It's The Final...Destination (Being Traumatized By Everyday Life Occurrences Since 2000)

Welcome to another episode of Nick Nack Goes To The Movies.  With nothing crazy coming out that I was dying to dedicate to a whole episode.  I wanted to tackle a longstanding horror franchise that had been on my desk for ages, in the early inception of this podcast.  And with the day that it was, I was curious for a 4th themed horror something or another too.  And we did I Know What You Did Last Summer already, so it was time for this franchise to have a Final Destination on this movie review podcast.  

5 movies to go made from 2000-2011, it has been a bit since we tackled a full franchise, but this was the one to bring those episodes back for a bit before we get lost in the Summer blockbusters like Nope and the latest Thor movie.  And there are some name brand enough actors in this, horror legend Tony Todd along with Sean William Scott, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and of course Courtney B. Vance.  While this franchise might not get the love others do as a complete body of work, there are some cool ideas explored throughout, and that first one and a few really cool set-piece moments that really do traumatize you from everything in the world.  So let's be afraid of the world together and get through all of this franchise on HBO Max and see if we make it through!  

What is your favorite of the bunch and what is your take on them as a whole series?  Let me know on social at Nick Nack Movies and NickNack_IC on Twitter, Instagram, Tik Tok, and Letterboxd.

Transcript

Nick Nack Goes to the Movies Pod S3E12

-Intro/Jingle

-Whatup party people!  And yes, I am defining a party much like what I consider my social life at times, sitting alone and watching a movie or for some reason getting way too into Motherland: Fort Salem on the comfort of your couch.  Gosh I still can’t believe how long after I moved to Wisconsin I was using an air mattress for a fake couch until this one came in, totally worth the wait, and RIP that air mattress, you left this world in a manner befitting a staple genre of this podcast, thanks to a friend of the show, you know who you are!

-But speaking of the genre in question, horror overall, I didn’t really feel like dedicating an entire episode to Elvis, but make sure to check out my video review of that on all social platforms, Nick Nack Movies and/or Nick Nack underscore IC.

-Instead I had been sitting on this episode topic for quite a while actually.  During Covid, like the rest of you, I got onto Tik Tok, made this podcast, which just eclipsed 3.5k downloads, so thank you all for that, and did a bit of work out stuff, working to get back to 167-pound Nick again.  But I also got super-duper into horror, and one of the earliest toe taps into the genre was the entire Final Destination movie franchise.  It was one of those that I had heard was scary to a degree, but also some of that peak cheese I like melted in with my scares.

-While I didn’t remember these Final Destination films too fondly outside of the first one, that was years ago for my first and only watch through of these, so who knows what could change.  I just know it stuck with me being my third-ever Tik Tok video I posted, and one that took the most of my Premiere Pro editing and High School Theater and College TV show acting skills.  So, let’s see if this can become a re-watch favorite for me like Scream, Halloween, Purge, and Friday the 13th.  Or will this be my final watch through of the Final Destination fivesome.  No need to beware spoilers, but beware of pretty much everything else in the world around you.

-Also, quick formatting thing since it has been a bit since we did an entire franchise episode, especially one such as this.  So, in short, if you ignore the end of the last one of these, they are all isolated movies with almost little to no carryover characters outside of one character who makes it into two movies, so actor things we will go through movie by movie, with pretty much wholesale swaps each and every time.

-Final Destination

-If you want to watch along with this franchise episode, all 5 of these are available right now on HBO Max, so it is the perfect thing for the summer of streaming.  

-The first one for most franchises will almost always be the best looking back, some would argue the original and prequel Star Wars Trilogies as well as Lord of The Rings, even though I really love Fellowship, and a few more transcend that rule.  Even before we get going I think that is the case with this movie, the first one had a sense of mystery, intrigue, and honestly, a little more in the scares department.  The later ones, you will see get pretty goofy, and not in a way that always makes it worth it.  Jason X is a terrible movie, but it is so funny, it is weirdly near and dear to my heart in a way this franchise never could be.

-But that being said, this first one at least had the most in the way of recognizable enough actors outside of the last one.  Ali Larter from Heroes fame, Seann Williams Scott from pretty much every Comedy Central movie you remember at like 2 am, and that surprisingly good Goon hockey movie.  I can’t say I was super familiar with the lead, Devon Sawa, but there is no doubt for the franchise leads, he has to be the best of the lot.  And probably the biggest name in these movies, and one of the bigger names in horror overall, Tony Todd.  From his stint in the Candyman franchise as the main villain, here, way too many one-off horror movies, he lends his voice and impressive acting presence to this franchise as, pretty much as far as I’m concerned, the closest thing this series has to a consistent presence, and his role is neat.  Also remember when he in season 3 of the MTV Scream special a few summers ago, also super fun.  Gosh I wish I was watching Scream movies or this terrible Day of the Dead TV Show.

-Let’s get it out and about quickly, this franchise is pretty much about someone has a death vision and saves a bunch of people, and death comes back, invisibly-ish except whatever Tony Todd’s presence is, and gets them good.  The premise is neat, especially early on.

-If there is one thing this first entry does well, it is having a really good take on ambience and atmosphere.  This movie always feels creepy and the foreshadowing is second to none.  The numbers and messages flashing throughout are a treat to try and spy for eagled eye viewers, which I guess is nothing new to horror overall.  

-Also, while friend of the show Caleb will always groan, probably rightly so when movies sneak the name into the movie, what are we some kind of suicide squad?  While this isn’t so goofy as that, what is this some kind of final destination.  Instead subtly seeing the final destination tag on the luggage and where the franchise gets part of its name from, the final destination for everyone in these being death, neat touch.

-I am not saying that Final Destination sets out to ruin seemingly mundane things, but I feel like once I saw this movie, flying became just a bit scarier.  The way that this movie, and our lead, focuses on every little thing wrong with the plane, it makes you think about the same anytime you are anywhere ever.  I really do think I captured the view and feel of these movies in my Tik Tok performance and I think I have earned at least a small cameo role in some sort of horror movie or at least a sponsorship with Cado, the vegan ice cream I live off of.  So Cado, sponsor me and it will be sensational for both of us.

-And especially with the first foray into this, disaster premonition genre, the fakeout of everyone dying being a dream hits so well when you really haven’t seen it oversaturated and drawn out.  And this entry still plays with the notion of trying to explain not only what is going on, but how Sawa knew it and throughout the movie, how death things will happen.

-There is something kind of cool missing from the other 4 of like the law thinking he is a suspect somehow causing things.  

-Because there is a ton of grief and therapy overcoming grief in this movie especially, and the franchise overall, that is a main part of these, and it is one of the many reasons we needed to talk on this series on this podcast, that is a staple of them overall.

- Now the plane death vision was pretty brutal, but still palatable, I really am talking a lot of trash on the other 4 without even going into them too heavily yet, we will get there after talking praise for this entry and what it does well.  But the first death of a character is actually kind of fun, once again focusing on these little drips or nails unscrewing, those are big things in this franchise to signal death, that or screws magically unscrewing.  While we never do see why certain people have the vision of death, the premonition thing definitely makes you wonder if they will ever be explained, a 6th one is coming eventually, not that I am super jazzed for another one of these.

-I really did like mood for death of these, we can treat death like a person or serial killer, but the first like vision of a new clipping caught in a fan to write out a warning for death, that is good.  Now how the death actually happens, it is goofy, it is really goofy.  But the more reserved nature of these kind of makes them better in my opinion.

-Maybe I overanalyze things, but there is a point in this movie with both characters breaking into a funeral home and standing in a coffin, once again, foreshadowing.

-While you know I like my horror franchises to have a titular lead, which Sawa and Larter could have been apparently until one decided to leave and the other was killed off quick, but Tony Todd really is amazing in these movies, seeing younger him ham it up and just say menacing vague things, so good, 10/10.

-The deaths are shocking, even knowing the setups, they can still get you.  This movie is the epitome of if you see something strange going on, moral of the story, you need to stop what you are doing and get out of there.

-I feel like I remember that first teacher death being one of the most brutal but still somewhat reserved enough to not like make me think this is super stupid like some of the later entries.

-Maybe looking at it, maybe I enjoy the character archetypes more in this one, the loner girl, the strange reluctant here, the jock bully, the goofy guy, among others.  Sometimes in these movies after there is just some strange horrible people I just don’t care for at all, they have a ton of unlikable characters.

-Shoot, I might actually buy this movie on DVD, it is actually kind of fun, more fun than I remember.  Maybe I would have liked these more as a whole franchise if they did not kill Sawa off-screen and kill of Ali Larter in the sequel, even if she made it through most of that one.  But imagine a whole franchise dedicated to one man and his reluctant but self-sufficient plus one along for the ride as they try and survive movie after movie, new cast members get included along the way and killed off, but these two continue to fight Tony Todd and death itself.  Also, the end of this movie does lead to the notion that Larter also has that vision, which we sadly never get to see come to fruition.  That is something I could have gotten behind, maybe the franchise would have been less goofy overall if that had come to pass.  Sawa was a pretty good lead and I liked the chemistry build that was blossoming between him and Larter.  This one has Scream vibes even with a faceless serial killer.  The end conflict is strong, the story is super interesting, both almost die, and there is kind of a setup for a sequel with the two-remaining people as the central focus.  This is fun movie with, albeit some cheesy lines and a few goofy deaths early on, but overall, this is for sure a movie you could rewatch and still enjoy time and time again.  I did not know if this was one I was really thinking of with I would want to own it, but now that we are here, I kind of lean that way.  But now we will discuss together why this might be better off as a one off and avoiding the other 4, or if you and I need to rewatch these more than once or twice.  I will stand to this thought process with the Alien movies.  You can end those at 2 and be better off for it without the Promethus movies at all, without the xenomorph shark, or whatever happened with 3, even if Charles Dance is in that one.  If you want an Alien or Predator refresher, you can check those episodes out here too.

- Final Destination 2

- So, the sequel has probably the most horrifying traumatizing scene from all of these, the infamous log scene.  Sure, flying could mess with you, but if you are driving and see one of those big log trucks even years after seeing this movie, you can’t help but be a little more scared than maybe you should be.

-Now I don’t know if I really think on any actors in this entry besides the returning Ali Larter after killing Sawa off-screen with a brick to the head, a brutal stupid death to the main guy from the first one, I hate that, flies in the face of the original.  But outside of Larter and of course Tony Todd, the only new add to this movie, which was more an IMDB search over anything else, the voice of Mace Windu in the very good Clone Wars animated series is in this, Terrence, TC, Carson.  So that was quick on whose who, but to the movie at hand, and of course the wild start.  

-We have seen crazy traffic things in movies, car chases, we have even been warned by the highway in the second Matrix movie, but nothing compares to this.

-The tough thing before we hit the road, is this movie relies on narration and one conspiracy theory tv guy who has no bearing on the movie, which I wish he did have more of a role, would have been neat, but instead we kind of know what is coming with these, and now after the first one, we can’t just retell this movie story over and over again.  They have to somehow up the ante, and adding all that extra crap onto the franchise does not always do what you need it to.

-The line of can we get the guys I am getting horny and bringing whips and chains jokes in front of a dad is hilarious and brutal in all the wrong ways.

-This freshen up just doesn’t feel like we want it to with almost knowing exactly what will happen at some point or another in this movie, some catastrophe will happen, and I care way less for these random people on the road or friend groups over everyone else from the last one.

-While we never go get any sort of reason why random people keep getting premonitions of death, there is something neat about the friend group dying off in the real accident, so at least it flips the script a bit, but there is less personal connection with the group and more random strangers drawn together because of circumstance, that is less exciting.  But yes, the pileup death scene with the log truck was a visual spectacle.

-While I don’t remember all of the deaths of this franchise, or just the movie overall, I do remember the first of these deaths with the letter magnet foreshadowing of eye on his fridge before he gets got in his eye.  These movies end up being more hardcore then they have any need to be, this one is still tolerable, but the last few feel like garbage Rob Zombie had a hand in them.  Yes, we are still making fun of him.  But we can go after of course body horror and Men here too, because the grosser these get, the less likely I want to watch them.  And it is not a gore thing, I just dislike body horror overall, that is the best way I can explain it.

-If nothing else, even though I wish we had some more connective story work from the first one, this one has some super cool death visuals, and having tree branches look like skeleton arms of death reaching out it neat.  The threads from the first one exists mainly with the story of the first one being told and seeing Larter institutionalized in a padded room to avoid death coming from her like her ex.  Being voluntarily there so there is no way to get got by death.

-In the same way that including both Sawa and Larter would have been cool, I also kind of wish Larter would build on her seeing the signs too and having her as the main character moving forward instead of mostly anthology movies.  

-It is crazy how many nails and liquids are the main culprits of these movies, liquid pileups or puddle-ups are a huge factor of these entries as a whole.  I guess interestingly there were signs of things going wrong here, just people didn’t see them, but this movie does more and more with fakeouts compared to the last one.  But the deaths here seem vicious, kids getting crushed by a pane of glass for no reason is too much.

-Also, Tony Todd is significantly less exciting in this one, and the theory of someone having a baby saves everyone is a weird nonsense idea to refresh things.

-And while the first of these was not peak dialogue, this one has some truly bad ones.  After stopping one of the potential death things Larter confronts the kid saying what are you thinking followed up by I’m thinking suck on my junk beatch, followed by little punk.  Genius, hah.

-I guess this movie finds a way to make others see the patterns too and make things less special, even if one person has the original premonition, and multiple people cheat death prior to, which I guess has an interesting new wrinkle to the plot and another connection to the first one.  This movie finds a way to have a few too many random annoying new things but also has some cool interesting new ideas and depth build on the first one, but I feel like it could have just been done better.  Now there is something about death being a serial killer trying to make things closed circuit, killing all of those who cheated death prior.  I just am a bit turned off by some of the crazy violence in this.  But this is close or closer to the first one at least, after this there is a far departure and many more people just seem like terrible people.  

-Also, maybe this is wild but if the premonition girl has choking fits each time, don’t have her drive.  Just one of many examples of people are a little dumber in this one even with seemingly more knowledge than the first one.

-But pretty much once Larter dies off a random explosion, this movie kind of goes off the rails and things barely make sense anymore, like a way worse version of the Fear Street trilogy logic at times.  But I think I would rather watch the first two of those over this movie or most of this franchise anyway, even if that third one is super-duper weird with a period piece hybrid.

-But the idea of dying and coming back to life to fight death thing only kind of makes sense, especially if the later movies thought of killing them in the third could have happened.  I kind of like the idea of people having a happy end after all.  But sadly they are just in their own isolated story.

-Now while there are two survivors at the end of this movie played by AJ Cook and Michael Landes, they were initially supposed to die in the third movie along with the survivors of that one on a train, it never happened.  And there is some weird wood chipper thing that may or may not be cannon not in any movie itself, so that does not matter.  So apparently these are the only two who made it from the entire franchise.

-I don’t mind this movie as much as I thought it did, but the less personal story of a certain group of people and more out and about stories and honestly, I miss the cop angle.  That and a few weird ideas to refresh the formula, even with some cool ones in there, just make this a bit worse of a sequel.  And I hate to say it, but things don’t get better from here.

- Final Destination 3 

-First you got traumatized from flying, next by log trucks, but that could just be highways, so what was next to make things scarier.  I am talking the big ones of course, the individual deaths can be tough too obvi, but let’s not focus on that too much.  So, this is one that is near and dear to my fears.  Heights, specifically in this one, roller coasters.  I actually had a near death experience before I started college, and let’s just say, I haven’t been a fan of heights since.  But I have done a few roller coasters, Kingda Ka from Six Flags I am very proud of because that is pretty much straight up and down, and fast to boot.  So, I can resonate being scared and scarred by this movie.

-There are a few fun memorable parts to this one, but for the most part, I don’t know who anyone is in this outside of the lead, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, from the super underrated Harley Quinn movie, she was Huntress, and of course Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter!  I know most people would focus on Scott pilgrim or 10 Cloverfield lane, but not me!  I will stick to my guns that Abraham Lincoln vampire hunter is far better than it has any right to be.  Also, Tony Todd is only in this as a voiceover, so you already know this is a letdown.

-Now one thing that kind of from a video editor perspective that is neat, instead of getting visions, the death visions are foreshadowed in pictures being taken.  Like I said, neat.

-This move does for sure reaffirm my decision that theme parks with things to do outside of rides are the way to go.  I am for sure cool with being the bag and prize holder sitting and standing on ground level, safe and sound.  That and if you do go on rides, have zipper pockets or just don’t carry thing you don’t want to loose.  There are a lot of safety red flags, but that camera ending up on the tracks is for sure the worst part of it.

-I wish this movie had more true connective tissue to the first two, but 3-4 and most of 5 don’t have that, and I really don’t care for any characters in this one, there are a few neat moments with a few characters, but I really stop caring about who lives, or more so, who dies, in these.  But Chris Lem-key keeps things fun when he is on-camera as a punk/goth kid who kind at least brings something fun with his semi-deconstructing of the situation.  He is a few removed from like a cool Scream character, but it is something at least.

-Also, the special effects budget must have taken a huge hit or they were trying to make cool things they did not have the budget for. Because these 2006 roller coaster effects, were, bad bad.

-Scenes in this movie were just not for me, the tanning bed death scenes, while things were teased in other movies, like a trap that someone gets out of, seeing it happen as a whole final death, I did not need that in my life, there is another one of these in a later entry with acupuncture.  This tanning bed death feels just as goofy and drawn out as the first death with the bathroom and hanging himself.  If that tanning bed death scene was bad, it was, there was a neat edit point of the two tanning beds with a jump cut to two coffins, nice moment in this one.

-There are some wild deaths past this, saw blades to the back of the head, the weight lift head crush one, and death scenes in this one really are maybe too complex.  That nail gun one was wild, and once again, maybe too much.  I really wish I could say why these are too much for me and like Halloween or Friday the 13th aren’t.  Maybe the fact that they are like freak accidents and more body horror and less some guy that is avoidable enough.  I mean, these are the best kind of scary things, but the good moments are just lost at times to the gross moments

-Also, one more hilarious out of context quote, fuck you Ben Franklin, didn’t expect to hear it, but another funny one-liner.

-The tension in these is great from waiting for something bad to happen or trying to actively avoid something bad happening.  But I think Lem-key really steals the show for me for as close as you can get to a person who is, maybe not a villain, but his evil monologue for that, and overall is the best part of this movie.  

-There is something kind of neat for this someone behind you theme as a new telltale, anything with music I can dig, I added it to my Spotify oldies playlist.  And this is the first end of a trend where they kill everyone surviving in one fell swoop.  That is kind of neat, all the surviving characters come together on a whim and all this foreshadowing leads to a reservoir dogs end, that might be an insult to reservoir dogs, because that is a really good movie, and this is probably as average as it gets, but I needed a new exciting and pop culture way to describe a full sale character swap of killing off the rest of your cast.  And having one more fun premonition with no way to survive it was one final fun fakeout.

-So, these movies have grown a bit on me, are they good, I don’t know.  The first one is fun, but 2 and 3, just aren’t nearly as cool and fun, they are passible enough.  And I am telling myself I don’t need to own the whole franchise.  I think if I was to do anything, it would be just these 3, because the next two area whole tier down further.

-The Final Destination

-Actor wise, I don’t have a ton to say about this kind of weird movie.  It is the only one that has no live action appearance, or even voice over work from the closest thing this franchise has to a staple character, Tony Todd, at least the third one game him some announcer in-universe lines.  This one shockingly has nothing.  But there is something funny from super hero media fan Nick here.  If you have ever gone on a binger or the deep end of seeing every CW Aarowverse show, welcome to the club.  They are not always good, they have some bad writing and special effects at times, but there are some really good ones too.  And I quite like Legends of Tomorrow, even if I think the first few seasons were better as opposed to the later ones.  But seeing Nick Zano, the nerdy quirky heroic fun guy on that show become a total obnoxious bro at some car racing event and for the rest of the movie.  It is kind of weird and funny.

-Oh, and one more thing.  I was watching this movie and the voice of our lead, great name for the character, Nick, I couldn’t place it.   But this voice is for the guy, he is Seth Branson from the Scream MTV series!  How about that!  One of my favorites and he is the lead here, albeit super young, well 6 years younger, but it makes a difference for him here, so that is fun.

-But let us get to the racing scene in question, the big accident here, besides making this movie, is the cars go off the rails and everyone dies watching this event.  Also, the soundtracks for these movies are always wild for what people thing is going on in these.  

-Maybe this is the least traumatizing for me because I have literally no interest in racing events overall, going or watching.  I will stick with Mario kart or Diddy Kong racing.  People slept on that game in the N64 era, but it was something, you could race in planes, cars, and awful hovercrafts.  They need to make a sequel to that game ASAP!

-But to this movie, especially the beginning.  If there is one thing I remember about this movie, being as stupid as it was, it was the notion that someone came up with the idea to have a mom give her kids tampons to put in their ears because it was too loud.  Nothing is more unbelievable in this franchise, and that is saying something.

-Also, this must have been the movie where screws unscrewing themselves was a thing in the franchise.  I used this for my Tik Tok inspiration for the franchise.  Things really got weird as these went along.  The special effects budget went super down the drain.  Everything looks shockingly bad.  I don’t know what happened.  If things became too big for their own good.  But whatever it is, the special effects for the big deaths always look worse and worse somehow in these.  The first kill in the first movie was goody, but that first one was pretty good overall. 

-Maybe the issue with these is the fact that they have so many unlikable horrible people that you don’t care for, but they seem so unbelievable.  It is super weird, and I know there are horror franchises like Friday the 13th and Halloween that have these, but some of these characters feel like the horrible Rob Zombie remake type characters where everyone is dirty and swears for no real reason.  Bad, and we once again bring up my biggest target on this podcast.

-But this movie does some super weird things, the visions post the big accident used to be vague and more interesting, now we just have some poorly made CGI 3D images that don’t leave a ton to the imagination.  I Don’t know what went wrong.

-There are moments of subtly and fun where they trick you.  Using so many wild setup fake scares all to have something innocuous kill someone.  The kills sometimes are like Mouse Trap, the game that nobody remembers today, my weird kid game was bulldog dozer, games were weird back then.  But at least 4 movies in they can have a bit of fun with the franchise.

-These movies get worse and worse, somehow the dialogue is worse here, the fact that one guys gets pushed back into a metal grate, there are pieces of him missing, and someone asks are you okay?  Priceless.

-I mostly remember in this movie how bad the car stuff is, the one guy who gets sucked into a pool drain with his coin fixation like a more basic two face, and the girl who almost gets decapitated and drowned in a car wash.  It is crazy just how many accidents happen in these places that all looks like nothing works and everything is on the brink of collapse.  How this happens, I don’t know.  You say death is doing all this stuff.  But there is no way everything is so terrible all the time after 5 movies, it just, it is not it.

-There is a scene in The Final Destination where people hilariously awkwardly listen to two of the people discussing their current situation.  It sounds crazy out loud, but it is a good metaphor for this franchise overall, it sounds weird but we all just accept it exists.

-I actually got this movie theater scene mixed up with the 5th one.  Those two blend together except for the bad bad parts.  But they must have known what they were doing with including a movie theater kill scene, which must have been a treat for all the people watching in the theater.  But let’s be real, some of the minor kills are good and traumatizing/realistic (in this case realistic as if they could happen), but after the plane, log thing, and roller coaster, nothing can be as big scale scary.

-It was interesting for them to have two big movie moments like this, two set piece big disaster things.  And not just post-credit scenes.  I feel like I do get faked out more than once with the end thing not being a vision at first, but having teacher from Scream stop it the second time, there was some good tension there, I mean being nailed to the wall and having to deal with that, that shit was maybe too wild for me.  Good drama, but too much.

-And of course, these movies can’t end anymore without some massive screen clearing moment killing the rest of the living cast.  Because after the first one where they keep people alive, and presumably the second one, they gotta kill everyone off, because they did clear the board after the first one too.

-Every so often the tension building is good, and the end, even if you can justify and make parallels to anything you want, seeing all the signs and locations from the movie, but better, it’s coming to it’s here, that was a fun thing in a place called death by caffeine.

-But no matter what these movies do, there is something that always feels like a letoff with no connection to the first one or any connective tissue between these.  It is the reason I care for Scream and Halloween, even if they keep killing of Jamie Lee Curtis, because there is connective tissue.

-Final Destination 5

- I am not saying a ton about the 5th of these movies off the bat, the end twist is fun, we will get there, but I will say, not that this movie is loaded with A-List actors, but I know way more of them in this movie compared to the rest.  But yes, this is more deep-cut stuff.

-So here is the list, first off, Gotham was an underrated Fox show that did some stuff really well, even if it started off slow, I think it can live in the same world of Smallville as good small-scale and fun super hero shows that lived in their own unconnected worlds.  And that shows Harvey Dent, is this movies lead played by Nicholas D’Agosto.

-We also have The Walking Dead’s Season 1 Amy, played by Emma Bell.  Remember when her on the show sister played by Laurie Holden was supposed to be in it longer and they did super weird things with her character arc in season 3?  At least she was fun in this season of the boys and has some great musical numbers.

-Another The Boys actor is here, PJ Byrne, is here, who you may remember from Wolf on Wallstreet as that business guy, rugrat.

-We also get another horror actor from the not stellar most recent, albeit 2009, Friday the 13th movie, Arlen Escarpeta.  When will they make a better one of those movies like the Halloween 2018 one did.  Bring back the character of Tommy Jarvis please!
 -That and we actually have some more known actors in this movie with David Koechner and Courtney B. Vance.  I know right.  The People vs. OJ, Lovecraft Country, and more.  I assume he does not look back on this movie role often.

-And thank goodness Tony Todd is back in this movie, not just his voice, but him actually existing in this, in-person.

-Yes, I used the actor part of this movie to vent about random movie/tv show things.  And I am okay with using this time to get some stuff off my chest.

-So 11 years and five movies, starting in 2000 and for now this entry coming out all the way in 2011.  Budgets and all that are for sure a thing, but remember that the Dark Knight came out in 2008.  Fans have an expectation for not horrible special effects akin to the horrid Ang Lee Hulk and some of these movies.

-I don’t know if it is all of these movies, but the opening credit just drag on in this fifth entry, it takes a while for the movie to finally start.  Which kicks off with an outdoor breakfast buffet before a retreat with some nice ass looking waffles!

-Now there is something neat about this being the first one of these to star with relationship woes for our main character.  But once again, I pretty quickly don’t care about these characters, now I just know who they are a bit more as actors.

-There is some blatant career issue work tier system on display with some business folks getting to go on this eventual ill-fated retreat but the factory workers stuck looking at the breakfast spread, that is some crap.

-Now while this movie doesn’t matter to me, there is something funny about this one showing a log truck, they know what they were doing with that one for a cute reference and red herring.

-It will never not amaze me for all of the random things that have to go wrong in these movies to make a disaster happen.

-David Koechner’s death in the beginning is shockingly brutal for no real reason on this bridge collapse moment.  Also, shockingly, when they all make it off the bridge inevitably, his wakeup moment of déjà vu you would think would have been too late on the bridge, but somehow it all works.

-Thank goodness Courtney B. Vance is back in this and with him some aspect of the law trying to sort things out.  While I don’t care for the characters for the most part, I care for him.  The law angle was super cool and unique in the first one, a futile attempt to solve a crime they can’t and it is cool that angle is here.

-Also, I didn’t want to talk too much about the first vs fifth movies and the neat end thing, but I have to with Tony Todd and how he is concerned.  So, check it out.  The fifth movie is chronologically the first one, it precedes the first one, which how we will get to at the end.  But the issue is, time in the real world is relative.  When Tony Todd’s death personified character is in both movies as the same character, his age looks different after 11 years.  So, in-universe, guess what, that makes no sense, at all.

-This movie has some kills that are too much for me.  There is something neat about every person seeing hints of foreshadowing and not being able to interpret things.  But between a nail sitting on a high been making us worry like that scene in quiet place before she gets absolutely literally folded on the gymnastic mat or the guy getting acupuncture and having his body impaled and his head crushed for good measure.  That scene freaked me out.  I love massage, especially deep tissue, but I will never do acupuncture or anything with needles.

-Maybe this one has the most traumatizing one-off kills overall, the glasses eye doctor one.  Eww.  So as a glasses guy, I can function without glasses, but I don’t like seeing weird eye scenes in movies, and this is disgusting eye surgery.  But once again, neat she had a sign about it but didn’t recognize it and died.

-So, there is something fun about the coroner having more of a role in this movie.  Now before we knew this was a sequel, the franchise made this idea of people being able to kill someone to get their life.  So, it is weird to introduce this new idea when this is a prequel and no one things of this in other movies in the series.  Like I said, weird.  I can’t really watch it, I barely could the first time and you know what is going to happen.  But she also falls out a window and loses the other eye too, that shit messed with me.

-Also, as a random part of this movie, having multiple jokes of PJ Byrne’s character being dead already not surviving the accident is funny enough, love a good random little joke for a small chuckle.

-The new wrinkle is good in theory, but there is something about the new method of just killing people to save yourself vs actively trying to assess saving yourself and those around you with continued visions.  They spread the wealth with visions technically being available for all, but it is missing something.  I miss the first movie more and more.

-The kitchen drama is actually pretty good for tension build, waiting for the guy to get got cooking.  But from that to a murder shootout with Courtney B. Vance being shot and then one of the guys being killed by the main guy, you think it all works out with the main guy, his girl, and one of the friends all making it by either taking someone’s life and or having not died in the initial bridge catastrophe.  

-But having Vance die, stinks, and I wish he had more to do not only the character but also the actor too.  The first movie has the law angle better off than any of the other 4.

-Now after all that when things are apparently good, all things eventually lead to Paris, there is an amazing moment on the plane where our new leading couple in the end of the movie is off to fly and witnesses a fight between the cast of the first one!  That moment was wild the first time I saw it!  But from that to getting his musical cue of horror with Dust In The Wind, a great song but does not have the same pop as Someone Behind you from the third one.  But from all the tech flickering, he knows it is too late, and he gets got on the flight from the first one, wild stuff I know.  This is neat to see the plane problem from the first one again after all this time.  Neat, but this movie is fine, just a bit underwhelming from the first three, especially the first one.  Also, the one guy left, the life he took was on borrowed time anyway, so to finish it off, he gets crushed by the engine of the same plane that just crashed.  And that is all 5 in this gore packed episode, so we know what things have harrowed us all now in the real world, but how do these stack up?

-Letterboxd Reviews

- Final Destination – 3.5 Stars

- Final Destination 2 – 3 Stars

- Final Destination 3 – 2.5 Stars

- Final Destination 5 – 2 Stars

- The Final Destination – 1.5 Stars

-wrap/call to action

-So that is in for the series.  My opinion on these has constantly changed.  I don’t think these are good.  I think the first one is fun and good enough.  The second two are fine, and the last few have a bit too much going on.  There is a sequel planned to go out on HBO Max.  Will I see it.  Yeah, probably.  Am I optimistic about it, probably not.  But if you are gonna buy one, you can for sure rock with the first one.  The tension and scares were good, there was mystery, and I was always excited.  After that, they just wanted weird fun things to keep happening.  In summation, the moral of the story is everything in every place ever is terrible and broken, and also be afraid of everything.  But that is all I have for these interesting movies.  What do you think on the Final Destination series overall?  Let me know on social at Nick Nack Movies or Nick Nack underscore IC on twitter, Instagram, tik tok, and letterboxd.  So that is all for me, so cheers, and until next time cinephiles.