Final Destination 5 (2011)

"Survivors of a suspension-bridge collapse learn there's no way you can cheat Death." 

Well, I've just watched "Final Destination 5" and, even though I didn't see it in 3D, it was awesome!

I'm sure that a lot of people have been saying this but "Final Destination 5" is easily the best of the sequels and even gives "Final Destination" itself a run for its money. Everything you've come to expect from the franchise has been repeated yet again but slicker, faster and gorier than ever before.

I don't know who any of the actors were apart from Tony Todd (who appeared as little more than a cameo) but I recognised a couple of them from TV. It doesn't matter who plays who in a movie like this anyway as all you really care about are the death scenes and, rest assured, they were brutal!

As with all current movies, I'm not going to give you any spoilers but I am still going to criticise a few things so if you don't want to know, please stop reading after this paragraph.

The first thing I noticed was that the levels of CGI had been increased severely. I doubt that there were even any practical effects used other than blood and makeup but I'm willing to stand corrected about that. It was really good CGI nonetheless and totally in keeping with the rest of the film especially if you are lucky enough to see it in 3D.

Secondly, the acting was very good. Even though it was just another bunch of pretty young adults, this time on a work trip rather than a school vacation, there were a couple of characters to care about and others not so much.

The pacing, which was very fast throughout, didn't allow much time to flesh out any of the characters, but everyone did a damn fine job with what was there. Nobody "phoned it in" when they really could have. I didn't warm to any of the female characters particularly, but I'm sure that I wasn't even supposed to. The fun of all these movies apart from the original is watching people who you can't stand meet their maker.

One actor stood out enough for me to have to look him up but not because of his acting prowess. Miles Fisher looked just like Tom Cruise in some shots which, now that I have further information on him from the IMDb, should only to be expected since impersonating Tom Cruise is his claim to fame. Yes, I am getting out of touch with these young actors, but I doubt that I'll see them in anything else ever again anyway. I'm not saying that to be mean, but I just don't have any interest in the TV shows that they are in.

Going back to the effects, some were too fast to be completely satisfying especially at the otherwise fantastic start, and others could have been a lot gorier for my own tastes, but I don't think the average horror audience would be disappointed. Most of the deaths were incredibly inventive though the use of suspense wasn't quite as good as in the first film.

I've intentionally mentioned the original "Final Destination" a couple of times because, of course, there's a slight twist in this "sequel" in that it's actually a prequel. I didn't even notice until right at the end when it was all tied together.

There's no way of watching "Final Destination 5" without comparing it to "Final Destination" because, apart from the nature of the deaths themselves, it's the same story all over again. If you haven't seen any others in the series then the beauty of this one is that you really don't ever need to, but it certainly made me want to revisit them all.

I highly recommend that you all watch "Final Destination 5" because it has considerably made up for "The Final Destination" (2009) which was pretty much hated by everyone.