The quality of a film is a funny thing. Of course, everyone wants a film to be good, otherwise seeing it feels like a waste of time and money. But sometimes, a film comes along that’s so bad in every respect, in it’s acting, writing, direction, and story that it almost comes around full circle and becomes enormously entertaining. One fine example would by Tommy Wiseau’s misguided drama, The Room, or James Nguyen’s ‘homage’ to Alred Hitchcock, Birdemic: Shock and Terror. However, I have not once come across a film more hilariously terrible than The Final Destination.
It is, while not the most well-made of the franchise, certainly the most entertaining. Everything that previous film’s got wrong, the tone, the over-the-top kills, everything here is turned up to eleven. Oh, and its in 3D. That doesn’t help. I am now refusing to summarize these films, because I feel I am now just repeating myself. Take the synopsis from the Final Destination 3 review and there you go. It is literally the same story, but now with even less creativity. There is a big crash at a speedway race, and this is when you can either switch off or keep watching because this opening scene sets the tone perfectly for the rest of the film.
When you see this scene, if you think, “this is tripe. I’m not enjoying this,” then turn off the film and go watch something else. It does not get better, I can assure you. However, if you think, “ha! This is hilarious!” then by all means carry on because it is a bucket of laughs if you like laughing at bad movies. It really depends on what you like.
The deaths in The Final Destination are something to behold in the realm of bad films. The CGI is some of the worst in big budget film history, and the 3D is utilized horribly. The DVD and Blu-Ray copies of the film come with two pairs of 3D glasses, so you can make a friend endure the same migraine you are currently experiencing. Seriously, they are horrible. The glasses are the old red/cyan style, but it really doesn’t work. Things neither pop out of the screen or have added depth, no matter how hard they try. In the cinema, I can imagine this being quite fun having a screwdriver being launched into your face, or the pole someone just got impaled on popping out of the screen, but them trying to flog this at home is just ridiculous. Do not use it unless you want a splitting headache for an hour and half. I honestly couldn’t get past the ten minute mark.
The acting in this film is possibly the worst in the franchise. None of the actors have any charisma or discernible talent at all. Bobby Campo might as well have been named Blandy McBlandbland for all the difference it would have made. The script isn’t all that much better. Maybe the screenwriter should attend a ‘scripting for dummies’ class, in which he would show off his newly completely script for the fourth installment of the Final Destination franchise (a series with about as much life and fresh ideas as a pane of glass) to the teacher, only to have it ripped up an thrown in his face after one look at the title. Yes, everyone has made fun of this title, and I’m not about to be left out. The film is entitled The Final Destination. So we had Final Destination, Final Destination 2, Final Destination 3, The Final Destination, and Final Destination 5. What is the point of not naming it numerically? Do you just want to mess up people’s filing systems? The Fast and the Furious did this is too, in the same year no less, calling it’s fourth installment Fast & Furious. Quite frankly, it’s very annoying and we all know everyone’s just going to call it Final Destination 4 anyway.
The Final Destination is a must-watch for a bad movie lover. If you enjoy riffing on films Mystery Science Theater 3000 style, then this is the perfect film for you. The acting is atrocious, the dialogue is cringe-worthy, and the kills are over the top and ridiculous, especially a scene at the end set in a shopping mall involving a cinema and an escalator. I won’t dare spoil it for you, even though the trailer already does that, as with nearly every other death in the film. Although, to be honest, there’s really not much other material they could have shown. The ending should have put an end to the franchise, but obviously not, as the chance that the studio is just going to wrap up the series now when there’s still lots of money to made from it is very slim.
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