(Review originally written at 27 October 2006)

Guess I was wrong. I thought that the Final Destination series could grow out to be a long series of movies, without ever loosing any of its power, as long as each movie would have new characters and settings in it. "Final Destination 3" however has lost lots of its power, when compared to the first two movies. This movie is definitely the least good of the series, not in the least because of its lacking originality and its level of predictability.

When you have seen the first two movies, this movie has very little new to offer you. Basically the storyline is the same and when you've seen the first two movies, nothing that happens in this movie should come as a real surprise. The false scares before the real big main scare, the upcoming deaths. When you've seen the first two movies, you're already prepared for all those things, so nothing comes as a surprise any more. It makes "Final Destination 3" not as powerful as the first two establishments of the series.

"Final Destination" had a plane crash. "Final Destination 2" had a huge pileup and "Final Destination 3" has a roller-coaster accident. Out of all the three this is definitely the least spectacular one. It's not as creatively constructed and quite frankly is also not spectacular enough. And above that, it also is quite fake looking, which doesn't help to make it any more believable.

The build up to the accident of the movie seems to take forever. It takes its time with its build up but without ever creating much interesting depth for the character. So basically the build up is an huge empty one, until finally the action occurs. After that the movie takes pace but yet also finds a way to put in some needless emotions that make things all the more less credible. The movie just has a bit too many unlikely elements in it, which does makes this movie an at times ridicules one.

But the movie also does some things well. The characters are all good. They're over-the-top and all extreme stereotypes but that works very well to the entertainment value of the movie. It makes the movie fun and the characters all likable, each in their own way.

The movie is still entertaining to watch, also thinks to its highly imaginative and creative deaths, although they unfortunately are not as good as in the previous two movies. But perhaps also the fact that this movie is not original and therefor also not surprising anymore, is the reason why the deaths in the movie don't work out as good, surprising and creative as in the previous two movies. Who knows.

All in all, the movie is still perfectly entertaining enough to watch but still I hope that this was the last establishment in the Final Destination series. Most of its power and surprises are already gone in this movie. More movies would definitely make things worse and will not be halve as good as the first movies, no matter how creative they will be.

6/10

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(Review originally written at 30 May 2006)

In the '90's the Scream trilogy meant the revival of the horror genre and teen-horror in particular. After that lots of horror movie were created that all were very much alike and of average (at best) quality. "Final Destination" however is one fine exception and it distinct itself from other genre movies through its originality. I consider "Final Destination" to be one of the most refreshing and original horror movies of this decade.

It's not a horror movie with monsters or scary serial killers. It's a movie with an invisible villain; death itself, which is determined to kill everyone that escaped his clutches. It's a great and original concept that is executed even better as expected. The fact that the 'villain' is invisible provides the movie with some moments that makes this movie distinct itself from any other movie out of the same genre.

Reason why this movie was even better than I anticipated were the deaths in this movie. Every death in the movie is highly complex and wonderfully constructed and executed. You know something bad is going to happen but you never know how and when. Therefor the deaths and way of death all still come as a surprise. It makes the movie very tense and also both scary and gory to watch at times.

The movie starts of with a spectacular (but still obviously 'low' budget) plane crash. Fortunately after its beginning the movie doesn't loose any of its pace and the movie mostly remains spectacular to watch throughout its running time, which is only 98 minutes short.

All of the actors are obvious B-movie material, which is fine and works out really well for a genre movie like this one. Don't get me wrong, the acting is not bad but none of the actors will win any big award, or star in a blockbuster any time soon. Fine exception, I must admit, perhaps was Seann William Scott who plays a fun role and perhaps shows his very best acting skills yet, in this movie.

The movie has some awkward moments and some weak dialog and character treatment at times but thankfully it doesn't really make the movie any less entertaining or good to watch.

An highly recommendable, refreshingly original horror flick that surpasses almost every other horror movie of this decade, so far.

8/10

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