The premise of the Final Destination films is that if you cheat death, then you would have caused a rift in the “grand design” which Death (capital D) will then go all out to repair – at any cost. Inevitably, things go downhill for rescuer and rescue-ee alike, until a most senseless and messy end is met. Take Final Destination 2 for example. By making this sequel, and thereby rescuing the first movie from the slow death it would have succumbed to after being consigned to late-night cable TV screenings, its makers have doomed us all to an experience that slowly goes downhill…. Until it comes to a senseless – no, make that farcical – end. One thing’s for certain: the Grim Reaper has not worked on subtlety between movies, although his sense of irony and fondness for anniversaries seem to have grown stronger. Final Destination was above average for the teen horror genre. Its takes on youthful preoccupations with death, the carefully bottled hysteria whipped up by filmmakers Glen Morgan and James Wong, and the excessive but clever death scenes, all added up to a mildly refreshing experience. It would have been fine if things were allowed to end there. But like so many horror movie characters have been known to do, the filmmakers just could not leave well enough alone. This sequel starts off with an over-the-top highway pile-up and strives forever bigger gross-outs from there. This immediately establishes the kind of attraction the Final Destination movies have for their audience: forget plot, pacing, sense, acting, characters – like too many other horror franchises, it has become all about spectacular demises. On that score, Final Destination 2 would not disappoint if you know that you are going to watch a gore fest, plain and simple. Its main character, Kimberly Corman (Cook), is your everyday young woman trying to make sense out of life while going on road trips with her buddies. On the road one morning, she has a premonition of the abovementioned traffic disaster. It is the anniversary of the crash of Flight 180 (do0med airliner from the first movie), in case you were wondering what this film has to do with its predecessor. But the links extend far beyond that. Remember what a certain Mr. Shyamalan postulated in his most recent hit movie: That there are no coincidences in life??? There is somewhat chilling moment reflective of that notion in this film, when the characters realize their connection to one another. Anyway, Kimmy-girl saves some lives as a result of her vision, and Death wastes no time reclaiming the ones that she caused to elude him. To be fair, the signs and portents are handled quite well because they are not as obvious as they lead us to believe. In that sense, the film still manages to spring a few surprise on the viewer, and there are a couple of death scenes I just did not see coming. Final Destination 2 does plant the seeds of a potentially absorbing story, especially in the context of giving in to fatalism or taking control of your own destiny; but this germ of a good idea is simply brushed aside by the unrelenting juggernaut of Death. Which then leads you to ask: What is the point of even showing the struggle then? Ah, but as so many armchair philosophers would tell you, it is the journey, not the destination… final or otherwise, and happily never after.
