Final Destination (2000) review – Why This 2000s Splatter Classic Still Entertains

Welcome to Knockout Horror. Today, we are checking out a 2000s splatter-horror classic in the form of Final Destination from 2000.

Popular but critically slammed

Final Destination is a bit of a weird movie in a few different ways. Following the story of a group of high-school students who are about to head on a trip to France, before being pulled off the plane after one of them has a vision of it exploding in mid-air, Final Destination sees our group of teens doing everything they can to avoid the brutal design of death as it attempts to deliver to them the fate they managed to avoid.

This is one of those movies that critics hated but people loved. I remember watching it in the cinema, back when it released, and thinking it was okay. I was hugely surprised, in the subsequent years, to see just how popular it had become. It spawned five further movies, a bunch of novels and even a couple of comic books. Twenty-four years after the original movie released, a new iteration in the series is in development and due to release next year.

“The acting is absolutely hideous, the script is laughable, and the whole thing feels like the cheesiest of cheesy B-movies. This is, objectively, a really bad movie.”

Crazy! Talk about a series punching above its weight. The really crazy thing, however, is that the movie is just not that great. Acting is absolutely hideous, the script is laughable, the direction is abysmal, and the whole thing feels like the cheesiest of cheesy B-movies. Watching in 2024, it is enormously baffling how Final Destination has endured all these years. This is, objectively, a really bad movie.

A captivating idea

The truth of the matter here is that the idea behind Final Destination is just too damn interesting. The concept of death chasing you and being something you cannot avoid, no matter how much you try, is fascinating. It needs virtually no build-up, as well. Just rinse and repeat for each movie then get to the killing.

The characters here collectively avoid an untimely death only to be chased by their fate for the next hour and a half. You never quite know how it will happen, when it will happen, and who it will happen to next. It’s a great concept and one that has a tremendous amount of legs.

Just like the Saw movies, you can simply rework the idea in a few different ways to keep it fresh and then get creative with the kills. Something which Final Destination does well and, subsequently, would go on to do even better for years after.

“The concept of death chasing you and being something you cannot avoid, no matter how much you try, is fascinating. It needs virtually no build-up; just rinse and repeat.”

It also helps that this series has some of the most noteworthy deaths in recent horror history. The plane explosion, the NASCAR crash, the bridge collapse. And that’s without mentioning some of the more ridiculous things like the naked sunbed deaths, the gymnastics gone wrong and the horrifying eye surgery mishap. It is simple, easily digestible, and extremely fun.

Proper b-movie stuff

The Final Destination series would go on to really lean into its B-movie trappings. Keeping the films light and really putting a lot of focus on comedy and silliness. The strange thing about that, however, is the first entry takes itself extremely seriously. For the first two-thirds of the movie, there is very little in the way of comedy.

It is almost as if director James Wong wasn’t quite aware of just how much this felt like a cheesy B-movie. The dialogue, the acting, the line delivery. Everything is distinctly low-rent.

It isn’t until the last third of the film that Final Destination seems to accept that it is just not very good and lean into that fact more. That’s when the mood lightens up a little and the silliness feels less accidental and a bit more deliberate.

This trait is what people would come to expect from the Final Destination series and it is this trait that affords the first movie, and following releases, a lot of grace with fans and viewers. People expect these movies to not take themselves too seriously and that is what makes them so enjoyable.

Enjoyable but pretty bad

With all of the above being said, this is still a pretty bad movie. I enjoy it, it is fun and makes for a great horror flick to watch with friends but it is, technically, kinda awful. The plot is utterly farcical and repeatedly asks the viewer to suspend disbelief in a number of ways.

“It’s a genuinely poor film with few redeeming factors outside of its captivating concept and fantastic set-pieces. But I still enjoy it. They are fun movies in a cheesy B-movie way.”

Certain plot elements are completely undeveloped and there is a distinct feeling that much of the film was left on the cutting-room floor. Relationships between characters seemingly develop off-screen and certain plot points make no sense at all no matter which way you look at it.

Acting is atrocious with not a single legitimately decent performance to speak of. The fact that Ali Larter went on to a great career is an enormous surprise considering how awful she is here. Seann William Scott is basically a wimpier version of Stifler from American Pie.

Devon Sawa does a better job than most of the cast with Chad Donella probably being the only actually okay performance. Kristen Cloke might be the worst member of the entire cast, as Ms Lewton, considering she was a very experienced actor at this point. She hams it up tremendously to the point of making me laugh out loud repeatedly.

Camerawork is amateur, the script is shockingly poor and often laugh-out-loud ridiculous, and the movie takes a long time to get going. The most noteworthy thing that Final Destination has going for it are the set-pieces. They are genuinely fantastic and really enjoyable. Especially some of the later ones. They are creative, gory, and simply a lot of fun. Something that the entire franchise has in spades.

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