Final Destination (2000)

I feel like Final Destination is such a popular film series that it is natural for anyone to have a understanding of the film before seeing it. And yet I soon found out I knew much less than I thought I did about this film. I assumed it was a very similar process to happy death day in which a person is reliving death over and over and has to try and save everyone they know but they keep dying in numerous different ways. A little similar to the Until Dawn film I suppose. But after watching it (the first one at least) there was only one moment when the main character got to relive the day and that was on the plane. After that he may have kept his powers where he can predict a death is going to happen but he is not able to relive that moment if he can not save them. In a way I thought this was more interesting than having them fully repeat the same day as it does get repetitive and annoying but I also wished we saw more variety of deaths. I had the same issue with Until Dawn which besides being an awful film in relation to the games I wish they showed more ways they all died. I like the creativity that comes with finding new ways to kill the characters but this film especially I felt was lacking.

The first death we saw was the largest and that was for all of those on the plane who died in an explosion. Fine. Then the second death was Tod who slipped on water after a leak and ended up strangling himself. Also fine. There was a moment when I thought that he was gonna slip when trimming his nose hairs and that really made my toes curl. The issue that follows is both deaths after this also involve 'water' and fire. I use water lightly as technically in the death of Mrs Lawton it wasn't water it was alcohol but it is still a kind of liquid substances. Both also resulted in some kind of explosion and fire. It just seemed to me that they were repeating the same death over and over. During Mrs Lawton's death they even had a moment when knives fell and stabbed her but she had already been distracted and cut from the water exploding her computer which caused a fire. At that point the knives just felt like overkill and to me I think I would have preferred it if the knives were the sole reason for her death. Although despite the fire she still technically died from blood loss which is a different death. As for Alex although he ended up surviving he had two almost deaths. The first was when he almost drowned in the woods which again is very clearly water despite the different name of the overall death. Then the second was electrocution which to me is fire again and was only enhanced by the knocked over gasoline bottle. Because of this a lot of the deaths can be categorised as water, fire or both. Even at the end of the film they were almost hit by an electric sign. Besides these, the two deaths that were original were the decapitation and getting his by a car. I loved these, especially getting hit by a car because it felt so Regina George. They were also both very different to me and I was hoping for that same originality and creativity through out. I was wanting very niche obscure deaths but that didn't happen.

Since I have already mentioned it I do want to talk about the ending. Firstly I loved that this mystery of never being able to avoid death was continued. From the moment they mentioned the idea that fate was supposed to have them die on that plane I was hoping the moral would be that you can never fight death in this slightly morbid ending. So when they were finally in Paris and all seemed perfect I was disappointed and then they brought in that feeling of dread again and I was loving it. However, part of me does wish they had just ended the film with all of them being dead. I feel leaving it so open ended where we assume the death cycle continues until it either takes them or they skip it is just a bit annoying. I want them all dead and that is that. I do know that Final Destination has many films following this one and I am sure in that time they revolve around different groups of characters and not this one but I am curious to know if the second takes place after this one ends. If so I can understand why they would leave it open ended so that they can produce a second, even if I think it would have been better to end it at their funeral. I mean if they really wanted to continue it from the same point they could just as easily had all characters die and at their join memorial another disaster happens like an earthquake or something and people die before cutting back to this one new character who has seen the disaster happen in a vision and it ends. That way the second film can be about them instead. Or even better, if the second film already begins with a new set of characters and circumstances why not have them all die anyway!

The mystery of how they slowly revealed death was following them and that it had a pattern was something I was interested to learn more about. After all I am a mystery girlie. But I was curious on why specifically it chose Alex. What was his specific correlation to the deaths and why did he have visions over everyone else. The only thing that he seemed to have over the others was an interest in planes but that has nothing to do with the element of death. I suppose really it has no deep rooted need to be explained however Clear Rivers definitely should have been involved more in the lore than she was. In the film Clear is only linked in this mystery because she can 'feel what Alex feels'. What the fuck does that mean?! The moment she got off the plane outside of the reason for getting in a fight I thought she was super interesting. Don't get me wrong the moment someone told me the plane I am on is gonna explode I would be getting off also but the way her character was framed was also one full of mystery and intrigue it was as if she knew more than was let on. I was hoping it would turn out her family is involved with witchy stuff so when they heard the plane was going down she wasn't risking it. That would also explain why her parents never picked her up because they were busy casting spells but it turns out they're just assholes. In which case why wasn't she made more witchy! It seemed as though they wanted to but never tried hard enough with linking her and Alex's emotions together. I just wish they had highlighted it more, maybe even pointed out that she was the one to realise every death that happened came with a blow of the wind. Because she takes more notice to the spiritual energies so she can feel when they are near and she shows Alex to focus on them more.

We also would have gotten more romance through that plot so that it would actually make sense for them to end up together. It was obvious from the start that they were love interests but to me I saw no chemistry between them and the reason for that is they only interacted around death. And it wasn't even in a sexy way they were literally trying to avoid death! It made no sense to me even though I knew it was going to happen. Where as if they had at least one scene of her trying to persuade Alex to trust his feelings more and not being so focused on the facts of the explosion but feel the world around him and look for signs than they would have connected more. It allows for an excuse to have them within close proximity to one another and hype up the tension between the two as well as give an in point for him to finally understand his 'power' to look for death so that he can avoid it. I just feel as though there were a few elements that they could have explored more and never did which was disappointing.

All of that aside I do like the premise of the film. I like the idea of battling with death and creating this race where you have to both figure out deaths plan and a way to outrun and avoid it. That is what I loved, the mystery. But as I said there were sections when I feel it could have been improved. That's not to say it was awful. I also realise there have been many additions since than and all the wants I am looking for could take place in the second. Or third. Or forth... You get the point. I also did love the representation for us over thinkers because of course I am going through all the tragic scenarios I could witness in day to day life. I have never flown a day in my life and I dread the day I ever may need to which this film didn't help with one bit. To summarise I enjoyed the premise and look forward to watching the others to see if they evolve to 'my standards' or simply to explore the other deaths.