Recently, Final Destination has become one of my favourite series of movies. I bought the first not long ago and have already watched it a couple of times. I also saw the second, and loved it. The first two Final Destination movies had managed to be some of the most entertaining and enjoyable movies I’ve watched in a long time. So when I saw the trailer for the third, I knew I had to see it. It looked amazing. On opening day, I went down to see Final Destination 3 and I have to say, I really enjoyed it. It was amazing! It’s a very different movie than the previous two, but still very good and definitely worth seeing on the big screen.

The first Final Destination was about Alex, a high school student who was travelling to Paris with his French class. Aboard the plane, right before take off, Alex had a dream that the plane would blow up and everyone would be killed. When Alex awoke from the dream, everything that happened in his dream started happening, leading him to believe the plane would blow up. Alex started a commotion and got 7 classmates taken off the plane in the process. All were angry at him, until the plane did blow up after take off. Alex had saved all the kids from dying. Unfortunately, they were all meant to die, and death started picking them off one by one, in elaborate death traps. Alex managed to figure out the order in which each of them was going to die, and also figured out how to cheat death, by looking for clues in everyday occurrences, which would suggest how they were going to die.

The second Final Destination was very similar, except this time the main character was a girl named Kim and she managed to prevent a huge highway accident. Soon, everyone she saved, started getting picked off by death.

Final Destination 3 follows Wendy, who is going to graduate from High School very soon. There is a big graduation party at an amusement park and Wendy is there with her boyfriend, Jason, and two friends, Kevin and Laura (I think). Wendy is taking pictures for the yearbook and having a great time. Her friends want to go on a roller coaster though, and like in the first two, Wendy has a premonition that the roller coaster will derail and everybody will die a horrific death. She screams for everybody to get off the roller coaster and about 8 people do, including Kevin. No one believes her, until suddenly, the roller coaster derails and everyone on it dies.

So now Wendy is deeply depressed and also disturbed that she predicted the accident. Soon enough, the people she has saved start dying off, in the same order they did in her premonition. Wendy soon finds out about Flight 180, where a similar thing happened and death was supposed to have killed off all the survivors. Wendy soon figures out that a similar thing has happened here and all the survivors are going to be picked off by death. She manages to get Kevin’s support and the two try and save the roller coaster survivors.

Wendy also starts finding clues in photographs hinting towards how people are going to die. The pictures she took at the theme park seem to contain certain clues towards how the different people are going to be killed off and she desperately tries to decode the clues so she can prevent people’s death.

If you didn’t like the first Final Destination, or the second Final Destination, don’t bother going to see this movie. Final Destination 3 is a combination of the two. It manages to retain the creepy atmosphere and eerie-ness of the first movie, but also manages to include tons of creative and gory ways for the characters to be killed off. James Wong has taken the first two Final Destinations and morphed them into one killer movie.

Final Destination 3 has its scares, but it definitely isn’t a very horrifying movie. There were plenty of 8 year olds in the audience, and although the content wasn’t too suitable for them, they weren’t too scared. Neither was I. The Final Destination movies were never very horrifying movies. I never felt uneasy going to bed at night after watching one of these movies. However, Final Destination 3 does manage to be eerie and creepy, which are completely different than being scary. Final Destination 3 won’t scare you, but it’ll probably manage to creep you out a bit. The roller coaster scene was pretty crazy and I’m definitely going to be creeped out the next time I go on one. It is very hard to explain, but Final Destination 3 has a really eerie atmosphere to it. The deaths aren’t really the freaky parts, but things such as the pictures, which hint towards the characters deaths. There was something about these pictures that sent a chill throughout my body. Same with the creepy mood and atmosphere of the movie. Final Destination 3 had most of the deaths at night, unlike the second, where everything occurred during day. This was a smart choice and made some of the scenes more eerie. Finally, I have to say that the tanning bed death was actually pretty disturbing and scary. It managed to scare me quite a bit and even though I know I’m being silly, I don’t think I’ll ever go in a tanning bed again (although I’ve never planned too anyway). Final Destination 3 isn’t a horrifying movie (despite a few scares), but still manages to be an eerie film and have a creepy edge to it.

What Final Destination 3 does do well is build up suspense. The movie keeps you on the edge of your seat, even if it isn’t scary. A lot of the fun of Final Destination 3 is not knowing how and when the characters are going to die. James Wong (director of this and the 1st) realizes that the audience knows whose going to die next, so he plays with the audience. He makes the deaths seem painfully obvious and make the audience believe they have everything figured out, and than suddenly throw the movie into another direction completely, which is totally unexpected and surprising. Final Destination 3 keeps you on the edge of your seat, since you never know what will happen next and how it will happen.

The deaths are also amazing, although none of the deaths in Final Destination 3 were my favourites. James Wong has crafted together some amazingly cool and intricate deaths. The deaths are the highlights of the Final Destination series, and I loved most of the deaths in this movie. I won’t give any away, besides the tanning bed sequence (since it is shown in the commercial) where through a series of small events, two characters get trapped in tanning beds which burn and scorch them alive. The fun of Final Destination 3 is seeing deaths traps come together and the filmmakers really had fun making intricate and creative deaths. They’re kind of creepy, in the sense that it makes you realize that a drop of water from a mug could ultimately lead to your demise, but they are also amazingly fun to watch. I know it’s kind of disgusting to enjoy watching people be killed off, but the deaths in Final Destination 3 are done in such a comical and enjoyable matter, that you can’t help but love watching them. The deaths in this movie are a lot gorier than in the previous Final Destinations, even though this movie only got a 14A rating in Ontario (I’m surprised). There’s people chopped in half, people burned, people decapitated and with their heads smashed open.

The opening action sequence on the roller coaster is really well done and frankly, I loved it. Through a series of events, the roller coaster starts to derail, and everyone on it is brutally murdered. The sequence is action packed and kept me on the edge of my seat. It also had a variety of different deaths (impaling, falling, crushing). Unfortunately, the scene in Final Destination 2 was way cooler, but this easily beat the plane in Final Destination 1.

Final Destination 3’s biggest problem is that it is so similar to the first and second movie. The Final Destination movies basically all have the same plot, and I guess some people are getting a little bored by the premise for now. Personally, I’d still like to see a fourth one, but the creators are going to have to start thinking up new twists to keep it interesting. The picture twist was somewhat cool, but I would’ve liked a little difference in the plot.

Final Destination 3, like the other two, is a very corny movie. Some of the lines are cheesy and some of the sequences are unrealistic and corny. This however, really isn’t a big problem with me. I kind of enjoy the cheesiness to the story and it makes the movie all the more enjoyable and fun at times. Final Destination 3 knows it’s not an amazingly well done horror and it’s not trying to be. Final Destination 3 is just trying to be a fun movie, and it succeeds. This is the best movie I’ve seen in theatres in a while. If you loved the first two, go see this. It’s got to be one of the best horror movies to come out in a while and you’ll have tons of fun.


Recommended:
Yes

Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12