Main Cast: Ali Larter, A.J. Cook, Michael Landes, Terrence "T.C." Carson, Jonathan Cherry
Release Year: 2003
Country: US
Run Time: 90 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Death lurks, and two teenage girls try to figure out where he's heading, in this sequel to the unexpected teen horror hit Final Destination. As Clear Rivers (Ali Larter), the only surviving passenger of the ill-fated Flight 180, waits in a mental institution, certain Death will claim her, Kim (A.J. Cook), who has begun to display precognitive powers, is driving along the highway when she sees a terrible accident in which several cars crash into a logging truck. Moments later, the horrible vision is gone, but Kim is certain she saw an accident that was supposed to happen but didn't...and now Death will track down the souls he meant to take that day who slipped through his fingers. A police officer, Thomas Burke (Michael Landes), believes there's a germ of truth in Kim's story, and teams her up with Clear in hopes that together they can help prevent Death from snuffing out any more of the people involves in the accident that wasn't. Tony Todd also returns from the first film as Mr. Bludworth. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
With mixed reviews and a domestic gross just north of 50 million dollars, Final Destination was an unlikely candidate to spawn a sequel, despite its slick (and wickedly morbid) execution of a smart concept. But Final Destination 2 justifies all risks taken to give it a theatrical release, as a mostly new cast and crew reproduce the original formula in a manner that may actually be more self-assured and satisfying. It's certainly funnier, though most of the laughter comes in the form of head-shaking howls at the gruesome and gory abruptness of the deaths. J. Mackye Gruber's script understands how to set up these punchlines through seat-squirming red herrings -- the audience can't bear to watch a dentist aim his hypodermic needle at an impending victim's gums -- so even when viewers telegraph the twists that are meant to defy their expectations, it's still cathartic. The adroit staging of these scenes, veritable montages of fatal coincidence, makes it easier to forgive director David R. Ellis for overusing them to the point of redundancy. The film even constructs a somewhat intelligible plan to flout Death's design that links to the first film, though viewers should be prepared to make concessions in the logic department. Final Destination 2 reiterates the best strength of its surprisingly fertile franchise: a liberating format that doesn't rely on serial killers pouncing from the shadows, instead indulging in a genuinely inventive and comic view of predestined doom. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
Keegan Connor Tracy - Kat; Sarah Carter - Shania; Lynda Boyd - Nora Carpenter; David Paetkau - Evan; Justina Machado - Isabella Hudson; James N. Kirk - Tim Carpenter; Tony Todd - Mr. Bludworth; Andrew Airlie - Mr. Corman; Fred Henderson - Dr. Lees; Eric Keenleyside - Deputy Suby; Veena Sood - ER Nurse; John Stewart - Paramedic at Farm; Shaun Sipos - Frankie; Noel Fisher - Brian Gibbons; Benita Ha - Dental Receptionist; Enid-Raye Adams - Dr. Kalarjian; Chilton Crane - Mrs. Gibbons; Darcy Laurie - Man in Elevator; Rheta Hutton - On-Ramp Lady; Aaron Douglas - Deputy Steve; Christina Jastrzembska - Administrator; Odessa Munroe - Biker's Girlfriend; Mark Lukyn - Rescue Worker; Alfred E. Humphreys - Mr. Gibbons; Klodyne Rodney - Obstetrician; John R. Taylor - Man With Hooks; Cam Cronin - Paramedic at Hospital; Alison Matthews - Physician; Eileen Pedde - Anaesthesiologist; Alex Rae - Dano; Marke Driesschen - Host; Don Bell - Biker; Marrett Green - Anchorman; Sarah Hattingh - Nurse in Delivery Room; Jill Krop - Anchorwoman; Jenny Lang - Young Woman; David Purvis - Guest; Lorne Stewart - Skate Rat
Credit
Jim Steuart - Art Director, Sheila Hanahan - Associate Producer, John Papsidera - Casting, Coreen Mayrs - Casting, Heike Brandstatter - Casting, Justis Greene - Co-producer, Jori Woodman - Costume Designer, Pete Whyte - First Assistant Director, Josy Capkun - First Assistant Director, Paul Garrison - First Assistant Director, Berengaria Tomkies - First Assistant Director, David R. Ellis - Director, David Barrett - Second Unit Director, Freddie Hice - Second Unit Director, Eric Sears - Editor, Richard Brener - Executive Producer, Jeffrey Reddick - Executive Producer, Toby Emmerich - Executive Producer, Matt Moore - Executive Producer, Dean Scheck - Hair Styles, Ann Goobie - Location Manager, Shirley Walker - Composer (Music Score), Debbie Vandelaar - Makeup, Bill Terezakis - Makeup Special Effects, Chris Bellamy - Makeup Special Effects, Christopher Clark - Makeup Special Effects, Catherine Gaulin - Makeup Special Effects, Richard Marmion - Makeup Special Effects, Jarrett P. Mass - Makeup Special Effects, Yukiyo Okajima - Makeup Special Effects, Ric Stephens - Makeup Special Effects, Vicki Syskakis - Makeup Special Effects, Maureen Terezakis - Makeup Special Effects, WCT Productions - Makeup Special Effects, Vince Yoshida - Makeup Special Effects, Nathaniel Massey - Camera Operator, Douglas Craik - Camera Operator, Michael S. Bolton - Production Designer, Gary Capo - Cinematographer, Craig Perry - Producer, Warren Zide - Producer, Eddie Bydalek - Recording, Louise Roper - Set Designer, Donna Williams - Set Designer, Nicola Irwin - Set Designer, Cinema Production Services - Special Effects, Ralph Parker - Sound Mixer, Scott Martin Gershin - Sound/Sound Designer, Freddie Hice - Stunts Coordinator, Scott Nicholson - Stunts Coordinator, Justis Greene - Unit Production Manager, Christina Margellos - Unit Production Manager, Heather Meehan - Unit Production Manager, Jeffrey Reddick - Screen Story, Eric Bress - Screen Story, J. Mackye Gruber - Screen Story, Eric Bress - Screenwriter, J. Mackye Gruber - Screenwriter, David Barrett - Additional Cinematography, Don McCuaig - Additional Cinematography, Neil Seale - Second Unit Camera, Gary Viola - Second Unit Camera, Joe Bauer - Visual Effects Supervisor, Erik Holmberg - Executive in Charge of Production, Hans Bjerno - Aerial Photography, Paul Broucek - Executive Music Producer, Erin Scully - Executive Music Producer, Thomas Milano - Music Editor, Alan der Marderosian - Musical Performer, Shirley Walker - Musical Performer, Ian Walker - Musical Performer, Jay Vinitsky - Post Production Supervisor, Christina Margellos - Production Coordinator, Michael Minkler - Re-Recording Mixer, Patrick Cyccone Jr. - Re-Recording Mixer, Kelly Moon - Script Supervisor, Alex Burdett - Special Effects Coordinator, Scott Martin Gershin - Supervising Sound Editor, Mike Thomas - Underwater Photography, Zack Davis - ADR Editor, Greg Steele - ADR Mixer, Ron Bedrosian - ADR Mixer, Brian Basham - ADR Recordist, Thomas Pankiewich - Costumes Supervisor, Fred Stahly - Dialogue Editor, Michael Hertlein - Dialogue Editor, Daniel S. Irwin - Dialogue Editor, Jim Moriana - Foley Artist, Jeffrey Wilhoit - Foley Artist, Glynna Grimala - Foley Editor, Donna Bis - Key Hairstylist, Monica Huppert - Key Make-up, Jon Davidson - Production Controller, Dana Belcastro - Production Executive, Bruce Frankel - Scenic Artist, Susie Cowley - Scenic Artist, John Lavoie - Scenic Artist, Francis Mallette - Scenic Artist, Camac Lyndon Sterling - Scenic Artist, Bob Wagner - Scenic Artist, Kathy Houghton - Second Unit Assistant Director, Greg Zenon - Second Unit Assistant Director, Phil Keller - Storyboard Artist, Pixel Magic - Visual Effects, Digital Dimension - Visual Effects, Nerses Gezalyan - Foley Recordist, Jim Filippone - Pilot, Alan Waldron - Special Effects Foreman, Paul M. Wagner - Visual Effects Editor, Howard A. Anderson Company - Title Design
Final Destination 2 is a 2003 supernaturalthriller, and sequel to Final Destination (2000). Directed by David R. Ellis starring A. J. Cook as Kimberly Corman, and Ali Larter as Clear Rivers. The film is set in White Plains, New York and in the proximity of Greenwood Lake, NY, in 2001, a year after the events of the previous movie and has two returning characters; Clear Rivers and the mortician William Bludworth. Grossing $16,017,141 on its opening weekend in the US, which was a significant portion of its overall profit. It was a minor hit, debuting in its first week at #2 and falling from then onwards.[1] It was followed by Final Destination 3.
The film takes place one year later after the Flight 180 curse from the first film. While on vacation, Kimberly Corman experiences a vision of a mass pile-up on the highway on which she is traveling. She blocks the entrance ramp to the highway so that motorists who would have otherwise died are spared, including Kimberly, a police officer named Tom Burke, a stoner named Rory Peters, teacher Eugene Dix, a lottery winner named Evan Lewis, a mother named Nora Carpenter, her son, Tim, and an ordinary woman, Kat Jennings. After being blocked off, no one believes Kimberly until a mass pile-up happens on the highway just like in her vision. Soon the survivors who would have perished in the highway crash start dying in mysterious ways, the premise being that you can't cheat death, even to its personification. After learning of the similar events from the first film, Kimberly visits Clear Rivers in a mental institution where she has voluntarily committed herself. She tells Kimberly to be careful because the order has reversed itself. Now Kimberly and Officer Burke must figure out in which order the survivors were supposed to die, since it is backwards. It is later revealed that the characters destined to die in this film were somehow originally spared from death as a result of the elaborate deaths in the first film, adding another element of complexity to Death's Design.
Soon, the survivors find themselves having to work together to find a way to cheat Death before they all reach their final destination.
Characters
Kimberly Corman (played by A.J. Cook): The female lead, and the visionary whose warning leads to several other motorists and drivers avoiding the accident on Route 23. She was expected to die way before she had her premonition of the pile-up. She explained that a year ago, she and her mother were at a local mall, when a group of thugs started harassing them. Her mother confronted them and died in the process, while Kimberly was distracted by a news program at a nearby electronics shop of a teen named Tod Waggner who had supposedly hanged himself in the bathroom. She figured out that to save Tom, she had to die. She took an ambulance and drove it into the lake. She drowned but was saved by Tom and revived later at the hospital. In an uncut scene of Final Destination 3, it is revealed that Kimberly and Burke were impaled in a woodchipper accident prior to the five months after the roller coaster incident.
Officer Thomas "Tom" Burke (played by Michael Landes): A New Yorkstate trooper and lead male character. He would have died at the hands of a thief holding someone at gunpoint, but his partner went in his place and was killed instead, since Officer Burke was responding to a call to clean up the remains of Billy Hitchcock near some train tracks. When Kimberly drove into the lake, Tom jumped into the lake to save her, and brought her back to the hospital, where she was revived by the doctor. It is learned in Final Destination 3 that he and Kimerbly died when they were impaled by a woodchipper.
Clear Rivers (played by Ali Larter): The lone survivor of the Flight 180 curse from the first film (explaining that Alex Browning died after being struck by a falling brick during the September 11 attacks) who comes out of a self-imposed exile in a mental hospital and uses her experiences to guide the new group of survivors. She is incinerated in the hospital along with Eugene, and she is the seventh one to die.
Eugene Dix (played by TC Carson): A teacher who is initially skeptical of Death's design, but becomes convinced after witnessing the predicted death of Nora Carpenter. He explained that he would have died sooner at a local school where a student brought a knife on campus, but instead he was transferred to Mt. Abraham High to substitute for Ms. Valerie Lewton after her death. He is incinerated in the hospital along with Clear, and he is the sixth one to die.
Rory Peters (played by Jonathan Cherry): A drug addict, and the film's comic relief. He was destined to die sooner at a theater in Paris, until he witnessed Carter Horton get struck by a swerving billboard that fell from the top of the theater building. He is killed in an explosion, being cut into several pieces after a barbed-wire fence slices through his torso. He is the fifth one to die.
Kat Jennings (played by Keegan Connor Tracy): A very direct woman who appears selfish and tends to complain often. She was destined to die at a bed and breakfast hotel where there was a gas leak and almost everyone suffocated. However, the bus she rode there struck a girl (Terry Chaney) on the street, delaying her from arriving. She is killed after being in a car crash and becoming stuck in her seat, when the airbag goes off and impales her head into a pipe protruding from the back of her seat. She is the fourth one to die.
Nora Carpenter (played by Lynda Boyd): Nora is Tim's mother, and she is the oldest of the survivors. She is decapitated in an elevator door, and she is the third one to die. A clue to her death was a shadow of a man with hooks.
Timothy "Tim" Carpenter (played by James Kirk): Tim is 15 years old, and is the youngest of the survivors. He survives a near-fatal choking incident at a dentist's office, only to be crushed by a giant glass window that falls from a crane outside. He is the second one to die. A clue to his death were the pigeons.
Evan Lewis (played by David Paetkau): A young man who recently won $250,000 in a lottery. He escapes a microwave induced fire in his apartment, but is killed by impalement through the right eye by the fire escape ladder. He is the first one to die. A clue to his death was the fridge letter magnet. After the letter "H" fell into his food in the microwave, it spelled "eye". Another clue to his death was the doll with only one eye.
Isabella Hudson (played by Justina Machado): A pregnant woman that originally wasn't meant to die in the pile-up and did not die in the film. After the mortician, William Bludworth (Tony Todd), told Kimberly, Tom, and Clear that new life defeats death, they figured out that when Isabella had her baby, they would have defeated death. However, Kimberly had a vision showing that Isabella was not meant to die in the pile-up, and thus, they still had to deal with death. Since Isabella was not meant to die in the car crash, no one was safe, and Clear and Eugene died that day.
Brian Gibbons (played by Noel Fisher): A minor character in the movie who appears in the field scene, but was not on the on-ramp of Route 23. He was originally planned to be run over by a news van, but Rory Peters saved him. He is killed in a barbecue explosion in a cookout. He is the eighth one to die.
Music
Soundtrack
Final Destination 2 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
"Rocky Mountain High" - Performed by Jude Christodal
"My Name Is Death" - Performed by Jude Christodal
Reception
On its release, Final Destination 2 received generally mixed reviews from critics, earning a 47% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. While most praised it for its special effects and inventive death sequences, some dismissed it as being 'an average sequel to an average movie'. Nevertheless, this film topped the Rotten Tomatoes score in terms of the series, with the highest score amongst the four films in the franchise.
The film has landed on many "best car crash/accidents" lists including one by New York Magazine which cited the highway pile-up scene as the greatest car crash in movie history, calling it "the new gold standard for car-related chaos in cinema".[2] Even acclaimed director Quentin Tarantino was quoted as saying that the opening scene was "a magnificent car action piece".[3] The highway pile up was nominated for "Best Action Sequence" at the 2003 MTV Movie Awards.
