"I couldn't shake the feeling that I had seen it all before."

The Final Destination franchise is a guilty pleasure, a series of films based around one concept and one concept only: killing good-looking people in fun, creative, and gory ways. But there are only so many ways to die, and while The Final Destination continues the fun of the three previous films, it also feels tired, as if Death himself had grown bored of playing the same old game. The only "new" angle taken with the fourth and final (?) film is that it's presented in glorious 3-D, a gimmick that's exploited from beginning to end but still doesn't manage to bring anything fresh to the table.

A bunch of good-looking people cheat death, but really ... they don't. That's all you need to know about this movie. The entire setup, its reason for existing, and the only thing that moves the plot along is waiting, watching, and guessing how the next person is going to die. And die they do! They don't spend time developing the characters, there are no subplots, and the storyline is as paper thin as it sounds. Normally that would be the death of a movie, but in this case it's passable. They don't try to make this film something it's not. Audiences go to these movies to see fun death sequences, not to be moved or thrilled by an engaging story.

The deaths are fun and gory, and some are obvious in their execution, leaving no guess-work as to how certain people are going to die, while others are set up and staged in a way that keep you guessing all the way until the death. The mystery isn't if they're going to die, but rather how they're going to die. The death of the soccer mom (Krista Allen) is particularly well set up, and the opening sequence of the speedway crash has definite moments of awesomeness. Only one death caught me by surprise, and that death may have been my favorite death of the whole movie, even though it isn't very original to the series or as fantastical as some of the others.

Watching The Final Destination in 3-D made the film a more fun experience, and it worked well for the most part. Plenty of sharp, pointy objects being thrust at the audience, plenty of cool effects that work well, and plenty of 'jump' moments that you'd expect from a 3-D thrill ride like this. However, not all of the shots seemed set up for 3-D, which made parts tough to enjoy, especially a number of fast-moving sequences involving a lot of people. These moments provided too much 3-D overload that didn't do the film any justice. The simple setups seemed the most effective, and the scenes with water were exceptionally impressive.

With all this death in 3-D, where does this film go wrong? While the 3-D offered something new, the movie itself, the story and the actions that move the plot forward, just felt tired and done before. Probably because it has, three times. Any sense of mystery or thrills that made the first Destination a hit were missing, and while some of the death sequences were awesome, others were almost boring. I had a lot of fun watching this flick, and I'm glad I caught it in 3-D in the theater (especially during one particular sequence at the end), but afterward I couldn't shake the feeling that I had seen it all before. For a Final Destination sequel the film hit all marks and delivered the goods, but don't expect anything more than that.

Grade: C+

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