Final Destination 3 – Review

Thanks to my new friend Mark from HNR Carol and I got to go and see the Vancouver premiere of Final Destination 3 at Cinemark Tinseltown last evening.

James Wong, writer and director of the first in this series of three, has returned to take another stab at scaring horror fans to the box office after being shut out of terrible Final Destination 2 by Newline. Aside from cashing in on the success of the first film (or two), the whole point of making a sequel is to top one’s self creatively. In some respects he succeeded but in others, namely the writing of the piece, the film falls far short.

I enjoy seeing films shot here in Vancouver. I spend a lot of the film taking note of locations I’ve been to and actors I recognize or have worked with. This one did not disappoint. One of the star locations for this film, the PNE, specifically the rollercoaster, is extremely familiar to Vancouverites.

However, as we drove by the PNE on our way to the theatre I thought, “How does a rollercoaster accident outdo a plane crash?” I got my answer about 10 minutes into the film. It doesn’t. Although deliciously gory the rollercoaster crack-up just didn’t have the impact required to get the movie off to the heights attained by an exploding plane full of kids in the first film.

The writing went pretty much downhill from there. The weak, hackneyed storyline with plot holes large enough to fly a plane through and unidimensional characters seemed only to exist to get us to the next ultra violent death awash in blood, guts and brain matter. Brain matter and splatter that always seemed to end up on the lead actress’s horrified face. There was an attempt to create a photographic subplot ala The Omen however that didn’t quite measure up either.

There are a few things that save Wong from getting an F for this film:

1. Shockingly creative and blood-soaked the death scenes – If its gore you like then this is a film to see. It earned its R rating well and pulled no punches in that regard. Being a fan of things vulgar I found myself laughing out loud and even clapping at some of the most shocking moments.
2. Acting that transcended bad writing – Not an easy thing to pull off. This cast of relative unknowns who we’ve seen pretty much only in other films in this genre did a bang up job.
3. Interesting use of the camera – Being a complete sissy I was actually freaked out by some of the amusement park footage.
4. Successful mix of CG and other special effects – A lot of directors use CG for every effect. Wong did a fantastic job of keeping the on-set SPFX team employed while utilizing his CG team to enhance the finished footage.

This film doesn’t pretend to be The Exorcist, but entertain it did. At least I was amused. What I learned? Death can be funny. I give it a 5.5 out of 10.