Final Destination (2000)

	Director: James Wong	COUNTRY USA GENRE Thriller NORWEGIAN TITLE Final Destination RUNNING TIME 98 minutes
	Producer: Glen Morgan Craig Perry Warren Zide
	Screenwriter: Glen Morgan James Wong Jeffrey Reddick

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Alex Browning	Devon Sawa
Clear Rivers	Ali Larter
Carter Horton	Kerr Smith
Ms. Valerie Lewton	Kristen Cooke
Billy Hitchcock	Seann William Scott
William Bludworth	Tony Todd

Review

Most things about James Wong's Final Destination are most unfortunate. This is a film undermined by a lack of shrewdness and flair in the writing process. The concept is interesting enough, but every time you think the film might be headed for something good, it is spoiled by surprisingly poor choices.

The premise explores the idea of fate and predetermination, proposing that death is never accidental, but rather part of a larger plan or design. This is a concept that the human race has been fascinated by for centuries, and early on in Final Destination, it seems that Wong and co. might have something with which to fuel this fascination. The film's first part, centered around the visions our protagonist Alex Browning (Devon Sawa) has aboard the plane, is harrowing and thought-provoking. Unfortunately, we're quickly put off by the introduction of a subplot that is mostly concerned with suspicion and animosity towards the Sawa character – an angle maintained through most of the film, and one that feels both out of place and unmotivated considering the fact that this kid has saved a lot of people's lives. It reduces many of the supporting roles to caricatures that you might think had disappeared with the Rambo movies. And it doesn't help matters that the acting is nowhere near good enough to justify these strange (to say the least) interpersonal dynamics.

As Final Destination approaches its final destination, it becomes increasingly apparent that, although Alex's visions continue, the filmmakers' vision dries up. The film is reduced to a clichéd horror flick which effectively kills off the potential existential discussions that the start of the film suggested. In Wong's conclusion, the premise of death is not only decided by fate, but descends on you like a Scream-type serial killer. Final Destination becomes more and more preposterous as the ending approaches, by which point we've almost reached total ridicule.