Customer Reviews

The Final Destination [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(27)
2 star:		(25)
1 star:		(25)

 

 

At heart, all horror movies operate on the human response to mortality. Your average horror fan gets a thrill from the films because they are a sort of spice for life, they are the seasoning that makes the mundane parts of life all the more richer. Watch a bunch of people get sliced and diced by a monster or madman, and that adrenaline rush makes you feel as if, on some level, you yourself have cheated death. For awhile or more, it's nice to be alive.

The FINAL DESTINATION films utilize the same premise, but instead of creating a defeatable or relatable villain, it makes the very act of dying the villain. Watching the movies, it's very much like they decided that the force of Death, after a millenia of ending lives, has grown bored and has decided to put some spice into his job. In all of the movies, Death awards a young soul with a premonition of a huge catastrophe, and when that soul saves him/herself (along with a handful of others), Death gleefully sets up cat-and-mouse games with the survivors and watches as they scream and skitter. The question is never Will They Die? It is How Long Can They Hold Out?

Because everyone dies, sooner or later, and it's rarely at the hands of a zombie or a Leatherface. Car accidents are far more common. Fires. Mechanical failures. The FD films make Death a snarky, sadistic force without ever showing his face. Instead, Death operates basically through three cards -- wind, gravity, and passive human interference -- and with these three things, he orchestrates the deaths of dozens and dozens of characters. These films are filled with pointless scenes of people screaming that they're in control of their lives, scoffing at the idea that Death lurks everywhere. Then they die.

The real fun in these films lies in the complex machinations that Death sets in motion with the leak of a pipe or the flutter of a bird. If you're expecting interesting plots, complex characters, or realistic dialogue, prepare to be HEAVILY disappointed. In fact, these elements of the films get steadily more and more wooden and cartoonish, until by the fourth installment, they are laughably bad. The makers know that what you're really waiting for is to watch Death do his thing, investing everything from quarters to fishsticks with a sinister menace. To that end, I have provided here a summary of the only thing about each of these films that is worth watching: the death scenes.

Final Destination (New Line Platinum Series):
In the first film, Death's premonition is visited upon a young student on a plane. The ensuing plane accident (5/5) gave me nightmares for a week. When the student leaves the plane along with others, he then experiences more premonitions (most of them cheesy reflections in windows) indicating that Death is now hunting them down. Of all the movies, this one features the most personified version of Death. A dark mist accompanies each death, and you can even see Death pursuing some characters, especially in a tense bathroom scene (4/5). Some of the deaths feature complex sequences of domino-like chains (there is a catastrophic house fire (4/5) and a menacing electrical storm (4/5)). Others are less creative (the bus and train accidents are both unimaginative throwaways (2/5)). The final death (by sign) is a cheeky nod at the movie's premise (4/5). Notable in this film: Death has a soundtrack, which turns out to feature, over and over again, "Leaving on a Jet Plane."

Final Destination 2:
Death isn't so hung up on music this time around, but that's okay because he's a bit more creative. This film's opening highway accident is by far the best beginning out of any of these films (5/5), and when the storyline later ties the survivor's lives to the events of the first film, it's actually interestingly done. Not as interesting as the deaths, though. You've got a tongue-in-cheek apartment fire (4/5), a crushing visit to the dentist (4/5), and an unusually persistent elevator (3/5). In one case, the jaws of life have the opposite function (4/5), and in another case a flying fence executes a mortal ballet (5/5). There are also three explosive deaths that are a little cheap (2/5). The characters this time around all get premonitions (again, mostly just false reflections in windows), and they spend a lot of pointless time trying to cheat Death's plan (their ideas mostly centering around a "new life"). The final scene, just as in the first film, is an over-the-top nyuck-nyuck moment. "It's all in fun," Death seems to be saying.

Final Destination 3:
This time around it's a roller coaster catastrophe (4/5). The movie has a creative idea by putting the premonitions into poorly shot yearbook photos, and Death continues to get up in people's faces with ominous/ironic songs and smug little omens (before one death, characters at a drive-in watch as the word "control" disappears from the digital menu). The first "catch-up" death in a tanning salon is perhaps the best of the film (5/5), although there's a nicely intricate set-up later in the film that involves a nail-gun (5/5). A runaway truck and horse and a falling sign constitute some of the film's weaker executions (2/5, 3/5, and 2/5, respectively). Elsewhere in the film, the movie's token "I'm Gonna Live Forever!" character battles death in a weight room (4/5). The movie concludes with an intense subway scene that is kinda cool, but also sort of a rip off as far as endings go. (4/5)

The Final Destination [Theatrical Release]:
The opener here is the weakest of the franchise. It takes place at a racing track, and so all of the subtle connections and coincidences get lost in the sprawling chaos of the catastrophe (3/5). The premonitions this time around are ridiculously aggressive hallucinations, and they forecast some rather uncreative demises. One man is murdered by a tow truck in a way that almost makes sense (1/5). Another character bites it at a hair salon in a rather unsatisfying fashion (2/5). There's a clever little two-fer where two characters simultaneously battle watery deaths, although both are almost too cartoonish to be all that scary (4/5 - car wash; 3/5 - swimming pool). The movie's real saving grace (aside from the 3D, which does its job without much fuss) is it's final theater/mall debacle, which is witty, self-referential, and fairly intense (5/5). The close of the movie (and, ostensibly, the franchise) is an unceremonious vehicular accident that is only notable for the X-ray vision it is finally shot in.

I have a 3D TV and bought this Blu-Ray disc based on Amazon's product description that stated "To watch this movie in Blu-ray 3D, you will need a 3D-capable television that comes with active-shutter glasses and a 3D-capable Blu-ray player". When it arrived I was a bit concerned to see that it came with two pairs of red and green filtered glasses and there was no mention of 3D TVs on the box. There were two discs though, so I hoped one of them contained a proper 3D movie for 3D TVs - No such luck so I returned it, which to Amazon's credit, was a very simple experience actually. I just printed out a UPS return label from Amazon's website and dropped it off at my nearest UPS Store and hopefully they're paying for it. Amazon needs to change their product description otherwise they're going to get a lot of returns.

You know, I tend to find the Final Destination series to be among the SCARIEST of all the horror films out there. This is because the actual horror comes in the way of REAL possibilities.

Alright, so they are real possibilities *greatly* exaggerated for the sake of creating a quality horror film, but when you stop and really think about it, the Final Destination series could really mess with your head, and perhaps even permanently screw up your mental state.

That is, if you choose to take it seriously and believe in this kind of stuff. You know, believing the death of every single person on the face of the planet is meant to happen for a reason, and we're all just ticking clocks waiting to die. For someone like me, it's hard *not* to take a film like this somewhat seriously. Death is just unbelievably fascinating to me, and this interpretation of it makes it even more exciting.

After all, the way people die in this film involve cars, fires, heavy objects falling on top of people and crushing them, and several other realistic possibilities. It's hard for me NOT to think some of this stuff is actually entirely likely to happen.

Of course, the odds of a domino effect coming together and forming the perfect strategy to eliminate a human being is EXTREMELY unlikely to actually happen, but well... sometimes in real life, only a couple things have to come together in order to take out a person. With *this* in mind, now you know why I find this series a bit freakier than other horror films. It's exaggerated, but not entirely out of the realm of possibility.

The movie writers who come up with the storylines for these kind of films must be exceptionally smart and clever. They must sit there and actually think up the most bizarre and creative ways that a person can die. Like I said above- these creative and incredibly graphic deaths are highly unlikely to happen in reality, but the fact so much attention to detail was given makes me really think the movie writers have a special talent for these specific kind of horror films.

Anyway, another aspect of the Final Destination series that gives me a distinctly cold chill is whenever a death is about to happen, and you see a black shadow forming around the area or object that will eventually play a major role in killing a person. It happens very briefly before the shadow fades away (along with a creepy sound effect to indicate it's there) but it's a special attention to detail that I REALLY like. Good job to the movie writers for including it. It actually makes me wonder if similar kinds of shadows can be seen in real life as a warning sign right before someone dies. You never know.

Anyway, what makes THIS Final Destination even better than previous ones is the fact that there's a *lot* of death scenes this time around. Not only that, but the death scenes you witness this time around are EXTREMELY graphic, bloody and disgusting. I sure hope you have a strong enough stomach to handle it! They lay it on really thick and heavy for this one.

Overall, yes. Death is freaky. Believing everything happens for a reason and certain people are meant to die is a *very* dangerous line of thinking (believe me, I've thought about it hard and heavy for several years now, and it's NOT healthy). But do yourself a favor and check out a really superb way to handle the horror genre in the Final Destination series. It's mind-bogglingly creative and just terrific.

Early Screening Review:

Final Destination really has gone down hill. I am a big fan of the first two, but these last two attempts have been atrocious. There is absolutely no character development, the kills aren't anything spectacular and not even 3d could make this attempt work for me. In the first couple the characters were actually likeable and as far as I'm concerned when Clear Rivers died at the end of the sequel, so did my interest in the series. In the end it's not the worst film you'll ever see, and it's far from the best film you'll see this summer. Overall Final Destination 4 is a weak attempt to cash into viewers pockets. Maybe they'll rebound with the inevitable fifth sequel.

This review is confined mainly the the 3D effects,audio and video quality, and not to the movie itself.
Yes, the film will not appeal to many people due to its gory, bloody and disgusting nature. However, this blu ray edition is SIMPLY OUTSTANDING!!!
It appears that this movie was shot with the same 3D technology as that used for AVATAR. I don't know if this is true or not, but this movie simply pours out the best of 3D effects in every single bit! Almost every 5 min, something will pop out (truly, POP OUT!) of the screen, to satisfy your 3D cravings. In the scenes without 'pop-out' effects, the 3d is still brilliant. You can sense great depth in the frame. Try the opening scene in the stadium. You will literally feel the height, depth and layers of the stadium seats. The blu ray video quality is outstanding with breathtaking clarity and sharpness. Color saturation, contrast and overall quality of the HD transfer is nothing but best in every single scene.
Having owned many blu ray 3Ds, I can definitlety say that this blu ray 3D is THE Demo disc for your 3dtv system! This is almost equivalent to the Disney PIXAR Toy story 3 3D in terms of Full HD 3D presentation. Yeah, there is gore (and a lot of it), but if you are trying to see the limits of your 3D system, stop here. The audio is mind blowing, that can put you right in the middle of the scene. Simply brilliant by all means!
This disc includes the 2D version of the movie too, and for those who are wondering, this newer version of the blu ray is designed for today's 3D TVs. This blu ray does not have the red-blu 3D glasses. You can use it with your active (shutter) glasses (for those who have either Samsung or Sony). For one disc, the price is bit high (considering that you can get Disney's 4 disc sets in the same price range), but the 3D HD quality compensates for it.

Had anyone told me that I would've liked any of the Final Destination movies since maybe the 2nd one I would've told them they were nuts....predictable..i.e everyone must die,etc,etc. But because I am a fan of 3D,and I thought the 3D scenes were good,I actually enjoyed this one.I am puzzeled that some of you said that yours came with 3d glasses or that it didn't work on your 3d set.Did you purchase the blu ray version ?? I thought everything flying out of the screen made it fun,even if it was predictably violent.

For the laughs alone, this one's worth renting--for a dollar. Indistinguishable from its predecessors except for its premise, which begins at a race track. There, a group of obnoxiously moronic, attractive, foul-mouthed college kids are the focus of a catastrophe about to happen. One of the boys has a premonition of a disaster, which begins as a multi-car mashup culminating with vehicles and various auto parts and even the stadium itself becoming shrapnel missiles attacking spectators.

In a blink, everything's back to normal the way it was just prior to the accident. It was a vision but suddenly everything in the vision prior to the disaster is identical. From here, the film becomes a menagerie of how creative can we see someone die. And the basic question is this: do we control our fate, or does fate control us? Also, what happens if we thwart fate by intervening and saving a life? The answer in these films seems to be: fate gets really pissed! I've found these films to be a good mindless excursion, actually funnier than films that are made to be so. Maybe these films should be labeled Horror/comedies. Definitely fun for the whole family!

I received this dvd fully sealed. Both on Amazon and on the dvd itself it says NEW. However, on the front label printed in the label it says RENTAL. Maybe the dvd was meant to go to a rental store and never actually was sent? So maybe it is new. I have not opened it yet. Maybe the dvd is fine. I'm just a little disappointed that if I display the dvd it says in big letters on the front RENTAL. Just FYI for future sellers that you might receive similar packaging.

If you liked the three "Final Destination" movies before this one, then you'll like this one, too. It's not really breaking any new ground, but you probably shouldn't really expect that by the 4th installment of a horror series, anyway. If you're looking for elaborate set pieces, dark humor, and a bunch of actors that you sort of recognize from other movies or TV, but don't really want to think too hard about what's going on, then this is the movie for you.

When you prepare yourself to watch "The Final Destination," popping popcorn and pouring your soft drink, you should also prepare for one other thing: predictability. This movie is formulaic, the script isn't very good, and the gore is elevated to extremely high levels. I can honestly say that I found myself laughing at both the dialogue and insane amounts of gore (you have to see certain scenes to believe them, and even then they don't make much sense). This is a fun movie, but not an Oscar-worthy one.

If you want over the top bloody, gory fun, then this movie is fine. Don't expect the script to be anything but messy, and don't expect spectacular cinematography. It looks great on Blu-ray (but the 3-D scenes obviously don't have the same type of impact that they would have in theaters).

Overall, an interesting part of the series, but it could use a serious overhaul to prevent it from being another "Saw."