Quantcast Final Destination 3 review

FINAL DESTINATION 3 (Feb. 06) by Mike c. & Robg.

Mike C.'s review: I turned to Rob G. when we were watching "Saw 2" and said, "I hope this franchise keeps making money so when they get to part 6, it'll be completely ridiculous and I'll love that.". Final Destination 3 is that film. In fact, I don't remember seeing Final Destination 3 tonight. What I think I saw was a premonition of the future, I saw "Final Destination 7". Still, I have a soft spot for terrible horror movies that are thinly written, have no characters to care about, and feature those characters in violent, gory deaths.
Everything that made the first two films enjoyable in their over-CGI'd, popcorn horror kind of way is mostly missing from this tossed together sequel. The biggest problem it's got is that it doesn't know whether it wants to be about a camera that can see into the future, or a girl that can see into the future. Both are pretty much inanimate objects here, so it doesn't really matter. Secondly, the original two films seemed to follow some kind of logical order, the death traps were clever, fun. It was fun watching all the little things add up one by one and explode into a ghastly death. The deaths scenes in this one are full of fake outs, and it just seems like nobody was really trying to come up with anything. Even the big roller-coaster scene lacks the punch of the airplane crash and the car accident. The payoffs are still mostly there.

I can't say I wasn't entertained. In it's own "crap cinema" kind of way I liked "Final Destination 3". I mean, if you go in with low expectations (it's a "part 3", guys) then you'll probably find yourself at least mildly entertained by how bad it is. It's cliched, and yes the black guy says "Now that's what I'm talkin' about" within the first 10 minutes). I could have cared less about any of the characters in this movie since they lack the intensity or acting chops of a Devon Sawa (and when you've got your audience looking to Devon Sawa for acting chops your movie has problems). The whole thing probably would have been a lot more entertaining if they'd just gone and shot it in 3-D as originally planned.

But....these are the kind of things that amuse me about horror sequels. I love watching a franchise deteriorate before my eyes, gradually getting worse and more worn out with each passing chapter. I just wasn't expecting "Final Destination" to end up there so soon. Besides, it's not totally crapped out PG-13 cut-away, cookie cutter horror yet, and if you get the chance to see it with a rowdy, pumped up crowd you'll probably enjoy it. - mike c.


Robg.'s review: Ok. Before anything, I just want to make it clear that I love both Final Destination and Final Destination 2 and I am also a fan of filmmakers James Wong and Glen Morgan. So, with that said, let's talk about Final Destination 3, which I just had the opportunity to watch this evening with Icons own Mike c. and TW Vin.

The filmmakers of Final Destination 3 managed to do something I didn't think was possible just yet. In one grand swoop, they managed to kill a franchise... about death. Or as Mike would put it, "They skipped over Final Destination 3 and went right to Final Destination 7 where they're just absolutely ridiculous."
Look... I know these aren't meant to be great or ground breaking horror movies, but the first two films were a lot of fun & very different from anything we've seen done before with the genre. They set up an interesting premise, they were suspenseful and they delivered on the gore and "ouch" factor with all the inventive kill sequences. FD 3 fails on all counts.

What's wrong with this movie? Where do I begin. Well, the opening credit sequence is kind of cool and then almost immediately, we're brought into this films "premonition" which is a rollarcoaster accident. The rollarcoaster scene was OK, but it didn't have the effect of the plane crash or freeway accident. It lost its effect with the use of too much CGI. In fact, my biggest problem with this flick is that there's too much CGI used to "enhance" the deaths, when all they really do is distract from them. I know you can't really drop a person out of an upside down rollarcoaster, but can't you at least use a blood filled dummy or something? Just... anything to make it look somewhat real?
Ok, after an abrupt cut right to the funeral, the movie slows down just enough for the characters to figure out what we've already come to learn from the first two movies. Death is an entity, these few survivors cheated it and messed with death's "master design" and now death is coming back for them in the same order that they would have died in the accident. All caught up? Good. I understand they need to explain this, but I have a feeling if you're sitting in a movie called "Final Destination 3", you might have bothered to watch parts 1 & 2 beforehand. So, for the most part, all of this is repetitive. Every monologue and conversation between these characters... feels like deja vu.

Next problem? None of this movie made any sense. Whatsoever. You see, main character Wendy is on the year book committee, so she takes a dozen or so pictures on her digital camera before the fatefull rollarcoaster ride. Later in the film, supposedly there are "clues" to all their deaths in the pictures. They try to figure some of them out, but I think they give up along the way when they realize none of these "clues" make any sense.

Oh, remember the music cues/clues in the other two flicks? In 1, it was the John Denver song, in the 2nd it was 'Highway To Hell' by AC/DC. Well, in this one there's at least 10 obvious music cues and they are all over the top and laughable. Everything from a guy playing guitar in the subway, to the Ramones, to the radio gives "clues" to our unexpecting idiots. That's right, folks. If death is stalking you, no worries... it's arch-nemesis 'THE RADIO' will give you numerous clues as to what to do.

Were the kills at least cool and gory like in the previous movies? To an extent. But getting to them felt like pulling teeth. The set-up for every death sequence was absolutely ridiculous. To the point where you can hear the sighs and notice the rolling eyes of everyone in the theater. As Vin put it, "I feel like the filmmaker's didn't bother watching Final Destination 2 and instead just played a lot of 'Mousetrap'." You'll totally get it when you see it. Also, it would've helped if they didn't give away 90% of the deaths in the trailer. There wasn't much suspense except for when these ridiculous set-ups were going to actually lead to something.
Was any of it good? Well, visually the movie was pretty good. James Wong is a good director and has an excellent eye for detail. So everything looked cool. Especially the devil statue that led to the rollarcoaster ride, which by the way was voiced by Tony Todd. All of the actor's were fine too considering the repetitive material. (Well, except for "token black guy")

Final Destination was a great, fun ride. I was very skeptical of the 2nd one at first, but when I saw it with a packed theatrical audience, I was blown away by the experience because they completely topped everything about the first one. (Except for the ending. The 1st one still maintains the best conclusion.) Quite frankly, a rollarcoaster accident-final destination style is cool & all, but nothing would've topped that insane freeway accident in 2. And at least the deaths in 2 looked like they were done practically (with dummy's and make-up), which they were!

The 2nd one took the story from the first and added something new to it. The only way 3 would have worked is if they did something completely different from the first 2. If only they had brought in a fresh spin on the material and given us something we hadn't seen before rather then a poor remake of the first one. I remember Tony Todd mentioning the original story taking place after a boat accident. And then there were rumors of a 3D movie. Any of these options would've at least given us hope.

I wanted to like this film, because I love the first two. I walked out of the other movies with an equal sense of excitment and paranoia to everything around me. I kept thinking of how many stupid ways there are to have an accident & get killed. This one I walked out of disappointed. The only paranoia I had was that everyone involved in this picture was trying desperatly to insult my intelligence.

There's no need to fear death anymore, folks. This movie totally killed it and it won't be back. - robg.


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