Final Destination 5

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Myself

The new Warner Bros./New Line logo looks cool in 3D. As do the opening credits. I love love LOVE the opening credits to this movie!! It's ridiculously pandering to the 3D, really fun AND subtly takes you back to all the enjoyable kills of the last 4 films in the franchise.

And what a franchise it is. I love this one because instead of the usual teens getting killed by some stalker it's these elaborate Rube Goldberg-esque accidents ad the films take such glee in setting them up and foreshadowing the poor characters doom. Basically this is the most exploitative of them all because you only come to see it for the kills. And no-one can escape death.

Despite the many MANY films I have seen in 3D this year I believe this is the ONLY live action one that was actually shot in 3D. It looks really great (or at least it would if the projector had a little contrast, I think they WAY over-compensated for the glasses tinting in this cinema...) and it has a lot of fun poking stuff at the audience. Gimmicky but a lot of fun.

As usual (with the exception of the first film I think) the big opening accident is the most spectacular part. This time it's a suspension bridge collapse and my god it's beautifully realised. Truly spectacular and probably one of the best sequences in all the films, second only to the Freeway pile-up in film 2.

What I don't like about the series is the audience is always waiting for the character to catch up. We have to wait for them to grieve the loss of their friends, realise it wasn't just an accident, figure out the pattern, figure out the skipping, all those rules. But the deaths along the way do help. Now everyone is expecting them they have to throw in so many fake-outs it's hilarious.

They also, to my memory anyway, add in a new rule about taking someone else's years. Was that there before? Anyway what that does is make and end-game possible where previously there was none. A character could come out of this alive for the first time (although ironically none of them do.)

The links back to the other films as fun and it manages to keep the "final" final destination title of the 4th film intact too. Love these silly little films. Great fun.