It’s not apparent during the first viewing of Final Destination 3, but there is something missing which greatly strips out a lot of enjoyment compared to the previous films. Well, of course, there are plenty of graphic deaths and gore so that is present and accounted for. There is a skimpy callback to the first film, so nothing out of place there. And even Tony Todd returns, in voice at least. So what is it that the returning team of Glen Morgan and James Wong forgot in this installment? Where should we start?
I wonder if Morgan and Wong approached this as a semi-remake of the first film. We start with a bit of bonding time between control-freak Wendy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), her boyfriend (inconsequential actor), his friend Kevin (Ryan Merriman), and his girlfriend (another inconsequential actor) at their high school fling (?) which takes place in an amusement park. We meander around, meet some other ill-conceived characters who were created just to die horrifically, and then the big catastrophe happens as a roller coaster flings its passengers off the track to their DOOM! Of course, this is all realized by Wendy to be a frighteningly real vision who simply stands at a safe distance and yells to stop the ride that her friends are on. Wake me up when this stops carelessly retreading previous events.
Oh, damn. I missed the whole movie. Upon rewatching it, it is clear for me that what makes a Final Destination good as opposed to just mediocre are the characters. The main duo of Winstead and Merriman are decent enough but they seem to just flit by on the audience’s expectations of the good guys who know what is going on. They don’t really stand out other than when covered in blood-spatter. This happens often. It is somewhat disconcerting though that the creators of the original seemed to be too caught up in how to make the death scenes cooler than how to write secondary characters that resonate even a little like Billy or Carter from the first. Even most of the fodder from part 2 are more developed than just the doomed angry jock or the doomed angry Goth couple from this film.
Hell, the fact that two of the victims are kept in secret may have been an interesting angle if not that one of them is someone we have never seen before and thus don’t give a shit about. I may be on the opposite side of the spectrum here, but in order for a movie about people being killed to be interesting, I have to be at least passively invested in the characters. Maybe I’m an old fashioned kind of guy that way. After the opening scene, everyone other than Wendy and Kevin disappear unless it is time for them to be fed some glossed-over exposition about the events of the original or to be killed. This is fine and dandy except for the fact that you aren’t really sure who just got their head bifurcated by a truck engine because you only saw him in two scenes. If all I wanted to see were random deaths, I’d keep an eye out for Kenny on South Park (not the UFG one).
I am glad that Wong managed to curtail some of his more artsy tendencies as there were about 200% less crane shots in this film as the first. In fact, most of the scenes are directed competently except for some of the more lacking talent in the cast. Now, I’m not saying that the original was on par with Weekend at Bernie’s say, but it was manageable. Some of the scenes here though were just painfully awkward (especially with Winstead, I hope she does better in The Thing remake/whatever) and it is just another reminder that the series had devolved into little else than random deaths with a bit of exposition sprinkled in for flair.
It is disappointing that this movie was lacking so much that made the original semi-memorable even with the returning creators and excellent music again by Shirley Walker. I don’t hold out hope that the next one will be any better.
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