Directed by James Wong. Starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Ryan Merriman, Kris Lemche. Horror. A teen has a premonition of impending doom before she and her classmates board a rollercoaster during a gathering of graduating high school students. She gets off the ride at the last minute, followed for different reasons by five of her classmates, who watch minutes later as the ride ends in tragedy. Afterwards, the six survivors seem to be the victims of random accidents that claim or threaten their lives...in the order they were seated on the roller coaster before getting off.
Final Destination 3 follows the same basic theme and pattern as its predecessor, with the difference that the "supernatural" aspect is less played out as compared to the first installment. In this one, our group of doomed teens are enjoying a school sponsored gathering at night at an amusement park. One of the group (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) starts having uneasy feelings about the intimidating looking roller coaster that is the main attraction in the park.
These feelings come to a head when she is seated on the ride and has a graphic premonition of the ride malfunctioning and her and her classmates going to their gruesome deaths. As you might guess, when she snaps back to reality, she is still safe and sound on the ride but no longer wants to go along.
She freaks out, convinces the operators to let her off, along with 5 of her pals who get off for various reasons. Minutes later, the ride, along with her boyfriend who is still strapped in, suffers the catastrophic fate that she just foresaw.
As you would think, she is now the object of some suspicion, though not as much as her predecessor from Final Destination . It seems that one of her friends (Ryan Merriman) has done his homework and finds out from the Internet that this is not the first time such a thing has happened and that what the survivors can soon expect is to start dying off in "accidental" ways...in the order they would have died had they stayed on the coaster.
As a horror movie buff, I can't say this film is not entertaining, but it just doesn't have the "it" factor for me to really get pumped out about it. In fact, I saw this version first, then went out and got the original just to be sure that I was giving it a fair shot and realizing that, usually, the first one is better than the sequel(s). Its not scary nor does it, in my opinion, really try to be. The story itself could be interesting to some, but it combines so many elements of supernatural, urban legend, and slasher that, to me, its ineffective.
I think the real focus here is to show people dying in completely unexpected (and unrealistic) ways. I understand that seeing someone die horribly and unnaturally while sitting in the car at the drive thru or lifting weights is different, but I didn't see it as particularly innovative, scary, or thought provoking.
Almost none of the characters have any depth or dimensions other than their character's caricature, but you would expect that in this type of film. The acting is acceptable, certainly nothing special, but not as bad as you've seen if you regularly watch this genre. And, of course, we see actors obviously in their 20's pretending to be teens. Am I the only one who is bothered by that? How can I become invested in a character if I don't buy that character at all?
If you want to see young, nubile, twenty-somethings getting offed in impossible ways, with some graphic gore and skin thrown in, this is your deal. If not, you're not missing much if you give this one a pass.
But, that's just what I think.
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