Run and hide! Death is coming.
In the not-so-timely sequel to the teen horror film, “Final Destination,” the idea that death is the one inevitability in life, is beaten to death.
“Final Destination 2” takes the concept of death and gives it a God-like persona. In the movie, death becomes an entity that ultimately determines the fate of everyone, and the means by which everyone’s fate will be sealed.
The movie picks up on the anniversary of the plane wreck of Flight 180, which the plot of the first movie revolved around. Kimberly Corman (A.J. Cook) is on her way to a weekend getaway with her friends when, stopped in traffic, she has a vision of a horrifying accident on the highway resulting in the death of everyone involved — sounds like someone ate the brown acid.
At the end of her vision she snaps back to reality and blocks traffic refusing to move. Everyone thinks she is crazy until they witness the brutal accident take place right before their eyes. By stopping the accident Corman has sent death’s grand design awry because the people who were supposed to die during the accident didn’t.
Intriguing isn’t it? It is hard to decide which makes the plot more unimpressive — the idea that death is like a serial killer, relentlessly hunting down it’s prey, and looming in every scene. Or the attempt to make this teenager out to be some kind of superhero with the ability to out-wit death.
The cast was suitable to meet the needs of the film, but there probably won’t be too many academy awards being thrown in their direction. Ali Larter returns in the sequel as a somewhat hardened version of her character from “Final Destination,” Clear Rivers. Corman seeks out Rivers for help due to the similarities in their situations. She finds Rivers has committed herself to a mental health hospital where she stays in a padded room where death can’t get to her. After meeting Corman, Rivers decides to leave the hospital and becomes Corman’s — and the rest of death’s impending victim’s — mentor in understanding how to escape death.
The other victims fulfill typical teen thriller cast requirements.
First, there is the heroine, Corman. She is independent, strong-willed, with a never-give-up attitude. Michael Landes is the wannabe heart-throb of the film playing the role of Officer Thomas Burke. Burke is by Corman’s side battling death to the bitter end.
As far as the other characters, there is the high-strung business woman, Kat (Keegan Tracy), who always has a cigarette in her hand, and is always on edge. There is the skeptical, “I determine my own fate”, masculine male, Eugene Dix (T.C. Carter) who ends up in tears, and screaming like a little girl when he sees one of the others die. Then, there is the other not so tough, good-hearted, screw-up, Rory (Jonathon Cherry) who does his best to help everyone, but ends up literally falling to pieces. And what horror movie could do without a special appearance by Tony Todd, (who played the title villain in “Candyman”) who plays the role of the intimidating mortician, Mr. Bludwoeth.
The manner in which the film was shot played a major part in keeping the movie rolling. The crafty camera work helped to maintain the assumption that death was literally lurking around every corner. The rather cheesy plot sets up the characters for some lame lines, and too many coincidental incidents. It’s the kind of movie where you can hear random people in the audience scream, laugh, and make smart-ass comments at any point during the film.
For some reason, death decides to kill people in the most graphic and brutal way possible. Victims are impaled, decapitated, blown-up and smashed — at no point is the audience left to assume how someone died or how it looked. However morbid it may sound, the manner in which each character was killed is the one aspect that made this movie tolerable.
Once the hour and a half long film was over it was time to leave and start wishing for the hour and a half back. This teen thriller should be viewed by only those who the movie was intended for — teenagers.
