Final Destination 5 and Giving Yourself Up to Bloody Fate: A Movie Review (Blu-Ray)

*full disclosure: a Blu-Ray screener of this film was provided by Warner Bros.

Director: Steven Quale.

Writers: Eric Heisserer and Jeffrey Reddick.

This reviewer missed Final Destination 5 in theatres and that was a mistake. This is the second film in the series to offer the picture in 3D and the enhancements would have been best seen on a large screen. On Blu-Ray, the effects and gory deaths are still spectacular and the film crew have come up with something darkly magical in this prequel to the first film. Rated restricted, Final Destination 5 is a great film from its glass breaking credit sequence to its bloody aircraft crashing finale.

Most horror fans who have seen any of the films know the premise of this film and others in the series. Several characters manage to escape death by some supernatural intervention usually involving an elaborate and dangerous action sequence. However, the Reaper has not forgotten them. Now, the surviving characters, a crew of office workers, must cheat death by killing another or they can choose to simply succumb to their fate. No one comes out of this film unscathed.

The film's premise will also put viewers in a one up position compared to the characters' fated to die. The viewer knows what will happen to the survivors; the characters do not. This advantage inherent in dramatic irony only lasts until Tony Todd as the coroner tells the twenty-somethings what to expect. This is Todd's third appearance in the series and his foreboding is something of Greek Tragedy.

In Greek Tragedy the one prophesying characters' doom is Tiresias, the blind seer. Tiresias knows the fate of characters through a supernatural connection. The coroner is even more dark than Tiresias and when fate is foretold you only have a short time left. Fate cannot be avoided or changed. That is what Greek Tragedy and Final Destination 5 would tell viewers. But one of the benefits of modern society is knowing that you own your own fate. Yet, it is still fun to watch the character Peter (Miles Fisher) degenerate into a killer just to live a little while longer. And seeing death triumph in the end means the characters' fates were sealed in the first scene involving the toppling of a bridge.

Final Destination 5 is a great film and the gory effects along with the high production values make this film a definite recommend. As an aside, it is amazing to see how closely actor Fisher resembles a young Tom Cruise from his early career a la Risky Business. That mentioned, other great elements in this film include the creative way characters are finally offed. They are either burning alive from black tar or being impaled by a loose load of rebar. All of the film elements in Final Destination 5 create for a enjoyable time. Even the predictable premise undergoes a minor change or two to keep this franchise pumping on all cylinders. But, when you combine fate and tragedy the result will always be one of unavoidable horror and this film's finale does not disappoint.

Overall: 8.5 out of 10 (the devil is in the details and the quality of the work here is almost impeccable).

*extras include alternate death scenes, two special effects split-screen features and the "Circle of Death."

The film's official website is here:

The Final Destination Homepage is Here

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Posted in: 2011,2011 release,fate,final destination: Death Trip 3-d,movie review,supernatural,tony todd,warner bros.