Destino final

The one that started it all: a franchise of over-the-top "action," outrageous gore, and characters you often couldn't care less about. Yet in this one, none of those really apply. The death scenes are in ways subtle and clever, sometimes drawn out to exacerbate tension, while others are arguably very predictable, but nonetheless thrilling. The plane scene is chaotic and how it culminates, very intense. Aside from one decapitation, not much gore. Meanwhile the characters, in my opinion, are the best the series has had to offer, particularly thanks to Devon Sawa, and the personality he elicits in Alex Browning. Others satisfy, too, from Sean William Scott to Kerr Smith. There's some subtle humor, some drama, and some creativity to be had. As much praise as I have to offer the movie, it still has its many flaws and even silly moments. But for what it's worth, it was the beginning, and it remains a fun watch despite the slew of even more over-the-top installments that followed it.

LOVED IT.

Imagine any great slasher with no killer. No person to blame, nobody to see and NO IDEA HOW THAT PERSON WILL DIE. That's about the simple horror of Final Destination, and it was done in almost artistic ways.

While many movie-makers have been unwilling or unable to get into the meat & potatoes behind a good R-rated movie, the creators of Final Destination have no such restraint. In fact, the death scenes were so freakishly violent and intricate that they were interesting in and of themselves. Imagine the force of death (not the Grim Reaper, but the "phenomenon of accidents", if you will) being MAJORLY p***ed for having missed a few. Hence the plot.

To make matters worse, the director displayed "the little things" hyper-accurately. That alone made watching it really hard at times without wincing, flinching or screaming out loud. (*those who have seen this know EXACTLY what I'm talking about*)

As someone who goes to the movies every Friday, I have been waiting for this FOREVER!!

Oh, and by movie, I mean MOVIE... not FILM, not INDIE, not FLICK. A MOVIE is something that I first hear of through word of mouth, first see a glimpse of via previews of another MOVIE, and, after seeing it, leave the theater flashing back through great scenes and lines for the next few hours saying to myself "that was great!"

Final Destination was a great movie. They don't make them like this too often.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure if you were looking for flaws you could find them (no movie is perfect), but I wasn't and enjoyed my ride thoroughly as a result. Personally, I think that if you had the time to pay attention to those flaws while watching it for the very first time, I've got news for you: you missed a great movie.

Revisiting James Wong's Final Destination after two and a half decades feels like meeting an old friend who's aged better than expected.

The film's central premise... Death hunting down teenagers who escaped their fate... remains genuinely clever, even if the execution occasionally creaks like those ominous household objects.

Devon Sawa delivers a surprisingly committed performance as Alex, the reluctant prophet trying to save his classmates. Ali Larter provides strong support, while the supporting cast falls into typical late-90s teen horror territory -functional but forgettable.

The plane crash premonition sequence still packs a proper punch, creating genuine tension despite knowing what's coming.

What works brilliantly is the film's paranoid atmosphere - every ceiling fan, bathtub, and kitchen appliance becomes a potential murder weapon. Wong builds dread through mundane objects, making everyday life feel genuinely threatening. The creative death sequences, whilst occasionally silly, maintain their dark ingenuity.

However, the dialogue feels painfully dated, and some performances border on wooden. The film would certainly come off cornier than contemporary horror, but there's genuine charm in its earnest approach to such an absurd concept.

Final Destination spawned multiple sequels (and still going...) and established a franchise, proving its premise had serious legs despite obvious limitations.

Rating: 7/10 (A cleverly twisted concept that mostly survives its own dated execution)

Inventive, effectively eerie spine-chiller is a step up in the teen horror genre. High schooler Sawa has a horrific vision of his plane crashing just moments before its departure on a class field trip. He and several others exit the plane only to discover that it does in fact crash, but things take a shocking turn when the remaining survivors begin to die in the most mysterious ways. Story is intriguing, suspense ebbs and flows throughout, and there are enough violent deaths to satisfy the target audience. Although the ending is a bit of a disappointment and should have been planned out better, overall this is one of the better films of the genre. ***

Final Destination is an awesome movie full of fun jump scares and humourous 'accidents' which is exactly what you want in this type of movie.

As there are half a dozen of these movies it does become a challenge to separate what deaths happen in each movie as they all blend together somewhat.

Its targeted at a teen audience, in spite of that the film works for all age groups. Check it out :)