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James
 Rep: 664 

Re: Final Destination 5 3D

James wrote:

This comes out in a few days and after reading this review at Bloody Disgusting, I am definitely gonna watch this. If they are correct that its better than FD 2, this is going to be killer.



From BD....




When you get to the fifth film in any franchise it's easy to make bold proclamations such as: "it's easily the best" or "it's the best sequel" in the series. The jokes surrounding Transformers 3 this summer were such that many critics would declare the obvious in stating that it was "better than" part 2 – a beyond obvious observation. Expect the same with Warners and New Line Cinema's Final Destination 5, only know that it's an entirely different beast altogether. Critics (specifically those who have a soft spot in their heart for the series) will celebrate it as the best sequel in the franchise; but know this: it truly, whole-heartedly, genuinely, and without a shadow of a doubt IS the best. There are no qualifiers.

When a franchise enters its (rare) fifth incarnation, most studios will pound the calculator, check the numbers, and half-ass out sequel after sequel until the opening weekend box office numbers fail to meet their expectations. The sole plan is to "milk" the fan out of as much money as they possibly can, which is what The Final Destination felt like back in '09. Simply put, it was garbage. It became a self-referencing, meta-machine bloated with cheesy kills as a device to move the movie from scene to scene.

I don't know how or where the change occurred, but all of a sudden the people behind the Final Destination films realized that the fans deserve WAY better, and decided to take the fifth film deadpan serious. Using the words "fourth sequel" and "serious" in the same breath may seem laughable from where you're sitting, but I implore you to see for yourself.

My long-winded, filibustering introduction does have a point, but unfortunately, to explore these thoughts, it would ruin what will be a "stand-out-of-your-seat and cheer" moment in FD 5. The big OMFG.

But I digress, the essence and soul of the first Final Destination film has returned. FD 5, from James Cameron protégé Steven Quale, takes itself serious and drops the meta-kills from the previous three entries. It instead opts to tell an actual story, builds upon the mythology, and uses both to deliver off-the-charts suspense. Penned by up-and-coming genre star Eric Heisserer (The Thing, A Nightmare on Elm Street), FD 5 realizes his vision/concept to the full extent (unlike Elm Street, which was butchered by a hack known as Sam Bayer). Heisserer has an uncanny ability to lateral think franchises and attack them from a completely fresh and unknown direction. FD 5, while remaining true to the original film, also dabbles in something completely unknown to any of the films – personal differences. While in ALL of the Final Destination films each character is killed off in their own personal, self-serving world, FD 5 steps back and asks, "What would REALLY happen?" While some of the exposition gets a little porky, the third act takes a very interesting turn when a few of the survivors become entangled in a battle of logic. Based on the rules, who deserves to live and who deserves to die? It causes one of the characters to lose his mind and thus a fistfight ensues. And within this fistfight, Death is making his own plans. It's suspense overload that had me squirming in my seat like a 5-year-old watching "Barney".

If I owned a film school, Final Destination 5 would be a required watch. It's the kind of movie that would make Alfred Hitchcock, the master of suspense, proud. It's a lesson to filmmakers on how to build tension so tight that it's shocking no viewer had brain hemorrhaging. Quale really takes his time with each "kill set piece" as he literally introduces dozens of potential hazards and then hangs on them for heavy seconds. The survivor is then dropped right in the middle of the death zone, and does a dance around all of these various hazards. It's beautifully choreographed, much like an epic fight sequence in an action film. Quale squeezes every ounce of air out of your body and leaves very little room to breathe. Suffer from asthma? Bring your inhaler.

To build on the positive; the 3-D does put a punctuation on the experience, and the over-the-top gore remains intact. There's little screen time wasted, as nearly every second is intensely engaging. And the finale is such a shocker that it's going to force you to revisit every film in the franchise. Hopefully my long-winded review is enough evidence to support the statement that Final Destination 5 is the best sequel in the franchise, and I can thus guarantee this will be filling a slot in my top 10 of 2011. The only bad thing to come out of all of this is knowing that they will NEVER be able to top it…

Editor's Note: I was going to give the film 4/5 skulls, but if it truly is the best sequel in the franchise, then by my logic it MUST score better than Final Destination 2.

Score: 9 / 10

Axlin16
 Rep: 768 

Re: Final Destination 5 3D

Axlin16 wrote:

Holy shit... let's try not to oversell it.

Final Destination 5-3D - Hitchcockian in nature? Jesus tap dancing Christ what a statement to end all statements.


I really thought the original FD was just an amazing, original horror film, and really was one of the last of it's kind. Post late-90's, original American horror films kind of dried up, and even the DTV stuff that was overlooked, was overhyped by horror enthusiasts.

FD wasn't one of those films, and was quite well-led by Devon Sawa & Ali Larter, and EXTREMELY well-written by "The X-Files"-team of James Wong & Glen Morgan, almost as if the film's supernatural concept could've been an outtake from legend-era X-Files.

But Bob Shaye in typical New Line fashion couldn't stop with a potential cash cow on his hands, and sequelized the franchise with hokey, campy, kill-crazy, no motivation sequels to cash in.

FD2 was actually well-received on my end, and although it wasn't FD1, it was a nice little "extra violent" sequel to check out, which would kind of wrap up and not wrap up the original film. And had it stayed that way, it would've been beautiful.

But FD3 & FD4 were films that just reeked of "gimme your money". FD3 was bloody horrible, yet FD4 somehow found a way to be even worse if it was even possible. Never since the Hellraiser films, had horror seen such a drastic decline in quality from a Parts 1 & 2, to Parts 3 & 4.


So for FD5 to hit "best ever", or at least "best sequel" territory, is quite a statement, and a little hard to believe.

However it's not entirely impossible for a 5th installement to surpass all. I earlier this year went into "Fast Five", with a friend couple, and had Z-E-R-O expectations. I was absolutely stunned when I received the best "Fast and the Furious" film that had ever been made, so much that it actually was no contest at all who the victor was.

So maybe, just maybe, with a down economy, lack of original ideas, and Hollywood desperate to tap the brand names in their vault WITHOUT a loss in revenue due to a decline in quality, that now they are actually starting to INVEST in these franchise films for the future with quality installments.

It's probably a long shot, but here's to hoping for another golden age for the franchises.

misterID
 Rep: 476 

Re: Final Destination 5 3D

misterID wrote:

I saw 5 minutes of THE Final Destination on HBO the other night and changed the channel. I've really felt that way about all the sequels. But I'll give this one a try.

Axlin16
 Rep: 768 

Re: Final Destination 5 3D

Axlin16 wrote:

Yeah, FD4 was one of the worst films i've ever seen. Horrendous.

Like I said the other day in the 'recent films' thread... FD4 was so campy, it made Freddy vs. Jason look like the original Dawn of the Dead.

James
 Rep: 664 

Re: Final Destination 5 3D

James wrote:

While I usually hate cams, I just downloaded a cam of this film on Pirate Bay. Supposedly its pretty good quality. May watch this tonight before going to bed.

Axlin16
 Rep: 768 

Re: Final Destination 5 3D

Axlin16 wrote:

Yeah, I don't do that anymore. The last cam I downloaded was for Scream 4, and the quality was good for a cam, but I just couldn't get into it with the quality being like it was.

If it's something like Halloween 6: Producer's Cut, I can dig bootleg quality... but for a brand-new movie, it's either go see it, or wait for the rental.

Anna
 Rep: 8 

Re: Final Destination 5 3D

Anna wrote:
James Lofton wrote:

While I usually hate cams, I just downloaded a cam of this film on Pirate Bay. Supposedly its pretty good quality. May watch this tonight before going to bed.

Did you watch it yet?



I went to the movies to go see it with my friend! It was hilarious being with him at the show he kept ducking...lmao!!! It wasn't scary to me just really gory and they don't need to make anymore after this hmm

James
 Rep: 664 

Re: Final Destination 5 3D

James wrote:

I watched Analyze This instead. Not nearly as funny as I remembered it. I'll watch FD5 tonight.

RussTCB
 Rep: 633 

Re: Final Destination 5 3D

RussTCB wrote:

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