User reviews

Student Alex Browning is set to travel to Paris along with his classmates, before he gets on the plane he has a vivid premonition, and sees the plane destroyed, he and a few others get off the plane, but death has a plan already mapped out.

I've always rated Final Destination as one of my favourite horrors, I think it scores incredibly highly in terms of originality, re-watching it now, I guess I find it a little corny, possibly not as good as I remember, but it still a fun watch.

It holds up pretty well, it's straightforward to follow, unlike some of the movies in the genre today. I think it's worthy of a 7/10, it holds your interest.

The special effects, for 2000 aren't bad at all, I think the plane sequences still look great, some of the accidents are perhaps a little less convincing.

Devon Sawa is fine as Alex, he plays the part well, even if the character is a little irritating at times.

7/10.

It's not surprising that critics bashed this movie. In a movie review, most critics primarily value cohesion, refinement, calculated expertise; clearly that is not Final Destination.

Much of the acting feels reminiscent of day-time TV shows. Lots of the dialogue is awkward, and contrived as ways to clarify plot points and move the story forward. The editing often fails to convey the right mood: seemingly dramatic moments coming off as humorous, humorous moments feeling at odds with the rising tension. In short, as with most teen horror flicks, this is not what most would consider a "good" movie.

But something special can happen when a movie stops taking itself too seriously:

Pure inventiveness.

The idea that the "killer" can be the fabric of life itself, instilled in me a type of fear I'd never expected from a horror film. Everyday objects like kitchen appliances and fishing rods are now something to be feared; it leads to a sense that you can't trust any aspect of the seemingly mundane world around you.

And though many of the deaths feel pretty ridiculous (though in incredibly entertaining ways), in a sense, they are also the most realistic deaths a horror movie could show. Freak accidents happen everyday. Most of us don't know how or when we're going to die; the world around you could be out to get you at any time. The fear comes through in the character's distrust in everyday life, and struggle against the inevitable.

From this paranoia comes a fun and compelling story, one with unexpected turns around every corner as the characters fight against this unique existential threat.

What Final Destination lacks in refinement, it makes up for in creativity and pure entertainment.

Final Destination is an awesome movie full of fun jump scares and humourous 'accidents' which is exactly what you want in this type of movie.

As there are half a dozen of these movies it does become a challenge to separate what deaths happen in each movie as they all blend together somewhat.

Its targeted at a teen audience, in spite of that the film works for all age groups. Check it out :)

LOVED IT.

Imagine any great slasher with no killer. No person to blame, nobody to see and NO IDEA HOW THAT PERSON WILL DIE. That's about the simple horror of Final Destination, and it was done in almost artistic ways.

While many movie-makers have been unwilling or unable to get into the meat & potatoes behind a good R-rated movie, the creators of Final Destination have no such restraint. In fact, the death scenes were so freakishly violent and intricate that they were interesting in and of themselves. Imagine the force of death (not the Grim Reaper, but the "phenomenon of accidents", if you will) being MAJORLY p***ed for having missed a few. Hence the plot.

To make matters worse, the director displayed "the little things" hyper-accurately. That alone made watching it really hard at times without wincing, flinching or screaming out loud. (*those who have seen this know EXACTLY what I'm talking about*)

As someone who goes to the movies every Friday, I have been waiting for this FOREVER!!

Oh, and by movie, I mean MOVIE... not FILM, not INDIE, not FLICK. A MOVIE is something that I first hear of through word of mouth, first see a glimpse of via previews of another MOVIE, and, after seeing it, leave the theater flashing back through great scenes and lines for the next few hours saying to myself "that was great!"

Final Destination was a great movie. They don't make them like this too often.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure if you were looking for flaws you could find them (no movie is perfect), but I wasn't and enjoyed my ride thoroughly as a result. Personally, I think that if you had the time to pay attention to those flaws while watching it for the very first time, I've got news for you: you missed a great movie.

The first Final Destination is recognized as somewhat of a classic in some circles, but for whatever reason doesn't seem to have been given its proper place in the pantheon. The idea for the story and the way it is executed, pun intended, is really clever, filled with diabolical humor and imagination. It's most ingenious device is making literally the entire world, from the most mundane object to the most innocuous event, into the "monster."

There are a number of super talented actor/directors in Hollywood. One of the most prolific is James Wong. In this film which he not only wrote, but directed as well he displays what many would consider his best work to date. This is the story of Alex Browning (Devon Sawa) who accompanies his high school friends on a field trip to France. However, moments before the plane departs, Alex has a premonition the plane will explode in mid-air. Sensing he is about to die, he breaks for the exit in a violent plea to leave the aircraft. When he demands to be put off, several of his friends add to his fear by panicking. When they are asked to leave, they are held by the security police in the waiting area, where they all see the plane depart and then moments later explode in mid-air. There after things which should go better for him, having saved peoples lives, go terribly wrong. One by one all the people whom he saved begin to die mysteriously with Alex realizing he knows why. Death stalks everyone, but in this story, they are warned in advance. The movie has some horrific moments, which the audience senses become more pronounced as death arrives. Great acting by the cast makes this film a must see. ****

FINAL DESTINATION / (2000) ***

Starring: Devon Sawa, Ali Larter, Kerr Smith, Chad E. Donella, Amanda Detmer, and Kristen Cloke. Directed by James Wong. Written by Jeffrey Reddick, Glen Morgan and James Wong. Running time: 90 minutes. Rated R (for terror violence and language).

I think it is safe to say every individual has different feelings about death. Some fear it. Others deny it. Most are weary in some way regarding decease. "Final Destination" is a perfect thriller for skeptics, detailing seven confused individuals who accidentally escape demise, discovering the impossibility of defrauding their destined time. The film's atmosphere provokes cringe through a presumably omnipresent force stalking the characters, producing audience participation whether the Grim Reaper is footsteps away from us all.

Devon Sawa ("Idle Hands," "Wild America") is a high school senior named Alex Browning. He and his French class are at an airport flying to Paris for a field trip with their teacher, Ms. Lewton (Kristen Cloke). Once on the plane Alex begins to experience a dream-like vision of the jet exploding in midair killing all of its passengers. As the plane is about to descend, Alex notices his illusion gradually comes to life. This leaves him no choice but to cause a small riot leaving him and six other passengers thrown off the flight.

Students Carter (Kerr Smith), the ignorant jerk and girlfriend Terry (Amanda Detmer), Alex's best friend, Tod (Chad E. Donella), other peers Billy (Seann William Scott), Clear (Ali Larter), Ms. Lewton and Alex watch from the airport as their late flight bursts into flames within minutes after takeoff-leaving these characters suspiciously confused about fate.

The film wastes no time depicting its setup. The rushed opening leads to lack of character development. Whereas the character's personalities are clear, we feel little remorse for many of them. The dramatic premise is horrific and revealing, playing like an extended "The X Files" episode without paranormal detectives. "Final Destination" is creative and full of variety; we witness the plane crash from two different perspectives, as a passenger and an observer.

Days after the crash, the survivors begin to die in unusual manners-almost as if a curse of death was placed on them for cheating demise. Alex digs deeper and discovers his companions are being killed by strange coincidences in the order they would have died from the explosion on the flight. In desperation, he attempts to contradict death for everyone remaining while under superstition of two disillusioned law enforcers.

There are a few overlooked characters in "Final Destination," mostly adults who seem to have an IQ score in the mid-nineties. The teenager's parents are left out most of the story. There is also a briefly creepy appearance by a mortician but is short-circuited by the plot. He is one of the many characters who end up explaining a lot of the plot to us.

Most recent teen horror romps feature a madman chasing characters with sharp objects. "Final Destination" is too smart to fall in that cliché, however. It has a punctual reason for inhabiting teens: these are young people full of energy and life, all the more reason for them to fight death.

The film, written by Jeffrey Reddick, Glen Morgan and director James Wong, never explains why the Alex character has visions of upcoming disasters. The idea makes for an intriguing story, but there are no interesting subplots or side characters here. Therefore without being backed up by supporting stories the filmmakers must thoroughly justify the character's reason for being. Wong seems to overlook Alex's illusions, a concept holding the entire movie together.

Although "Final Destination" provides many edge-of-your-seat surprises and tension, the film likes to poke fun at many of its scenes. Like the average teenage thriller, the movie takes itself seriously about three quarters of the time-leaving the last quarter as comic relief. Certainly having nothing against comedic sequences in horror flicks, I just prefer a movie true to its genre. Even though "Final Destination" is nowhere near perfect, it is the truest film to the teen slasher gender along time.

"Final Destination" is brought to you by New Line Cinema.

The one that started it all: a franchise of over-the-top "action," outrageous gore, and characters you often couldn't care less about. Yet in this one, none of those really apply. The death scenes are in ways subtle and clever, sometimes drawn out to exacerbate tension, while others are arguably very predictable, but nonetheless thrilling. The plane scene is chaotic and how it culminates, very intense. Aside from one decapitation, not much gore. Meanwhile the characters, in my opinion, are the best the series has had to offer, particularly thanks to Devon Sawa, and the personality he elicits in Alex Browning. Others satisfy, too, from Sean William Scott to Kerr Smith. There's some subtle humor, some drama, and some creativity to be had. As much praise as I have to offer the movie, it still has its many flaws and even silly moments. But for what it's worth, it was the beginning, and it remains a fun watch despite the slew of even more over-the-top installments that followed it.

Like my title says, it's good enough to watch. And for what it's worth, it is worth a watch as well. However, if you go into this based on the IMDb score and reviews you're going to be disappointed. I'm not quite sure why, but people on this gush over this mediocre movie. Let me say I usually put a lot of consideration on IMDB reviews as they are usually well within what I end up thinking. And let me say, this is not bad, I'm not saying that. But it's far from some unique, never done before story line that users here seem to want you to believe. It's not going to part the clouds, cure Covid or even win awards. But it will kill a couple hours of decent entertainment. It does its job fine.

Final Destination is the best part in the series (among 4 parts). Here is a really original idea and interesting set scenes of character deaths. In general, Final Destination is an interesting concept, I am glad that we were able to make a separate full-length film from the idea for X-Files. And although suspense is hardly felt when watching, you look further only for the sake of curiosity, who and how will die next.

'Final Destination' is most notable for two things mainly. The first being that it was the introduction of a fascinating and clever premise that is pretty unique for a supernatural horror. The other being that it was the feature film directing debut of James Wong, best known beforehand as a veteran of 'The X Files'.

It spawned four sequels with the fifth film being released in 2011. While it is flawed and somewhat of an uneven film, the first 'Final Destination' is still, six years after the fifth film, one of the franchise's better outings. Perhaps even the best, and the one where the premise feels the freshest. The more stale the concept got, the more the novelty wore off and the less effective the film. Could 'Final Destination' have executed its premise better? Perhaps. Mostly, to me, it did it quite well.

Visually, 'Final Destination' looks pretty good for low budget. It's slickly shot and very atmospheric, while the plane effects in the Flight 180 plane scene/explosion are quite impressive. The music score has a suitable eeriness.

The film is never dull and is a vast majority of the time fun and suspenseful, with elaborately creative death scenes that are ingeniously unsettling. The film's highlight is the opening Flight 180 scene, anyone already with a fear of flying will have their fear exemplified and it is likely to turn people from boarding a plane for a while. Wong does competently with the directing and the portrayal of Death is an interesting and well done one.

Acting varies, with personable Devon Sawa, affecting Ali Larter and Tony Todd's creepy cameo coming off best. Really liked the characters' surnames, that were nifty homages to horror/suspense icons.

Not all the acting works however. The others are saddled with one-dimensional and flatly written roles and are a mix of bland (Kristen Cloke) and irritating (Kerr Smith), also found myself not being able to take Seann William Scott seriously.

The biggest issue is the script, which is very high in the cheese and awkwardness factors and there is some clumsy exposition that often feels under-explored and not really going anywhere. Generally the story is nice, but things could have been explained better and explored more and it's a little too reliant on coincidence. Things also take a dumb turn towards the end before the film concludes on a logic-defying note.

Overall, patchy but entertaining. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Inventive, effectively eerie spine-chiller is a step up in the teen horror genre. High schooler Sawa has a horrific vision of his plane crashing just moments before its departure on a class field trip. He and several others exit the plane only to discover that it does in fact crash, but things take a shocking turn when the remaining survivors begin to die in the most mysterious ways. Story is intriguing, suspense ebbs and flows throughout, and there are enough violent deaths to satisfy the target audience. Although the ending is a bit of a disappointment and should have been planned out better, overall this is one of the better films of the genre. ***

7.5/10 Final Destination is a classic, thrilling rollercoaster of a supernatural horror film, 98 minutes of sheer madness, while the franchise is often remembered for its brutal and bloody death scenes, the first film offers more than just shocking fatalities, the characters, their chemistry, and their relationships add depth to the story, making the tension even more gripping, Devon Sawa, Ali Arter, and the rest of the cast may not deliver the best performance, but they were pretty good enough especially for this type of supernatural teenage movie, overall, i thoroughly enjoy Final Destination, an entertaining blood-soaked thrill ride, one that proves you can't cheat death, no matter how hard you try.

Final Destination revolutionized the horror genre with its ingenious premise, expertly crafted suspense, and poignant exploration of mortality. James Wong's directorial debut weaves a complex narrative that lingers long after the credits roll.

Devon Sawa shines as Alex Browning, a high school student whose eerie premonition of Flight 180's catastrophic demise sets off a chain reaction of events. Ali Larter's portrayal of Clear Rivers brings depth and nuance to the story, while the supporting cast delivers convincing performances.

*Suspenseful Storytelling* The film's pacing expertly balances tension and release, keeping viewers on edge. Wong's use of foreshadowing and clever editing heightens the sense of unease. Each death scene is meticulously crafted, making the audience question fate's design.

*Themes of Mortality and Destiny* Final Destination explores the human condition, confronting the inevitability of death. The characters' desperate attempts to cheat fate raise questions about free will and the consequences of altering destiny.

*Verdict* A masterclass in suspense, Final Destination remains a thought-provoking horror classic. With its well-crafted narrative, memorable performances, and haunting themes, it's a must-watch for genre fans.

*Positives:*

• Suspenseful storytelling
• Strong performances
• Poignant exploration of mortality
• Effective special effects

*Negatives:*

• Some dated CGI

"Despite showing its age, Final Destination's clever premise, well-crafted tension, and memorable characters solidify its place as a horror staple.

This film shows the sense of paranoia and fear about what will happen to you if you're gonna die like some unfortunate events will happen. You survived but only later to die another die. You never what's gonna happen. Great concept.

The film was memorable and original. I did recall myself being surprised at seeing this turning into a franchise. But this is not a bad movie AT ALL.

Would definitely put this as a classic that closed out the 90s era.

Final Destination has made my list as one of the best horror films in the wake of the teen/slasher revival. in fact it's the most original horror film since the original Scream and it may be better than Scream. There have been many cheap imitations(Urban Legend, i still know what you did last summer, etc) but this one is a keeper.

The film begins with the most exhillerating 15 minutes in recent memory(and if you're afraid of flying be prepared to be shocked). Alex browning(Devon Sawa) is getting ready to leave on a class trip to France. while on the plane he has a vision that the plan is going to explode. Later he awakes from this vison and immediately he goes crazy telling everyone the plane is going to explode. eventually 6 students and alex leave the plane and sure enough moments after the plane takes off it explodes. This is where the story gets interesting by getting off the plane Alex soon realizes that him and his friends have cheated Death and they have to figure out when death is coming back at them.

The one thing i thought was trully good about this film was whenever "Death" came after the remaining students that got off the plane it wasn't some grim reaper type guy you could see. whenever death was around it was very subtle. shadows, wind, etc. death never showed his ugly head. he used everyday thingst o kill his victims. in fact it was stuff that you could accidentally do in your home and that is what makes this film scary.

The acting is great. Devon Sawa proves that he can carry a film. he has great talent. Ali Larter is a terrific actress who is well on her way to becoming the best actress ofher generation, but Kerr smith of dawson's Creek shines here. he was really good and i hope to see him in more films.

Great film worth every dollar i spent to see it. 10

I originally sought out the movie because of the James Wong/X-Files link. I was hoping for some thought provoking movie in the Horror Genre. But I was disappointed. The story lacks depth. Its essentially a bunch of teens running around getting bumped off. Does that sound familiar? On the plus side - the start was great. After the first 15 minutes, I was left wondering where could it go after this? Unfortunately it went to exactly the same place as the movie "scream"! I thought it was a great movie to look at and the acting was good, it was just the story that was lacking. I would recommend the movie if your are into teen movies or if you are a "teen". I guess if your are into the X-Files - you might want to check out what Mr. Wong is upto - its worth watching - But not buying! 06/10

I really liked this movie. It's probably one of the better teen slasher flicks to ever hit the screen.

Let's face it: teen slasher flicks are not outstanding cinema. The writing is always lame, the plots are even lamer, they're usually vehicles for the latest trends in fashion and music and showcases of the heartthrob and/or bombshell-of-the-month. They're really just vehicles for post-pubescent hormonal stimulation.

But "Final Destination" is different. First, it has real imagination going for it. The plot is unlike your typical "madman in the corn chases teenage bombshell through puddles," it actually took some thought to put this together. It's not just shock-factor movie-making, they actually sat down and outlines how all the deaths would work in a way that keeps the plot alive. A tale of kids trying to cheat death's design is much harder to write than a dude with a chainsaw.

Then there's the death scenes themselves. Outstanding! I love a clever death scene in movies like this ... it's why you pay the $8! And these are some doozies. You can tell the filmmakers sat around for hours simply trying to find the coolest way to kill people. And if you have a sick mind (like yours truly), you'll find these death scenes simply hysterical! A really good movie. 8 out of 10. I'm giving it a high score because it's outstanding within it's genre.

Barky

Final Destination is a really good horror movie with a very strong concept revolving around the tragic inevitability of death. The focus on premonitions and a steady stream of supposed accidents frees this from the baggage that similar horror films often have and it's satisfying to see all of it played in a straight faced manner where the characters accept the reality of the situation without making too many annoying jokes.

Devon Sawa is great in the lead role. He's pained by the knowledge he carries and is the ideal protagonist for this thanks to his ability to communicate his character's resourcefulness, which almost makes up for some of the other characters' colossal stupidity. Ali Larter, Kerr Smith and Seann William Scott round out a generally solid cast. Tony Todd only has one scene but his sinister screen presence ensures it leaves a lasting impression.

James Wong's direction makes up for a lack of scares (although there is one killer jump scare) with a collection of large scale set pieces that revel in setting everything up and then taking its time to let all the dominoes fall into place in a bloody fashion. There's enough of these set pieces interspersed at the right time throughout to comfortably sustain this. Composer Shirley Walker brings a fittingly bombastic and eerie score.

Terrific beginning, kind of like the best twilight zone ever for the first half-hour. Then again, the twilight zone stories were so good because they were so tight, giving all the story and nuance that could possibly be injected into 22 minutes of film. I began to tire of this movie right around the time it would have wrapped up as an episode of that legendary anthology gram. The rest of the way is just watching to see what contrivance? will kill the kids in what fashion? and in what sequence?

So, very entertaining start but not enough stimulation to the intellect after the kids leave the airport