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Final Destination 2 Review By Shawn McKenzie 02/01/2003 Horror movie sequels are usually pretty bad (as pointed out in a good horror movie sequel, Scream 2), but when I saw the trailers for Final Destination 2, I figured this one was going to be one of the exceptions. 2000’s Final Destination was one of the few post-Scream horror movies that didn’t totally suck, so I welcomed the sequel. I was not disappointed.
A year ago, Alex Browning from the first movie predicted he and his fellow classmates dodged a fatal plane accident, Flight 180, only to find that it put a kink in Death’s design. To right the wrong of them escaping their predetermined deaths, Death kills them in the order they were supposed to die on the plane. The only one to escape her fate was Clear Rivers (Ali Larter), who is now locked voluntarily inside a padded psychiatric cell at a psyche ward. Now, a new person has gotten the same premonition as Alex. Kimberly Corman (A.J. Cook), on a car trip with her friends, sees a terrible traffic accident involving a logging truck while waiting in heavy traffic on an off-ramp. She considers it just a little too freakishly real, so she blocks all the cars on the off-ramp with her car, since they all were killed in her vision. She manages to save all their lives, which ticks Death off again. When lucky lottery-winning survivor Evan Lewis (David Paetkau) is suddenly killed in a bizarre fashion, Kimberly and Officer Thomas Burke (Michael Landes), the cop who pulls her out of the way before she could get run over by the logging truck, begin to question if the curse that afflicted Alex and his friends is happening all over again. Kimberly tracks down and seeks the help of Clear, who at first isn’t too eager to relive the horror. Together they gather the rest of the survivors, including Kat (Keegan Connor Tracy), Eugene (Terrence “T.C.” Carson), Rory (Jonathan Cherry), Nora Carpenter (Lynda Boyd), her son Tim (James N. Kirk), and others try to steer clear of being the next in line to die. Based on some obscure advice of Mortician William “Bill” Bludworth (Tony Todd), they figure the only way they can cheat Death is to track down a pregnant woman and keep her alive long enough to have her baby, so they break the Death rule and create life instead of take it (or something like that.)
Sure, they replace a plane accident with a car accident, but what this sequel lacks in an original plot makes up for in some delicious horror fun. The star of this movie is the special effects. For some reason, Death couldn’t just run them over with another car or give them a heart attack. No, they had to die in some of the nastiest ways I’ve ever seen in a horror movie (which means parents should take note that this one is not for the easily offended or easily disgusted.) There is one scene involving barbed wire that brings up memories of the impressive opening scene of last year’s Ghost Ship. If you like gross special effects, this one is for you.
The more impressive thing about the creative deaths in this movie is that they truly come at you surprisingly. Unlike last week’s Darkness Falls (see my review), you don’t see many of the deaths coming.
Final Destination 2 essentially uses the template of the first movie, but if you liked it, and you want to see a horror movie that actually shocks and surprises you, check this one out. How often do you actually see a horror movie sequel that lives up to the original?
Ratings System:
SEE THIS MOVIE!
Catch this movie at the theater if you can...
Wait until it comes out on video...
Wait until it plays on HBO, Showtime, Starz, etc...
Demand your money back, even if you saw it for free! |
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