SYNOPSIS:
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" comes the eerie, innovative tale of the friends’ fierce fight to keep themselves and others alive.
MOVIE REVIEW:
By now, you should know the drill- random teenager gets a premonition that a lot of people will die in a freak accident; he panics and gets himself and his group of friends thrown out of a plane, a rollercoaster, or in this case, a race-car stadium; boom! said accident happens and a lot of people die just like he imagined; and finally, Death decides to finish those whom escaped in the same order that they were supposed to die.
If you’re expecting the fourth instalment of the Final Destination franchise to yield any surprises, you’d be sorely disappointed. Its premise is its only gimmick- that and the prospect of watching people die in the most inventively accidental ways, which if you’ve noticed, has only grown progressively gory through the years. Yes, the only originality which this entry displays is its 3D glory, but that pleasure is sadly absent on home video.
So instead, what we are left with are a different group of characterless teenagers who try to stay one step ahead of Death but end up crushed by its inevitability. We, however, are crushed by its predictability. Indeed, most would already be familiar with the formula by which Death dishes out its hand of fate, so who’s going to die next isn’t really something that needs figuring out anymore. What’s just as disappointing this time round is the way the characters are off-ed.
Rest assured, we’re not going to reveal any spoilers here, but let’s just say that what used to be creative has now turned uninspired. One can tell by the way these “accidents” no longer occur so accidentally at all- now, there just seems to be an invisible hand pressing this or that button, pushing this or that thing around just so some chain of events can “fortuitously” happen. And to make up for this lack of ingenuity (as well as to entertain a 3D-hungry audience), it somehow always ends with some random body part thrown towards you just to test how squeamish you can get.
Reuniting with his “Final Destination 2”scribe Eric Bress, director David R. Ellis does his best at making the film move along swiftly. Unfortunately, he is only half-successful at it- the parts in between people dying are just too damn awful. Not only do the characters start spouting cringe-worthy lines, their subpar juvenile acting does them no favours too.
So for what is supposed to wrap up the franchise, “The Final Destination” proves that the franchise which began with a modestly successful first part ten years ago has exhausted what mileage it had accrued. Here is a series that is so content to rest on its laurels that it hasn’t bothered to reinvent itself even after three sequels- and no, adding that extra dimension doesn’t count. Let’s hope this really is “The Final Destination” for the franchise.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
There are a total of 9 pointless Additional Scenes whose only reason for being here is so the makers of this DVD can boast that they have something extra. Seriously, this is about the most redundant extras this reviewer has ever seen.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio boasts strong bass and good surround effects, while the disc’s visual transfer is as sharp and clear as it gets.
DVD
RATING :
Review
by Gabriel Chong
Posted
on 8 March 2010
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