The Final Destination

For better or worse, the Final Destination films have been cheating death for the better part of a decade, but after 2006’s disappointing threequel, the fourth instalment has arrived with an air of closure about it. Don’t let the prefix fool you, though: from this evidence there is no indication that the franchise has set a date with destiny just yet.

As before we have the same characters in the same situation voicing the same prophetic observations as their equally plucky, ill-fated predecessors. Leading the troupe is Nick (Bobby Campo), an amiable if hackneyed twentysomething, whose forewarning vision of a NASCAR catastrophe saves the lives of a few fortunate friends and strangers. Having avoided meeting their maker, the customary cat-and-mouse dance with Death ensues as the gang frantically struggle to escape their gruesome fate.

Those unfamiliar with the series will benefit from a spoon fed narrative, but the problem is that the filmmakers have assumed the audience are already in on the joke. Herein lies the film’s crisis. While fans will enjoy the odd reference to The Final Destination’s precursors, uninitiated audience members will be left alienated. Clearly conscious of this bind, the film tries in vein to cater to both sides of the spectatorship, but as a result becomes progressively transparent and tiresome. It may be no more predictable than the others, but fourth time around it’s hard to stay enthused in between the blood lust.

Recurrent premonitions provide plenty of blood for your buck, sequencing the characters’ inevitable demises and re-routing of fate, thus creating plenty of alternative death sequences. You might still know when it’s coming, but the care that has gone into transferring the carnage to 3D makes the mutilation, disembowelment and decapitation even more gut churning than ever.

Where Final Destination 3 lost its way, David R Ellis (who helmed the second film) has at least managed to rekindle some of the charms of the original, but those expecting anything revolutionary here will be disappointed. Although these films have always concentrated on the thrill of the ride, this is ultimately an unnecessary addition with little to add aside from slightly enhanced special effects and more implausibly elaborate fatalities.

When you have so little to work with in the first place it’s hard to keep such a formulaic franchise fresh. But although it lacks ambition and is comically daft, as pure popcorn cinema goes this splatter-fest is delivers exactly what it should: tension, mayhem and an unhealthy body count.

Adam Woodward

Anticipation:

Isn’t it time fate got the better of this franchise?

Enjoyment:

It might be lazy, but the 3D visuals make the gore more glorious than ever.

In Retrospect:

The absurd bloodshed just about salvages this instalment, but how much longer can this frail formula continue to dodge death?