Movie Review: Final Destination 2

Final Destination 2 (2003) 

Directed by David R. Ellis 

Written by J. Mackye Gruber, Eric Bress

Starring Ali Later, A.J Cook, Tony Todd

Release Date January 31st, 2003 

Published January 30th, 2003 

The first Final Destination was your average teen slasher movie spiced up with some surprisingly un-PC gore, and made palatable by a pair of former X-Files producers (James Wong and Rob Morgan.) And do not forget its cast of Hollywood's hottest up-and-coming actors including Devon Sawa, Ali Larter and Seann William Scott. At a time when horror movies were shying away from classic gore Final Destination reveled in beheadings, electrocutions, and fiery, graphically-depicted explosions. Bubbling underneath the gore was a surprising amount of suspenseful setups that were as thrilling as the deaths were disgusting.

As surprisingly entertaining as the first Final Destination was the odds were stacked against the sequel. The fact that it is a sequel tells you that. Add to that the fact that the sequel was without the originals star, Sawa, and it's creative team, Wong and Morgan, and the pieces are in place for a disaster. Yet despite those losses Final Destination 2 manages to be almost as good as the original thanks to the same spirited non PC approach to blood and guts gore.

As we join the story, a teenage girl is lying in bed listening to a man on television discuss the tragedy of flight 180, the plane explosion that precipitated the original film's series of disasters. As the unknown expert relates the story of how none of the kids or teachers who miraculously avoided the plane explosion were still alive, a skeptical news anchor asks just what the expert is getting at and the expert explains that there is no chance or luck, there is only fate, or rather, death's design. The teenager named Kimberly pays little attention to the guy on TV as she and some friends are about to hit the road for spring break in Florida.

Once on the road, Kimberly begins to have strange visions of the people in the cars passing her on the highway. The visions lead to a fiery multiple car crash after a tree breaks a chain and falls off a truck flying through the windshield of a police car killing the cop. The cop car flips leading to a series of accidents that also kills Kimberly and her friends.

Kimberly then awakens suddenly; it was all a dream and she is still stopped at the on ramp that would lead her to the spot where the accident took place in her dream. She sees all the signs again, the same song on the radio the same cars in line behind her that would be involved in the accident. Kimberly decides to stop in the middle of the off ramp and prevent herself and everyone else from getting on the highway and thus saves their lives when the accident happens moments later. Unfortunately for Kimberly, after the same cop from her vision asks her step out of her car and explain why she was stopped on the off ramp, another truck that was involved in her vision plows through her car and kills her three friends. It's a car crash right out of a Faces of Death video.

From there, it's the same plot as the original. Since the people Kimberly held up on the on ramp would have died in the accident, death must now come back and collect them. In a series of increasingly gruesome deaths--impalings, beheadings, and a graphic crushing--nameless actors are offed to the disgusted delight of the audience.

Ali Larter is the only cast member from the original film to return for the sequel. Thought to be dead, her character, Clear Rivers had checked herself into a mental hospital in order to escape death. In the films most disappointing moment Clear explains what happened to Devon Sawa's Alex from the original film. Alex was thought to have survived the original but because they couldn't bring Sawa back for the sequel they invented a backstory explaining his characters demise that is highly unsatisfying. Also unsatisfying is Clear's fate, but I will leave the mystery for those of you who go see this film.

The good thing about Final Destination 2 is how faithful it is to the original. In fact, it is basically a retread of the original, only more disgusting; and that is what I liked about it. In an era where gory disgusting death is seen as being in bad taste, this film revels in bad taste. It's disgusting and bloody and graphic and if you don't have a strong stomach you will want to avoid it. The film's special effects and makeup go for the gusto with as much realism as possible (without actually killing anyone.) When a character is crushed under a giant piece of window glass, the blood spatter is enough to make the most hardened horror fan hold his stomach. When you see a film in which more than one character is impaled through the skull, you know you're not watching your average dull horror film.

Gruesome and disgusting Final Destination 2 sets out to horrify you with its gore and succeeds in eliciting shocked gasps and screams. Its over-the-top horror is outright comical and very fun to watch. It is a rare film in this day and age that ignores the cries of liberal politicians and goes balls out to disgust you, standards of good taste be damned. Final Destination 2 is that rare unapologetically twisted horror movie.