


Final Destination 3 (2006)

  Tags: Alexz Johnson, blood, comedic, death, final destination, gore, grim reaper, James Wong, Kris Lemche, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Ryan Merriman, Texas Battle, violent deaths

Your rating: None Average: 7.2 (18 votes)
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James Wong
93 minutes
Ryan Merriman, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kris Lemche, Alexz Johnson, Texas Battle

Rumors of a third film surfaced shortly after the sequel's release. It was originally thought that Tony Todd would have an expanded role in this movie, since he knew a little too much about Death in the first, and also made a slightly bigger appearance in the second. There was also early talk that the film would be in 3D, enhancing the viewers experience when it came down to the death sequences. Neither of these rumors proved to be true, as now that the film is released, we only hear Tony's voice (he voiced the devil for the roller coaster) and there was no sign of any three-dimensional viewing. Series originator James Wong returns after a hiatus from the second movie and brings us the third and possible last, installment in the ever-popular Final Destination series.

Now, just because the guy who started it all is back doesn't mean he will bring back the spark the first had. Nope, in fact, I thought Wong's attempt at combining elements from the first two movies ended up falling flat in the shock and entertainment department. The first movie was unique, fun, and interesting. The second movie obviously knew it couldn't follow the same routine, so it played with the audience by making us guess how or when these characters will die. The end-result was a lot of hilarious and gory deaths. The third movie naturally had to try and combine elements of both films. It was worth a try, but for the most part I don't think it was pulled off successfully.

In this film our heroine encounters another vision of a frightening death, but this time on a roller coaster ride. She manages to save a number of her fellow high-schoolers from impending doom. This, naturally, sparks a chain reaction of deaths, once again focusing on the seating arrangement on the ride to figure out whose next on the list. Of course no one believes our lead until they come close to death, in which-case they decide to hear her out in hopes of saving their own asses. The movie is basically the first film all over again, with a minor mix of the second movie, once again trying to shock the audience, but in less than sensational deaths. Compared to the previous sequel, the deaths in this movie were really nothing.

Though, in the flavor of the series, we're treated to an eye-full of gore-tastic deaths, which redeems the film from its drab plot-line. Despite all the trash-talking, the movie did manage to entertain me, just not as much as the previous two. Although the deaths aren't as extravagant or shocking, there were a couple that was unexpected. The story also seemed a little thin in comparison to the other two, which I also feel had more character development, where-in this case I didn't really care much for these people.

I personally think this is the weakest in the trilogy, but it's to be expected considering the previous two were held high in regards to entertainment and originality on my list. However, the movie does manage to squeeze in a couple unforeseen death sequences, the rest, however, seemed rather tame compared to its predecessors. With a thinner-than-usual plot and unlikable lead characters, I felt the movie seemed a little rush and fairly unintelligible.

Posted on July 3, 2009 - 12:45am | FrighT MasteR