Final Destination 2

Buckle up. Kimberly Corman has a terrifying vision that a highway pile up will claim her life and that of her friends. Blocking the entrance with her car, Kimberly watches in horror as the crash unfolds, thus saving her life and that of the people in the queue behind her. But the grim reaper is not impressed and he's coming to claim the deaths of all those who should have died in the crash. For a sequel to truly work well it has to come up with something fresh, otherwise why do a sequel eh? Well the makers of Final Destination 2 choose to use the basic same formula of the hugely enjoyable first film, only adding more black humour into the crazy death design broth. Opening with a quite horrific highway pile up, FD 2 then takes us on a journey that sees an assortment of folk offed in various and gruesome ways. The story remains the same as the first film, even though writers Bress and Gruber think they are being intricate by weaving this plot into the original story, but ultimately it's just a devilishly nonsense fun picture. Ali Larter returns for a second helping, and she in turn is joined by a bunch of no mark actors waiting for death, which is perfectly fine for the genre discerning fan. This is a riot, and as long as you don't look too deep into it (why would you really?) you may just find yourself having a real good time. 7/10

***Solid sequel, maybe a notch better than the first film*** The first "Final Destination" movie from 2000 was a rather innovative 'Dead Teenager Movie' in that the killer was Death itself, the Grim Reaper, as an invisible spiritual presence. A group of people, mostly youths, escape a great tragedy due to a premonition of one of them and the rest of the movie involves the Grim Reaper systematically slaying those who cheated Death in various creative ways, usually involving an unlikely chain reaction. The opening tragedy in the first film was a plane crash; in this second film from 2003 it's a horrible highway pile-up; in the third it's a roller-coaster mishap and so on. There are currently five films in the franchise and they all tell the same basic story with different characters and some nuances; they’re all of the same high quality of technical filmmaking. Whether you prefer one or another depends on whether you like the cast and the death sequences (and the locations) because, other than these factors, they're all basically the same, although the fifth film throws in an interesting new twist (Death’s victim can find a substitute). Ali Larter returns as a secondary protagonist while A.J. Cook takes the reigns of the 'final girl.’ Keegan Connor Tracy also has a considerable role in the female department while Sarah Carter has a smaller part. While this is a quality assortment of women, the creators coulda done more with them. On the opposite side of the gender spectrum Michael Landes stars as a state trooper. Jonathan Cherry, Terrence 'T.C.' Carson and James Kirk are also on hand. Their importance to the story is in that order. Meanwhile Tony Todd makes his second of four appearances in the series as a mortician who curiously knows more than he should. I actually like this one a little better than the first one, but like that film, the second half isn’t as strong as the first. Is the final scene supposed to be horrific? Cuz it made me bust out laughing. The film runs 1 hour, 30 minutes and was shot in the Vancouver, British Columbia, area, including Campbell River (although the events take place around New York City). GRADE: B/B-