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I respect James Wong as a horror director. The first
Final Destination was a fun take on the horror genre that
featured a spectacular airplane crash and many inventive,
simple deaths that followed. The premise was rather simple
but ingenious. Death has a plan and once that plan is ruined
(7 students get off of the plane), it has to go back and
correct its mistakes. It was a fun movie that to this day,
sometimes doesn't get the respect it deserved. ***
Wong skipped out on the second installment, which was
quite weak, thanks to really poor characterizations of the
main cast but came on board to close out the trilogy he
started. His presence behind the camera is felt right away
and Final Destination 3 becomes a movie that fans of the
horror genre can go to and actually enjoy. ***
Regular readers will know that I'm not a fan of the
horror genre (I was downright mean to Final Destination
2), usually, because it breeds generic, boring filmmaking,
where it seems that the goal is just to put as much blood
on the screen as possible. This series, though, has a different
hook, one that I enjoy. Instead of it being about how sick
people can get torturing other people, this is simply an
entity or a presence slowly correcting a wrong that happened
in the overall picture. It's a fun concept and it's used
brilliantly again in Final Destination 3. This movie gets
back to the core of the series and rights all the wrongs
that the second film inflicted on unassuming audiences.
***
Final Destination 3 doesn't try to re-write the book
in its third movie and starts off the same as the other
ones. This time, the setting is an amusement park and the
main character is Wendy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). She's
about to get on a huge roller coaster but has a premonition
of the ride breaking down and ending her and her classmate's
lives so she freaks out. Nine other people are forced off
the ride but the ride leaves, with her boyfriend at the
front. ***
Moments later, catastrophe occurs. The roller coaster
scenes is a beautifully terrifying set piece, constructed
with the utmost care when taking into account the level
of horror that the scene tries to convey. I know I'm not
looking forward to my next amusement park visit. Events
are set in motion and death is back, ready to claim the
lives of those who escaped. ***
The person beside Wendy, Kevin (Ryan Merriman), does
some research on the Internet (and yes, this part is a stretch)
and finds strikingly similarities to flight 180, from six
years ago. It seemed that somebody had a premonition on
that flight and strange accidents happened to the folks
who got off. ***
Wendy would be a fool to believe this, but the death
of the first two young bimbos to get off of the roller coaster
start her thinking, "maybe this wasn't an accident." Coincidently,
the death of the two bimbos is fun, as they are roasted
in tanning beds after a series of unfortunate events. ***
Other deaths involve things like fireworks, nail guns,
horses and trains. What's fun about this movie is that Wong
is able to keep things moving at a quick pace, not letting
the true weakness of the story shine through (everything,
admittedly, is a stretch from the premonition on). ***
While I know I might be coming off like a complete
hypocrite, heaping solid praise on this film while bashing
Final Destination 2 a couple of years ago. The fact is,
though, that Wong shows such flair and a steady hand while
directing these gimmick films that you can't help but be
seduced by their fun atmosphere. ***
Admittedly, though, the characters are just as weak
as the ones found in the second film. This time, though,
they are bearable because they aren't stuck in one room
together and they don't last long, either. Final Destination
3 is a throwback to fun horror, shying away for the gore
for gore sake motif that has littered the past dozen horror
releases. If you really need to watch a horror film, this
is the one to get grossed out with. ***
Transfer & Sound: New Line continues its tradition
of great looking transfers with Final Destination 3. The
deaths look nice and crisp. The black levels are pure and
there is little to no edge enchantment. The 6.1 sound booms
through the speakers to draw you into the whole experience.
***
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