Mini Movie Review: The Final Destination

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I was pleasantly surprised when I found out that The Final Destination--the fourth in a series of slick horror movies--was being sold as a combo Blu-ray/DVD in both 2D and 3D versions for under $20. That's quite a value compared to other recent releases. The set also includes a "digital copy," something I've yet to find a use for, as well as two pair of the standard 50s-style red and blue 3D glasses.

Now, I really dug the original trilogy (which you can read about here), so I eagerly anticipated this one. For some reason (most likely procrastination), I didn't get around to seeing it in the movie theater. So I got it on Tuesday, and made time to watch it today. I darkened the room as best I could, put the cardboard glasses on over my own specs, and fired up the Blu-ray 3D version. I watched about 5 minutes, and gave up.

Not that it was bad. But the cardboard glasses are clumsy, the red and blue is distracting, and I have a built-in eye problem from birth that makes focusing that hard extremely difficult. So I switched to the 2D version. And I've gotta say, the 2D Blu-ray had a stunningly clear picture. So I didn't feel so cheated after all. As in the other three films, the actors were capable. The complicated Rube Goldbergian death scenes were inventive and cringe-worthy. Neat! A tiny effort was given to tying this movie to the others, but not so much that it was anvil-worthy. I liked it.

Until the end. The movie's running time is under 90 minutes, and the final scene felt to me like a cheat. To avoid spoiling it, I'll just say that it seemed to lack foreshadowing and setup the way the other scenes play out. Unless I missed some clues, it just felt like it came out of nowhere. And the way the scene plays out is just strange. Up until then, they had me. There are two alternate endings included in the special features (also fun, by the way), but they would actually truncate the film, so while they went the right way, I still think the ending could have been much more satisfying.

Back to the 3D part. I did try, after watching the whole film, to watch a couple of the scenes in 3D. At those odd moments when my eyes would cooperate, the 3D effects were pretty cool. I have to wonder if the 3D glasses in the theater were more like the ones shown in one of the scenes in the movie, more like plastic aviator glasses with green lenses. If that is the case, I need to get my butt in to see Avatar while it's still in theaters. I have a feeling that those glasses would be much easier to use.

My review, 2D Version: Recommended; 3D Version Not enough data. . .probably good for most people with normal binocular vision!