Final Destination 5 - review (2011)

When I chose this film to watch I had to admit I could not get the idea out of my head that something was going to go wrong.  The idea haunted me - no matter how I tried to set aside the fear it kept creeping into my consciousness.  What could be the reason behind this feeling?  Then I figured it out - since I did not see the fourth entry in the series I would be completely lost, playing catchup the whole way through.  That is not a good way to watch a film.  Wait, that couldn't be the source of my fear since every single one of these films was a carbon copy of the previous, if you have seen one you have seen them all.   Phew!  Maybe this terrible feeling was baseless and  I can lay my fears to rest and watch the film without worrying about being completely lost because of intricate plot lines.  All is well.  Oh no!  That is when it came to me.  I remembered exactly what it was that had planted this fear in me - the rest of the series was terrible.   Queue the dramatic music, camera pushes in tight, I scream, blood sprays on the wall - end scene.  Movie fate caught up with me for abusing this site over recent weeks.

It is true, this series completely lacks originality, but it must have something going for it to have made four sequels, right?  I wish the answer was yes.  The film's premise is (as it always is in the series) a group of teenagers survive a tragic accident which was supposed to have taken their lives.  Since they survive, since they cheated death, Death must come knocking and collect on the debt, killing them one by one in bizarrely creative ways.  You simply watch as one after the other meets their demise.  I wish there was more to it.  That's all.

The draw of the film, in its own sadistic way, is always the first sequence showing the tragedy that the cast has avoided.  This time around it is a suspension bridge that begins to self destruct around them - kind of freaky if you are not a fan of bridges.  Besides that, nothing memorable or even worthy of deconstruction.  The acting and plot are both quite shallow.  More time was put into creating just one of the bloody, outrageous deaths than was spent on then entire dialogue.

If you have a 3D set and you are still consider watching this film after reading this you may get a kick out of some of the effects - often cheesy, but a fitting use of the 3D effect for this type of schlock.  The opening credits are quite incredible.

3.5 out of 10