A lot of people have probably noted that
The Final Destination feels like a direct-to-video movie that only made it to multiplexes as a 3-D feature. That’s mostly true, but it’s a pleasant disappointment. The biggest problem is that the horror film rushes through its short running time. The most fun about the
Final Destination series—besides my deep thoughts recapped
here—has been the slow build to assorted grisly deaths. That’s missing from this (supposed) final entry in the series.
The best part about the
Final Destination series holds up, though. I’d forgotten that the real fun to seeing a
Final Destination movie is how it weirds you out for the next several days. All of your surroundings seem like a death trap. Getting home alive from a
Final Destination film is always more thrilling than seeing the movie.
I was traveling the week before the opening of
The Final Destination, which meant I paid to see the movie on opening day. This almost gave me the chance to practice what
I recently preached about politics in films—that being how I don’t understand why conservative filmgoers don’t demand their money back when they see a token slur against them in a mainstream Hollywood production.
The Final Destination begins with massive mayhem at a racetrack, and the filmmakers must have NASCAR on their minds. That’s why one of the potential victims is a racist redneck.
I didn’t immediately demand a refund over that. The race in the movie isn’t officially deemed a NASCAR event, and there really are racists in America. The stereotype didn’t seem offensive enough to make me get out of my seat. I mulled things over more seriously when the same racist is later identified as a member of the NRA. That’s done in a particularly gratuitous manner.
Still, I didn’t ask for my money back. I’m from the South, and I don’t think of the NRA as being a Republican institution. Besides,
The Final Destination ultimately makes up for all that with some kind of notion about homeless people as foreshadowings of disaster. I’m not sure what the film’s trying to say with that high concept, but maybe the script had to include that NASCAR stereotype just to broach the topic.
