Final Destination 3 DVD > Reviews > Please please make this the FINAL Destination

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Disliked it
Story	Very weak
Characters / Performances	Weak
Special Effects	Outstanding
How does it compare to similar films?	Unmemorable

Advantages:	Great CGI and lots of gore
Disadvantages:	Repetitive, no story, bad acting, not scary

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

The Final Destination franchise has become synonymous with horror, suspense, and above all, gore. If you're a teenager and you want to spend an hour and a half being jumped out of your seat or covering your eyes in squeamishness as another attractive youngster is disembowelled, then you've come to the right place. And I admit it: I fit into that category. The original film was innovative in that it replaced the character of a killer with death itself, leading to a lot of paranoia and constant watching of shadows. The second film, cunningly titled Final Destination 2, not only lived up to the original, but accomplished the rare feat of actually improving upon its foundation. With more action, better deaths, and a more complex and thought-provoking plot, it was really quite good. Therefore, going into Final Destination 3, I probably had a little too much hope riding on it.

Each of the films begins with a premonition of some kind. A plane explosion, a motorway pileup, and in this case, a rollercoaster going off the tracks, leading to the death of Wendy's boyfriend and several others. However, when Wendy realises she has predicted the catastrophe, she tries in vain to get the others off before it's too late. As previously, a handful of youngsters get off and watch in horror as they become the lucky survivors. After a while though, they start to die one by one in freaky, bizarre and gruesome accidents. Coincidence? Fate? Or maybe it's just the last two movies completely rehashed?

I wouldn't mind so much if Final Destination 3 copied the plot of the original, but changed it in some way, as the second film did (they figured out how to cheat death). However, this film completely disregards the findings of the second film, and is basically a complete copy of the original, which means that the premise is wearing extremely thin by now.

Even then I wouldn't mind so much if Final Destination 3 was exciting, scary, clever, well-written or well-acted. Sadly, it's none of these. I found the characters completely dislikeable, even when we were supposed to feel sympathy for the bereaved girl. This is probably because of the amateurish acting and the poor script, which gives absolutely no life or sparkle to any of the characters. As well as the predictable boy meets girl, argue but then work together, become best friends in the end situation; the rest of the survivors aren't likeable either. Maybe this was the director's whole idea, so that we could enjoy the sticky demises of these nasty people rather than hide in disgust. The more I think about it, the more I think this is probably true: the violence in this film is completely sadistic, and forces the viewer to watch every bit of it.

That's what makes or breaks your enjoyment of Final Destination: do you like watching people die? If like me, the answer is yes, then you're probably one of the thousands of teenage fans who make these films so successful. If not, you'll probably hate this film. By this third instalment, the gore is pretty much the only reason left to go and watch it, and the makers know this, which is why the deaths are bigger, better and more stomach-churning than ever. I have to admit, the levels of realism in CGI are at an unbelievable level, so when the infamous scene involving a nail gun and a human head arrives, you'd better be ready for something truly revolting. As well as this most gruesome of deaths, there is a tanning accident, an engine fan accident, an accident at a gym… I really don't want to spoil the only decent surprises of the film, but I have to say that most of the deaths involve injuries to the head.

Was the film exciting? Not particularly, not even during the rollercoaster scene, which you would expect to be quite exhilarating. Everyone I have spoken to enjoyed this bit, but for me something was lacking; it all seemed a bit fake, possibly due to the over-use of CGI. If this bit wasn't exciting, the rest of the film certainly wasn't, and it got extremely repetitive. The structure alternated between the main character going through personal problems, her and her sidekick looking at the clues, and the suspenseful death scenes. The story of the film is merely a skeleton on which to hang the bloody scenes of violence. It also wasn't very creepy or scary. And to cap things off, I wasn't particularly satisfied with the ending: I don't mind ambiguous endings, but this had the distinct air of being set up for a fourth film.

So just to recap in case you hadn't got the message, Final Destination 3 isn't very good. Rather than continuing and improving upon the story set up in its prequels, it simply repackages it, and tries to cover this up with added blood and gore. Sadly, it takes more than violence and gore to make a good movie, but even sadder is the fact that most teenagers disagree. All the interesting elements of the first two films are lacking, and not even the admittedly good deaths can save this film from shooting itself in the foot. Or chopping its own head off, which is more in keeping.
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I am reviewing the film only, not the extras. Final Destination 3 is available to pre-order on www.dvd.co.uk for £12.95 (release date 25th July)

Directed by: James Wong
Starring:

Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Ryan Merriman, Texas Battle, Amanda Crew, Sam Easton, Patrick Gallagher

Running Time: 93 minutes
Classification: 15

My Rating: 2 stars
 

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It's that rollercoaster again