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Final Destination (film)

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This article is about the first installment of the series. For the 2009 film, see The Final Destination. For general information, see Final Destination (film series).
Final Destination
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJames Wong
Written byScreenplay:
Glen Morgan
James Wong
Jeffrey Reddick
Story:
Jeffrey Reddick
Produced byGlen Morgan
Warren Zide
Craig Perry
Associate Producer:
Chris Bender
Co-Producer:
Art Schaeffer
Executive Producers:
Richard Brener
Brian Witten
StarringDevon Sawa
Ali Larter
Kerr Smith
Tony Todd
CinematographyRobert McLachlan
Edited byJames Coblentz
Music byShirley Walker
Production
companies
Distributed byNew Line Cinema
Release date
March 17, 2000 (2000-03-17)[1]
Running time
98 min.
CountriesCanada
United States
LanguagesEnglish
French
Japanese
Budget$23 million[2]
Box office$112,880,294[2]

Final Destination is a 2000 horror film about a group of teenagers who cheat death by avoiding a plane crash when one of them, Alex, has a premonition of their deaths. Soon after their escape, they begin dying one-by-one in mysterious freak accidents. The script was originally written by Jeffrey Reddick as a spec script for The X-Files. Director James Wong worked as a writer, producer and director on that series. The film is distributed by New Line Cinema. The DVD was released on September 15, 2000.[1] The film was the first in the Final Destination series, which has since produced three sequels and a series of books.

Final Destination takes place on Long Island.[3] Locations such as Jones Beach and John F. Kennedy International Airport are shown. Nassau County is mentioned. However, Vancouver International Airport stood in for JFK.

Plot

In 1999, Alex Browning (Devon Sawa) is going on a high school graduation trip to Paris with his fellow students. Before Volée Air Flight 180's take-off, Alex has a premonition that the flight will explode on take off, killing everybody on board. When events from his vision begin to repeat themselves in reality, he panics and attempts to stop the flight before take-off. The resulting commotion leads to a handful of passengers being left behind, including Alex, orphan Clear Rivers (Ali Larter), Alex's best friend Tod Waggner (Chad Donella), teacher Valerie Lewton (Kristen Cloke), Alex's rival Carter Horton (Kerr Smith), Carter's girlfriend Terry Chaney (Amanda Detmer), and student Billy Hitchcock (Seann William Scott). After they are all forced off the plane, none of the passengers believe what Alex says until the airliner takes off and explodes in mid-air, killing everyone left on it. The survivors are devastated, and two FBI agents interview the people taken off the plane, and are particularly interested with Alex's vision.

One month later, Tod accidentally hangs himself in his shower, and his death is deemed a suicide. When Alex and Clear go to see his body, mysterious mortician William Bludworth (Tony Todd) tells them that Death is intervening to kill everyone who was meant to die on the plane. Terry falls victim the next day when she is hit by a speeding bus. After watching a news report detailing the cause of the explosion of Flight 180 Alex comes to the conclusion that Death is killing the survivors in the order they would have died in the explosion on the plane. Using information he has collected, he determines that Ms. Lewton is next on Death's list. He rushes to her house but arrives too late to save her from being impaled by a falling kitchen knife during a house fire.

Alex contacts the remaining survivors, Billy, Clear, and Carter, to tell them what he thinks is happening. As they are riding in Carter's car, Alex has another vision of a train and a seat-belt ripping. Frustrated with not having control over his death, Carter attempts to drive head-on into a fuel tanker but the car seemingly by itself turns and avoids the collision, Carter then stops his car on a train crossing, wanting to kill himself before Death does. At the last moment however he changes his mind but cannot exit his car as his seat-belt is jammed. Alex rushes to help Carter from his car, and as he foresaw, Carter's seat-belt rips and he is freed a second before the train destroys the car, thus cheating Death. Seconds later, Billy's head is cut in half by a slab of car wreckage whipped up by the train's wheels.

Alex believes that because he intervened in Carter's death he has saved Carter, Death skipped Carter and went on to Billy. Later he remembers in his original premonition he was asked to switch seats on the plane, and realizes that Clear is actually the next to die. Alex rushes to Clear's house to find her trapped in her car surrounded by fire. She is unable to escape her vehicle, which is about to explode, as a damaged electrical cable is precariously flipping around outside. Alex saves her by picking up the live cable but is incapacitated by electric shock. Clear and the police rush to Alex's aid as the screen fades to white.

Six months later, Alex, Clear, and Carter are in Paris talking about their experience about Flight 180, and celebrating that it is all over and they are finally in Paris. Carter seems confident that he is safe as long as Alex is alive - who he labels a 'dead man'. Shortly thereafter, a freak incident involving a bus causes a giant neon sign to swing off a hinge down towards Alex. Carter manages to intervene and pushes Alex to the ground, with the sign swinging down past the two of them. Carter then stands up and turns to Alex, who is still on the ground, to again declare him a 'dead man'- but Alex quickly points out that death has now skipped him. As Carter asks Alex who is next on Death's list, the neon sign swings back on its momentum towards where Carter is standing and a loud whack is heard, leaving Alex and Clear as the last two survivors of Flight 180.

Cast


Release

Box office

The film opened at No. 3 at the North American box office making $10,015,822 USD in its opening weekend. The film remained at the third position the following week before falling to No. 7 the week after.

Reception

Final Destination received mixed but mainly negative reviews, with an overall 31% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes based on 81 reviews (56 negative, 25 positive).[4] James Berardinelli gave the film 1 out of 4 stars, heavily criticizing all aspects of the film, concluding "the deserved final destination for this movie is a reserved plot in the cinematic graveyard, but, based on the projected box office take, I have a sinking feeling it may cheat that fate."[5] Ben Falk from the BBC gave the film 4 out of 5 stars, stating that while the film was "not exactly ground-breaking" it did have a "constant sense of humour and some clever twists".[6] Roger Ebert from the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, stating "Final Destination will no doubt be a hit and inspire the obligatory sequels. Like the original Scream, this movie is too good to be the end of the road. I have visions of my own."[7]

Music

Final Destination (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Untitled
  1. "Main Title" – 3:01
  2. "Night Wind" – 1:05
  3. "September 25, 9:25 PM" – 0:46
  4. "Volee Airlines" – 0:29
  5. "Flight 180" – 0:54
  6. "Bad Dream, Part 1" – 1:27
  7. "Bad Dream, Part 2" – 0:39
  8. "Out of Flight 180" – 1:00
  9. "The Crash" – 0:37
  10. "Aftermath" – 1:50
  11. "Solitude" – 1:30
  12. "The First" – 3:14
  13. "Fuselage" – 0:11
  14. "Todd's Death" – 1:53
  15. "Too Late" – 1:19
  16. "Commemoration" – 1:20
  17. "The Morgue" – 2:36
  18. "Signs" – 0:45
  19. "The Drawing" – 0:57
  20. "Miss Lewton" – 2:18
  21. "Fire Signs" – 0:12
  22. "No Luck" – 0:25
  23. "Remember" – 1:04
  24. "The Train Accident" – 1:52
  25. "Preparation" – 3:20
  26. "Clears Home" – 0:36
  27. "Alex's Revelation" – 8:10
  28. "Six Months Later" – 0:43
  29. "Non-Stop Ending" – 1:39
  30. "End Credits" – 2:01

Rating

Final Destination received an R rating in the United States for violence and terror, and for language. In the United Kingdom, it received a 15 rating. In Ireland, it received an 15 for violence, horror, and language. In Australia, it received a MA-15 rating which is for mature audiences 15 years and over. In Finland and Germany it received a 16 rating.

References

  1. ^ a b "Final Destination". Cswap.com. Retrieved February 3, 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  2. ^ a b "Final Destination". Boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved February 3, 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  3. ^ "Final Destination and Final Destination 2 (review)". Flickfilosopher.com. January 31, 2003. Retrieved February 3, 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  4. ^ "Final Destination". Rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved February 3, 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  5. ^ Berardinelli, James. "Final Destination". Reelviews.net. Retrieved February 3, 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ Falk, Ben (February 16, 2001). "Final Destination". BBC. Retrieved February 3, 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  7. ^ Ebert, Roger (March 17, 2000). "Final Destination". Chicago Sun Times. Retrieved February 3, 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
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