Bilgi : Up to this point, the "Final Destination" series—the 2000 original and the 2003 sequel—have made a respectable name for themselves because of their imaginative twisting of the slasher genre. The killer, for one, is not a hockey-masked psycho with a butcher knife, but the unstoppable, unseen force of Death itself, paying a visit to whomever has cheated their own marked fatality. And two, the murder scenes are set into motion by clever Rube Goldberg situations that stop short of being plainly ridiculous because of a sort of morbid logic they create. Half the fun of a "Final Destination" movie is in guessing how the next character is going to get it, and the rest of the fun comes in the conception of the tragic first-act accident that sets the plot into motion.
With "Final
Destination 3," the third time is definitely not the
charm. Despite being more of a remake than a sequel
(original writer-director James Wong and
co-screenwriters Glen Morgan hand Jeffrey Reddick have
even returned after sitting out on the second film),
this latest entry replaces the Grand Guigonol
entertainment value of the earlier pictures with a more
somber and mean-spirited streak that leaves the viewer
feeling depressed rather than ready to applaud. Whereas
"Final
Destination" (and, to a lesser but still palpable
extent, "Final
Destination 2") took the time to concentrate on the
characters and realistically portray how surviving the
accident affected their lives, "Final Destination 3"
simply lines up a chopping block full of stereotypes
with no personalities and awaits their impending
doom.
First it
was a plane crash. Then it was a horrible highway auto
accident. And now the culprit is a rollercoaster gone
haywire. Wendy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and Kevin (Ryan
Merriman), along with their significant others, are out
celebrating their high school graduation at an amusement
park. Just as they are boarding an intimidatingly large
rollercoaster, Wendy experiences a premonition of an
awful accident that leaves everyone on the ride dead.
Causing a ruckus, Wendy and several of her classmates,
including Kevin, overly tanned cheerleaders Ashley
(Chelan Simmons) and Ashlynn (Crystal Lowe), goth
outsiders Ian (Kris Lemche) and Erin (Alexz Johnson),
and token black guy Lewis (Texas Battle), are kicked
off, only to witness the deadly accident occur moments
later. With their respective boyfriend and girlfriend
casualties of the rollercoaster, a mourning Wendy and
Kevin team up to stop Death's design when those that
escaped unscathed start perishing in freak accidents.
It's only a matter of time before their names come to
the front of the list.
For the
first time in the series, the premise of Death coming
back to haunt those unfortunates meant to die feels worn
out, most likely because director James Wong does the
bare minimum to differentiate it from the earlier
efforts. Aside from a plot development in which the
pictures Wendy took at the amusement park turn out to
feature eerie clues as to each character's ultimate
demise, the movie creaks as it goes through the typical
motions. The over-the-top death scenes, always a
highlight in its predecessors because of their complex
setups and unashamedly gory outcomes, aren't nearly as
craftily thought out this time, and their payoffs, while
certainly bloody, aren't as vividly shot and
conceived.
This
includes the rollercoaster accident centerpiece, which
holds the film's only genuine terror and tension, but is
unusually murky in its money shots. As director Wong
plays very well on many of the fears people have of
rollercoasters�the cart running off the track; the seat
restraints unlocking in mid-ride; getting stuck
upside-down during a loop�the events are depicted so
quickly that it is sometimes difficult to figure out
what is happening. Had Wong slowed this sequence down a
bit and milked the unsettling emotions rattled up by
each quandary the riders are faced with through the
nightmarish ride gone awry, he might have come up with
something to rival the stupendously horrifying and
larger scale highway pileup from "Final
Destination 2." As is, the scene is technically
impressive, but lacking the clarity and care to be
downright showstopping.
Taking over
for Devon Sawa and A.J. Cook before her, Mary Elizabeth
Winstead (2005's "Sky
High") is Wendy, the beleaguered heroine who
experiences the premonition. More so than Cook, Winstead
is fully convincing and even touching in her portrayal
of a young woman struggling to handle the traumatic
events thrown at her. Leading co-star goes to Ryan
Merriman (2005's "The
Ring Two"), adequate but unexceptional as confidante
Kevin. Finally, newcomer Amanda Crew shows promise as
Wendy's sister, Julie; their sibling rivalry that
gradually turns to mutual respect and love for each
other in the face of tragedy is as close as the movie
gets to depth. The rest of the cast (read: mincemeat)
are thoroughly forgettable in one-dimensional stock
parts that barely have a solitary defining trait each.
Why should the audience care if these paper-thin nitwits
live or not?
"Final
Destination 3" culminates much like the first film did,
grimly suggesting that there is no way to escape a death
that has been predetermined by fate. The crucial
difference between the two scenes is in tone. "Final
Destination" ended on a note of ingenious irony and
reason, leaving the viewer to shuffle out of the theater
on a jittery high. Curiously, "Final Destination 3" has
long since stopped being fun and games before this
downbeat epilogue, what with the characters being
treated as worthless beings whose only purpose is to
splatter into a hundred pieces and the premise refusing
to budge even a little from the inevitable.
On a
nitpicky, but additionally irksome note, why is it that
nearly every killing happens to occur in front of Wendy
and Kevin? Does Death spend his days sitting around
waiting for these two Nancy Drew clones to catch up
before unleashing his dirty deeds? Save for some
inspired, creepily placed music cues�"Turn Around, Look
at Me" by The Vogues, "Rollercoaster Love" by The Ohio
Players, and a cover of The O'Jays' "Love Train"�"Final
Destination 3" is sadly absent of the edgy suspense,
creativity and thoughtful moments of existentialism that
had previously made this horror series more than just a
cheap study in evisceration and decapitations. Without
these characteristics, there's no longer any point. |
