Final Destination is a 2000 supernatural thriller, 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.[1] 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 26, 2000.[2] 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.[4]
Plot
Alex Browning (portrayed by Devon Sawa) is going on a high school graduation trip to Paris with his fellow students. Before the Volée Air Flight 180's take-off, Alex has a premonition that the flight explodes in mid-air, killing everybody. Alex then wakes up and assumes the premonition was just a dream but as events from his vision begin to repeat themselves in reality, Alex panics and attempts to stop the flight before take-off. The resulting commotion leads to a handful of passengers being left behind, including Alex, emancipated minor 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 an ordinary student, Billy Hitchcock (Seann William Scott). After they are all forced off the plane, none of the passengers believe that Alex's vision will come true until the airliner takes off and explodes in mid-air killing everyone who was on board.
After Tod is strangled to death by a wire, his death is deemed a suicide, however Alex begins to think that Death is intervening to kill the survivors, because they were meant to die on the plane, and by still being alive they have changed death's plan. While trying to convince Clear of his belief at a cafe, Carter notices Alex and promptly comes over to start an argument. Disgusted by the ensuing confrontation, Carter's girlfriend Terry storms off and is immediately killed by a bus. Afterwards Alex comes to the conclusion that Death is killing the survivors in the order they would have died in the explosion on the plane. He realizes that Ms. Lewton will be next, followed by Carter, Billy, himself and finally Clear. Alex heads to Ms. Lewton's house in the hope of saving her, however he arrives too late to stop her from being killed in a freak accident resulting in her being stabbed in the chest before her house explodes with her in it.
Alex then contacts Carter, Clear and Billy to tell them what he thinks is happening. As they are riding in Carter's car, Alex has another premonition of a train and a seatbelt ripping. Carter asks Alex if he knows who will die next, Alex reveals that he does but refuses to specify who to the group. Frustrated with not having control over his death, Carter stalls 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 seatbelt is jammed. Alex rushes to help Carter from his car, and as he foresaw, Carter's seatbelt rips and he is freed a second before the train hits the car, thus cheating death. Billy, however is gruesomely decapitated by flying wreckage from the vehicle.
Alex believes that because he intervened in Carter's death he has saved Carter. 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 that is obviously close to exploding as a damaged electrical cable is precariously flipping around outside. Alex saves her by picking up the live cable, he is seriously hurt from the electrical shock and is then thrown a significant distance when her car explodes. Clear and the police rush to Alex's aid and then the screen fades to white.
The final scene shows Alex, Clear and Carter in Paris talking about their experience and celebrating that it is over and they are finally in Paris. Alex brings up a theory that when someone intervenes to save a person, Death does in fact skip that person, however he will come back to try again. Clear and Carter brush the idea off as nonsense. Shortly thereafter a freak accident involving a bus causes a giant sign to swing off half its hinges down towards Alex. Carter manages to intervene and pushes Alex to the ground, with the sign swinging down passed the two of them and back up again. Carter then stands up and turns to Alex who is still on the ground. Carter says that he 'knew' Alex was next but that means that he was skipped. Carter asks Alex "So who's next?", however before he finishes his sentence, the sign can be seen swinging back down on its momentum towards where Carter is now standing. The screen cuts to black a split second before the sign would hit Carter and a loud whack is heard. His death is not actually shown but it is strongly implied, leaving Alex and Clear the only two survivors of Flight 180.
Characters
Music
Final Destination (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
- "Main Title" – 3:01
- "Night Wind" – 1:05
- "September 25, 9:25 PM" – 0:46
- "Volee Airlines" – 0:29
- "Flight 180" – 0:54
- "Bad Dream, Part 1" – 1:27
- "Bad Dream, Part 2" – 0:39
- "Out of Flight 180" – 1:00
- "The Crash" – 0:37
- "Aftermath" – 1:50
- "Solitude" – 1:30
- "The First" – 3:14
- "Fuselage" – 0:11
- "Todd's Death" – 1:53
- "Too Late" – 1:19
- "Commemoration" – 1:20
- "The Morgue" – 2:36
- "Signs" – 0:45
- "The Drawing" – 0:57
- "Miss Lewton" – 2:18
- "Fire Signs" – 0:12
- "No Luck" – 0:25
- "Remember" – 1:04
- "The Train Accident" – 1:52
- "Preparation" – 3:20
- "Clears Home" – 0:36
- "Alex's Revelation" – 8:10
- "Six Months Later" – 0:43
- "Non-Stop Ending" – 1:39
- "End Credits" – 2:01
Songs featured in the motion picture
- "Rocky Mountain High" - Performed by John Denver
- "Hundred Grand" - Performed by Pete Atherton
- "Into the Void" - Performed by Nine Inch Nails
- "All the Candles in the World" - Performed by Jane Siberry
- "And When I Die" - Performed by Joe 90
- "Rocky Mountain High" (French version) - Performed by Alessandro Juliani
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 18 for violence, horror, and language.[5]
Reception
Final Destination received mixed but mainly negative reviews, with an overall 30% approval rating and an average rating of 4.6/10, according to Rottten Tomatoes.[6] 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".[5]
References
External links
