Final Destination 5 Blu-ray Review

• 15th Dec 2011

Seems this year has presented two film franchises in their 5^th instalment (the other being Fast Five) where I have come away believing that these very films could be contenders for the best in the series. Final Destination 5 doesn’t really do anything new with the franchise, other than perhaps present a neat tie-in with the previous films, but what it does, it does very well.

The extended credits sequence is an enjoyable call-back to previous death scenes from the previous films (the end credits actually present the deaths as well) and then it’s off and running. You are mere minutes in and suddenly there is a suspension bridge coming apart around our small group of characters – and die they do in spectacularly gruesome ways.

After this you know that once the characters are back in reality that it’s going to be a gas watching them realise that death is coming for them once more. Without spoiling too many of the surprises there are some nasty deaths to look forward to – and the freeze frame can come in handy if you think some happen a bit too quickly. You also get a lot of blood and sharp objects flying at you (as the film was originally presented in 3D).

The characters are fairly enjoyable to watch, but you won’t sympathise with any of them. You know it’s all about the kills and the excitement of how they will happen. There is also the idea that they can avoid death by taking the life of others, but it isn’t really fully exploited as an idea until the film is in its final run up to the climax.

If it is beaten by any other entry in the franchise it will be the 2^nd film which was blackly comic and had better characters. This film has a similar black tone, but doesn’t quite have the smarts to fully pull of the black comedy angle as well. But the running time is lean and it flies by at a good pace. Don’t be surprised if there is another film on the way in the years to come!

The extras have a short featurette on the deaths in the film. It’s very short and barely worth bothering with.

Steven Hurst