an excuse to string together some pretty inventive and grisly deaths (its extremely gory for an R rated picture), but the same could be said of a lot of horror movies and it's refreshing to see one so totally lacking in both pretension and narrative logic. The set up is pretty much the same as before: someone experiences a vision of an imminent disaster, narrowly avoids dying and in the process prevents the certain death of several other characters. Death won't give up however, and a series of freak 'accidents' start bumping off the support players. And so we are treated to 90 minutes of splatstick, with death scenes that share the same kind of dramatic dynamic as The Three Stooges or Pink Panther movies, except that someone typically ends up mushed into a fine paste by the end. For sure, if you're squeamish then the sight of people being crushed by panes of glass, beheaded by elevators, segmented by barbed wire, burned alive, blown up, trepanned by fence posts and generally reduced to the consistency of yoghurt probably won't endear you too much to the movie, but hey - its just a gore flick for gore hounds. It has too much gallows humour and too much of a sense of it's own lowly intellectual stature to ever try and qualify as a serious chiller - witness Tony 'Candyman' Todds welcome return as the gravel voiced mortician in a scenery chewing turn, or the sidesplitting final sight gag just before the credits roll. People clearly had a lot of fun making the movie, and it's infectious. The plot is all over the place - we get an utterly surreal exchange of dialogue in which we learn that apparantly Death is working backwards through his victims this time for, well, no real reason - but it doesn't bother me. The filmmakers had their priorities right, paint the screen red and to hell with rhyme or reason. For those who question why people would want to watch movies like this: don't get all moral and judgemental. Humans have always enjoyed watching the simple, honest butchery of their own kind in vivid colour. It's entertaining. It can be highly amusing. Live with it. At least it's only simulated and not in the gladiatorial arena.

Watch this movie and have a GREAT time!

While Final Destination 2 follows the plot of it's predecessor, the similarities between the films stops there. The teen-melodrama and too good looking for their own good young stars are replaced (for the most part) with well orchestrated accident scenes and some very nice gore effects. It all starts when Kimberly (A.J. Cook) has a premonition of a huge multi-car pile up and inadvertantly saves herself and a few others. And then one by one, death comes calling with some over the top computer assisted and well orchestrated grisly deaths. Ali Larter reprises her role from the first film as Clear Rivers, and Tony Todd returns in his cameo role as well. Director David Ellis has crafted a purposely cheesy, trashy, and fun horror film that both outshines and pales in comparison to the original; and while it is very graphic and grisly for a mainstream horror film, it is never too mean spirited. The Infinifilm DVD is another fine piece of product from New Line (although I personally like the Platinum Series of DVD's more), and the Bits & Pieces featurette provides enough ample entertainment for horror afficiandos.

I highly enjoyed this flick. If you're willing to just kick back and have a good time, this is one enjoyable movie. The acting is good, the special effects are incredible, and the plot is actually above average.

Like Final Destination before it, this is a more creative horror film. It's not a hack and slash, but more a dark comedy of sorts. The fun of this film comes not from the events leading to death, but death itself. Luckily there's a large cast and the inbetween time is quite enjoyable.

The scene that puts this movie over the top however, comes right at the start. Just like FD's plane explosion, it sets the pace for the entire movie. FD2's highway scene is simply an amazing event. It's jaw dropping, it's gruesome, and it's fun.

They thankfully went for a strong R rating, and didn't shy away from getting really gruesome. They also threw in biker babe who briefly flashes early in the film, which probably should have been left out. Otherwise though, the suspense to gore ratio is just about right.

- Rirath_com

While watching Final Destination 2 (2003) this past weekend I got the feeling the makers of the film just really didn't respect the first film all that much. It's hard to explain, but the film had a feel of not so much complimenting the original, but trying to one up itself as if to say `This is how it should have been done' fostered by the sense of someone taking the parts they thought worth saving, tweaking them (i.e. adding a lot more gore), and then making up the rest as they went along. And that annoyed me a little as I thought the first film was an altogether relatively thoughtful little film with a good dose of originality and just a whole lot of fun...directed by stuntman turned director David R. Ellis (Cellular) and written by the team that also did The Butterfly Effect (2004), the film stars A.J. Cook as Kimberly Corman, a young woman with a strange gift (or curse, depending on your point of view). Also appearing is Michael Landes (he played Jimmy Olsen in the television show Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman), Terrence 'T.C.' Carson (U-571), Lynda Boyd (Bones), and Jonathan Cherry (House of the Dead). Reprising their roles from the first film are Ali Larter (Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back) and Tony Todd, who also played the title role in the Candyman films.

The story takes place about a year after the events that took place in the first film. It turns out Kimberly (Cook), much like Devon Sawa's character of Alex from the original, is having premonitions about those around her, visions that foretell their impending demise which allows her to warn those doomed individuals allowing them to cheat death...but death doesn't give up, especially on those who escape its cold, bony grasp...in fact, those who manage to stay one step ahead with Kimberly's help invariably suffer an even worse fate than originally planned for them as death seems to hold a grudge against those who try to weasel out of their predetermined destinies. Anyway, after saving a group of motorists from a fiery and twisted metal highway death, Kimberly tries to make sense out of what happened, but few are willing to believe her fantastic story and the relationship to the events of the past, specifically the freak accidents that killed nearly all the survivors of the flight 180 disaster a year ago...that is until they themselves begin getting picked off one by one in a series of events that would make Rube Goldberg proud. This drives Kimberly to enlist the help of the one surviving member of the original group in that of Clear Rivers (Larter), who's currently a resident of the local mental institution, but that may not be enough as the Grim Reaper is a persistent, cunning little monkey who always gets the cheese...certainly aided a few times throughout the film by the compete stupidity of the intended victims (check out the character of Evan, the young man driving the Trans-Am...this Mensa candidate should have been drowned at birth).

If I've learned anything from Final Destination 2 it's that if it's your time to go, then you should go...if you try to cheat death, it will still get you in the end, and when it does the mode of your death will be much gruesome and horrible than the way you were originally intended to die...and I also learned Apple Computers must have supplied some dough for the production of the film as their product placement appears numerous times (gee, strange how all the computers in the film are of the Apple variety...I don't mind product placement in a film, but next time make it a little less obvious so I don't get the complete sense of sleazy pandering as I did here). Did I enjoy the film? For the most part, yes, but I did make the mistake of expecting there to be a true, continuing development of the original storyline rather than a half-hearted rehashing featuring over the top death scenes lavished with gory effects...truly, it seemed like the death sequences were immaculately designed, and then the story created later to fill in the spaces between those scenes not leading up to another spectacular macabre fatality. In terms of the actors, well, there weren't really any memorable performances as not long into the film you realize most of them are there in the capacity of gristle awaiting the grind. I will say I thought the director did a good job leading us down the path towards certain events (including numerous false starts), as I did feel tension welling up prior to various characters getting their comeuppance (deservedly so or not) and he really kept the pacing of the film quick, resulting in a 90 minute run time, sort of like a pleasant enough acquaintance that doesn't overstay their welcome. Also, the death sequences were creative and elaborate, almost more so than in the first, so if that's where your interest lies, you will not be disappointed. This film also featured one of the most spectacular multi-car crash sequences in a film I've seen in a long time. As far as the story the links to the original seemed tenuous at best, and became kind of convoluted with the emergence of some sort of `ripple effect' theory that didn't really stick too well especially since one could make the argument that every person on the planet can be linked together through their associations. The comedic elements are given more weight here, probably due to the lack of meaningful relationships between characters as was seen in the original.

New Line Home Entertainment gives this film their `Infinifilm' treatment, which means they pour on the extras. The DVD features both the anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) along with the fullscreen version, and three, count them, three audio formats including English (DTS 6.1 ES), English (Dolby Digital 5.1 EX), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo). Extras include a fact track, music videos, deleted/alternate scenes, a commentary track by director David R. Ellis, producer Craig Perry, and screenwriters J. Mackye Gruber & Eric Bress, along with a couple of featurettes titled Cheating Death: Beyond and Back (18:10) and Bits and Pieces: Bringing Death Back to Life (14:00). I think my favorite parts of the special features is when director Ellis talks about how much a role his assistant Tawny Ellis (notice they have the same last name? Because she's his daughter) played in the creative process of the film, despite her general lack of experience. Nepotism is certainly a fact of life, but I can't help but wonder if his regularly consulting with her on whether or not certain scenes work rubbed anyone (anyone not a part of the Ellis family) the wrong way.

Cookieman108

One more thing...there is a Final Destination 3 in the works, scheduled for a 2006 release...

Being a fan of the first Final Destination, I was anxious to see this film. In many ways, I think the sequel outdoes the original in almost every aspect. The entire idea of mortals attempting to beat deaths design is very intriguing, and the director utilized this concept to its fullest. The opening crash scene is fantastic. With multiple camera angles, wonderfully paced dolly shots and flashy pyrotechnics, the pace for the rest of the movie is adequately set. From here the cast is put through some honestly horrific sequences, coupled with some surprisingly gruesome and creative deaths. The PVC pipe dispatch and the barbed-wire scene makes this film well worth watching. Recommended.

I must say that when I saw Final Destination I was shocked. Never a movie had scared me so much when and after seeing it. I was traumatized and it awoke a certain paranoia in me ;P It is one of my favorite horror movies.

Then one day I saw there was a sequel. I had no expectations but I saw it anyway. God!! It was bad!! Such a good storyline destroyed by bad filmmakers. First of all, it had logic leaps and I don't know if people noticed this: The year starts off one year after the 180 tragedy. HELLO!! The first movie ended one year after the 180 tragedy, with the survivors in Paris celebrating (and dying!) and you tell me that Claire (Ali LArter) had the time to go back to the U.S. and reclude herself in a mental hospital that same day?!? The other thing, when that certain kid gets super crushed by that crystal why would you get the body out in a body bag if there's only squashed pieces??

Second, I had never seen such bad acting in my life...you know, I know scary movies don't usually have good acting but the first final destination had really good ones especially from ALi Larter, Devon and Kerr Smith. The only stand-out: A.J. Cook...

Third, A.J.'s premonitions. In the first movie Devon saw clues that he then sorted out and desciphered. But nooooooo, here A.J. has visions...and really simple ones...practically telling the viewer what exactly is going to happen. Besides, now you see like an actual representation of death, a somewhat physical form. Where's the fun in that? There's also the pacing, too many deaths are frequent...they should've been more apart from each other. It's like they ran out of time and decided to kill most of the cast in one short uncreative, dull, cliche, predicatble scene.

Fourth, storyline was not that good, it was very weak and the character held no closeness or bonds like in the first one. Just a bunch of strangers hanging together before they die.

Fifth, the movie is way too gory, unnecessarily gory...God, that much gore is for sick people. Hey folks, Death was less messier and more creative in the first one.

Sixth, the ending [was very bad]!! Come on, if it is predictable do it stylish not fakish!!

Then you say, why two stars?? I have to admit that the first scene (with the car accident) is great. That scene stays in your mind and haunts you, besides it leaves you shocked. Also the death of the kid was really cool....though the logic leap aforementioned...and Ali Larter is what gave the movie more meaning and more familiarity.

Conclusion: Rent, Buy, See the first one. Rent the second.

This movie starts off with an amazing and hair raising highway crash scene. After it grabs you, it does not let go. The chills and thrills are more abundant here than in the first (not to discount the first in any way). It just keeps pumping and pumping up until the confusing ending. I am not quite sure about the ending, but the rest of the movie more than makes up for it. Although this one had me jumping and screaming a whole lot more than the first, nothing will compare to the bus scene in the first movie. That scene is a classic and hard to top.
Any fan of the horror/thriller genre should get quite a kick out of this offering. And to those who don't - LIGHTEN UP!!

Final Destination 1 had lots of creativity and a subtle sense of humor which was brought to it by Glen Moran and James Wong, from the X-files. They constructed a well-acted horror movie for teens that actually dared to explore a new story idea. Yes, it was schlock, but at least it was top-notch schlock.

The sequel ups the ante on schlock, with much grosser deaths than the first movie. The basic idea (that Death will not be thwarted...when it's your time, it's your time) is redone, this time with a teenage girl having a vision of a huge auto-accident and thus preventing several vehicles from being involved in it.

Naturally, one by one, these survivors get offed in gross (and only sometimes creative) ways. The end is fairly unsatisfying, but certainly another sequel could come along.

However, I must give very high praise indeed for the huge auto-wreck sequence. It is edge-of-your-seat stuff and is very realistically executed. In the first movie, when the plane explodes, it just explodes. Poof! In this movie, we see one incident after another leading to disaster. For example, one young lady drops her water bottle, it rolls under her brake pedal, and when she tries to depress it to avoid crashing into another flaming vehicle...well, that little water bottle just makes that impossible. Coffee spilled on a lap has fatal consequences. These are all things we can identify with. When I left the theatre, I was actually just a little edgy about getting in the car!

The movie doesn't have the sly sense of humor of the first, which I miss. But it does have many more squished heads and sliced off limbs, if you like that.

Is it a great film? No way. Is it good, clean (but gross) escapist fun...you bet. Critics will hate it, I'm sure, but if imaginative, elaborate deaths are your cup of tea, along with a couple of genuine jolts of shock, then check it out.