DVD Reviews

The Final Destination – Blu-ray Review

By Dana Rae Jan 8, 2010, 15:22 GMT

The movie series that taps into your deepest fears returns with a new and imaginative chapter that delivers the expected - in so many keep-you-guessing... unexpected ways! A strange premonition causes friends to abandon their day at the speedway, just before a crushing pileup hurtles cars into the bleachers with fiery consequences. They have cheated Death. But Death is only getting started. From the director of "Snakes on a Plane" ...more

Finally, we have the final installment of the Final Destination franchise. No? Well, this is the fourth one and it is basically what we have come to expect from all of the Destination movies.

Cha-ching, cha-ching, money-maker gory horror films with little plot and not much to offer. Unless you like this sort of mindless gore fest.

Not much plot, not much characterization. The characters all kind of blend together but there is some stereotypical glue that holds somewhat - you have the guy who loves his girlfriend, the annoying guy you hope gets killed first, the token security guard. Yada, yada, yada.

Most will die and do we care? Not a bit, in fact, we hope they will die and die gruesomely because it’s not a movie that makes you care for the characters, in fact, just the opposite.

There are two cool things about this movie, and that is why I am giving it 2 stars. One, the cover is a catch-your-eye 3-D hologram with a skeleton face and broken glass. Two, the movie is in 3-D and comes with the glasses to view on your high def TV, and Blu-ray technology adds to the effects.

There are some cool moments, such as when a tool gets left in the road, and car tires flying at you. But these moments might be few and far between and might not be enough to make this movie worth your time.

The premise is simple: a group of young people attend a car race. Nick gets a premonition that people might die. A flyer paper (seen in 3-D it looks pretty cool) floats around him and he sees on it all an ‘in memoriam’ for all of the race car drivers killed, Then the guy in front on him moves and he sees someone else shirt that reads ‘Life’s a Bitch, Then We Die’. All through the friendly banter of his friends, the stadium seat looks like it will break.

Bobby Campo plays Nick O’Bannon, Shantel VanSanten plays Lori. Others include: Nick Zano as Hunt Wynorski, Haley Webb as Janet Cunningham, Mykelti Williamson as George Lanter, Krista Allen as Samantha Lane, Andrew Fiscella as Andy the mechanic, Justin Welborn as Carter Daniels, Stephanie Honore as the mechanic’s girlfriend and Lara Grice as Cynthia Daniels. Not that we really care about these characters except for who dies the goriest.

As with all the Final Destination films, somehow a group of youths cheat death. One by one, the ones who managed to cheat death in the big accident scene sequence die brutal, horrifying deaths. The ones that are left must find a way to cheat death again because cheating it once just wasn’t enough.

Yes, we have seen it before in the three films that came before in this franchise, but this is the first one in 3-D. Some of the special effects looked really cool, but I was a little let down by the 3-D overall.

Even with the right conditions (dark room, glasses on, watching at the right angle), the 3-D effects barely work and mainly just screw up the film’s colors. At various times, the people looked yellow, and the 3-D effects don’t quite deliver the way they have on other recent 3-D home releases (such as Journey to the Center of the Earth).

After awhile the 3-D effects gave me a headache so I took them off and watch it in 2-D (had to start the film over, so I watched the opening twice). In 2-D, the colors were eye-popping, and I liked viewing it better like that. Who needs 3-D effects when you have a high def television with Blu-ray player?

While the plot might be old hat, this film looks great on Blu-ray with all the gore brought to life in a crystal clear picture. Some of the special effects don’t quite hold up on the format (a woman getting splatted by a flying tire looked too fake), but it is not enough to kill the film’s enjoyment by horror gore fans.

Special features include an exclusive look at the all-new Nightmare on Elm Street. It also includes two alternate endings to the movie, storyboards, and a Featurette called ‘Body Count: The Deaths of Final Destination’. Plus you get 2-D and 3-D versions of the film.

At a mere 82 minutes of viewing time, The Final Destination might fail to break any new ground in the franchise, but does meet its standard for the gore. While there are a few eye-catching 3-D special effects, I couldn’t get the effect to really work for me (even after trying a different set of 3-D glasses), but did enjoy parts of the film in 2-D.