”
Final Destination 2
”
is a virtual carbon copy of
”
Final Destination,
”
which will please hardcore fans of the terror/horror genre
expecting to be wowed with the effective technology that allows
death to be shown in the most horrifyingly graphic ways.
“Final Destination 2” is a virtual carbon copy of “Final Destination,” which will please hardcore fans of the terror/horror genre expecting to be wowed with the effective technology that allows death to be shown in the most horrifyingly graphic ways. This weak sequel will delight fans of the genre but will shock even the most hardened moviegoers with its close ups of people dying in the most extreme ways.
Those who missed the original film need not lament. In fact, you may be apt to like “Final Destination 2” better if you haven’t seen the first installment. The sequel takes off where the first film finishes and rehashes the plot through news casts of the first anniversary of the mysterious deaths of the young people who had a premonition at the start of the first film of their plane crashing.
After warning her friends, Clear Rivers (Ali Larter, the only surviving character from the first film) and her pals get off the plane, only to hear of its crashing just minutes after takeoff. Claiming they had “cheated” death, all the people go on to die in mysterious “accidents,” all except Clear, who has voluntarily checked herself into a padded psychiatric-clinic cell for safety from the inevitable at the start of the film.
The violence quotient gets off to a quick start in “Final Destination 2” and should please and genuinely shock those who love this stuff – others beware. Kimberly Corman (A.J. Cook) sees the news casts and suddenly has a premonition while driving that she and her friends will die in a huge pile up on a local interstate freeway.
The filmmakers waste no opportunity to delight here, as we see Kimberly’s dream as a reality: A highway patrol officer, Thomas Burke (Michael Landes), spills coffee, triggering his car to swerve, gently bumping a logging truck. The truck, which is holding huge redwoods, breaks its chains, causing the massive logs to spray all over the highway, causing some of the most gruesome deaths I have ever seen in a film. A man’s face gets hit head on; a teenage jock’s sports car bursts into flames and we get close ups of him burning; a young girl gets a projectile that goes right through her head, pinning her to the seat; and it gets worse from there.
Suddenly, we are back in real life, realizing that the imagery is just a dream, forcing Kim to probe the events of the first film to understand what fate has in store for her. Realizing the accident is imminent, she prepares for it and while waiting on an entrance ramp, it happens. The filmmakers now give us an extended version of what happens in Kim’s dream, filled with all-new deaths. Kim and six others on the highway are lucky survivors, and they all band together soon after to discuss their “cheating” of death and their eventual demise. Kim decides the only way to figure out if there’s any hope for her and the other survivors is to contact Clear, the only survivor from the first film, in the insane asylum. After a bit of reluctance, Clear decides to help, hoping that she will be able to free herself and the others from the inevitability of the grim reaper, who is definitely after them.
“Final Destination 2” then descends into an image fest in which the filmmakers kill off the crash survivors in gruesome ways. One gets impaled in the eye with a ladder; another has a glass wall dropped on him; another loses her head as a closing elevator mashes it. Fans loved it; I was genuinely frightened, but I didn’t care much about the story or the characters, making this film a marginal choice at best.
FINAL DESTINATION 2. Directed by David R. Ellis. Screenplay by J. Mackye Gruber and Eric Bress. With A.J. Cook, Michael Landes, Ali Larter and Jonathan Cherry. Rated R (Extremely horrifying gore and imagery, not for the squeamish), 85 minutes. Now playing at Bay Area theaters.
