If I had to sum up Final Destination 5 in two words, the words I would use are horrifically violent. This is by far the most realistic effects so far used in the franchise. I quite like the Final Destination series, they are a different take on the usual horrors. Final Destination 5 is the second to be done in 3D, unlike The Final Destination which featured some flat looking scenes the 3D in this one is of better quality.
Starting with an impressive intro credit sequence that throws everything but the kitchen sink at the audience the film cuts into the usual fare. A group of workers going on a team building trip encounter disaster when the bridge their bus is going over collapses killing everyone on board, except seven survivors, who due to a premonition by Sam Lawton (Nicholas D'Agosto) had managed to escape the bridge. As with all the previous films in the series the lucky few start being fatally unlucky as one by one they start to die in freak accidents. Hunted by the Grim Reaper who is claiming the lives of those who cheated death the survivors must find a way to defeat their destinies.
Final Destination 5 plays exactly like all the others in the series but this is not a bad thing as the real draw of the series has always been about the deaths. A lot of the films many deaths are really quite wince inducing, and there is a lot of them as technically all the characters die twice. Two of them have already been shown extensively in the trailers; one of a man having acupuncture who falls off his table onto the needles and one of a woman having laser surgery on her eye. The acupuncture one is quite grim as expected but the laser eye is truly horrific as the crazed laser burns zigzags' into her eyeball and she starts screaming. Other cool deaths include a nasty gymnastics accident, implements, crushings and explosions.
The plot is pretty standard fare, though the realisation that the doomed victims are able to save themselves by killing someone else in their place leads to some nifty plot developments. The film has quite a big twist at the end, though I guessed what it was about halfway through it. The characters are the usual mix of likable teens and idiots who get what they deserve. Final Destination's tone is more serious than the almost comedy of the later instalments, the overarching storyline of an ex-couple who reunite over the disaster is well done and really makes you root for them. The film ended with a highlight reel of the previous four previous entries death sequences, which makes me think that perhaps this is to be the final entry in the series that has yet to outstay its welcome.
While many of the deaths are ridiculous coincidences of fate I feel that is the point of them; Death is claiming back his stolen souls, so freak accidents are a natural fit for his method of retribution. The inclusion of Candyman actor Tony Todd as the enigmatic coroner (who has appeared in at least two previous entries) was well done with him getting virtually no screen time to defuse his mysteriousness (is he actually Death?).
Absolutely nothing special to see here, if you come to Final Destination 5 hoping to see original plot then you will be disappointed, but if your here for the trills then there are plenty to be found.
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