| Final Destination | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | James Wong |
| Produced by | Glen Morgan Warren Zide Craig Perry Associate Producer: Chris Bender Co-Producer: Art Schaeffer Executive Producer: Richard Brener Brian Witten |
| Written by | Screenplay: Glen Morgan James Wong Jeffrey Reddick Story: Jeffrey Reddick |
| Starring | Devon Sawa Ali Larter Kerr Smith Kristen Cloke Seann William Scott Chad Donella |
| Music by | Shirley Walker |
| Cinematography | Robert McLachlan |
| Editing by | James Coblentz |
| Studio | Zide/Perry Productions Hard Eight Pictures |
| Distributed by | New Line Cinema |
| Release date(s) | March 17, 2000[1] |
| Running time | 98 min. |
| Country | Canada United States |
| Language | English French Japanese |
| Budget | $23 million[1] |
| Gross revenue | $112,880,294[1] |
| Followed by | Final Destination 2 |
Final Destination is a 2000 supernatural-thriller-horror, about a group of teenagers who cheat death by avoiding a plane crash when one of them, Alex, has a premonition of their deaths. Soon after their escape, they begin dying one-by-one in mysterious freak accidents. The script was originally written by Jeffrey Reddick as a spec script for The X-Files. Director James Wong worked as a writer, producer and director on that series. The film is distributed by New Line Cinema. The DVD was released on September 26, 2000.[2] The film was the first in the Final Destination series, which has since produced three sequels and a series of books.
Final Destination takes place on Long Island.[3] Locations such as Jones Beach and John F. Kennedy International Airport are shown. Nassau County is mentioned. However, Vancouver International Airport stood in for JFK.
Contents |
Alex Browning (Devon Sawa) is going on a high school graduation trip to Paris with his fellow students. Before Volée Air Flight 180's take-off, Alex has a premonition that the flight will explode in mid-air, killing everybody on-board. Alex then finds himself back on the plane while it is still boarding. When events from his vision begin to repeat themselves in reality, he panics and attempts to stop the flight before take-off. The resulting commotion leads to a handful of passengers being left behind, including Alex, orphan Clear Rivers (Ali Larter), Alex's best friend Tod Waggner (Chad Donella), teacher Valerie Lewton (Kristen Cloke), Alex's rival Carter Horton (Kerr Smith), Carter's girlfriend Terry Chaney (Amanda Detmer), and student Billy Hitchcock (Sean William Scott). After they are all forced off the plane, none of the passengers believe that Alex's vision will come true until the airliner takes off and explodes in mid-air, killing everyone who was on board. The survivors are devastated, and two FBI agents interview the people taken off the plane, and are particularly interested with Alex's vision.
One month later, Tod is strangled in a bizarre accident. When Alex and Clear go to see his body a mysterious mortician (Tony Todd) tells them that Death is intervening to kill everyone who was meant to die on the plane. Terry soon becomes the next victim; after being hit by a bus. After watching a news report detailing the cause of the explosion of Flight 180 Alex comes to the conclusion that Death is killing the survivors in the order they would have died in the explosion on the plane. He determines that Ms. Lewton is next. He rushes to her house but arrives too late to save her from being impaled in the chest with a knife.
Alex contacts the remaining survivors, Billy, Clear and Carter, to tell them what he thinks is happening. As they are riding in Carter's car, Alex has another premonition of a train and a seat-belt ripping. Frustrated with not having control over his death, Carter attempts to drive head-on into a fuel tanker but the car seemingly by itself turns and avoids the collision, Carter then stops his car on a train crossing, wanting to kill himself before Death does. At the last moment however he changes his mind but cannot exit his car as his seat-belt is jammed. Alex rushes to help Carter from his car, and as he foresaw, Carter's seat-belt rips and he is freed a second before the train destroys the car, thus cheating death. Billy, however is gruesomely decapitated from the mouth up by a piece of flying wreckage from the vehicle.
Alex believes that because he intervened in Carter's death he has saved Carter, Death skipped Carter and went on to Billy. Later he remembers in his original premonition he was asked to switch seats on the plane, and realizes that Clear is actually the next to die. Alex rushes to Clear's house to find her trapped in her car surrounded by fire. She is unable to escape her vehicle, which is about to explode, as a damaged electrical cable is precariously flipping around outside. Alex saves her by picking up the live cable, however he is electrocuted. Clear and the police rush to Alex's aid as the screen fades to white.
Six months later, Alex, Clear, and Carter are in Paris talking about their experience, and celebrating that it is all over and they are finally in Paris. Shortly thereafter, a freak accident involving a bus causes a giant neon sign to swing off a hinge down towards Alex. Carter manages to intervene and pushes Alex to the ground, with the sign swinging down past the two of them and back up again. Carter then stands up and turns to Alex who is still on the ground. Carter asks Alex who is next. However, before he finishes his sentence, the sign can be seen swinging back down on its momentum towards where Carter is standing. The screen cuts to black a split second before the sign would have hit Carter, and a loud whack is heard. His death is not actually shown, but it is strongly implied, leaving Alex and Clear the last two survivors of Flight 180.
| Final Destination (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) | |
|---|---|
| Film score by Shirley Walker | |
| Released | 2000 |
| Genre | Soundtrack Film score |
| Label | Weendigo Records |
The film opened at #3 at the North American box office making $10,015,822 USD in its opening weekend. The film got stuck at the third position the following week before falling to #7 the week after.
Final Destination received an R rating in the United States for violence and terror, and for language. In the United Kingdom, it received a 15 rating. In Ireland, it received an 18 for violence, horror, and language. In Australia, it received a MA rating which is for mature audiences 15 years and over.
Final Destination received mixed but mainly negative reviews, with an overall 29% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes based on 85 reviews (60 negative, 25 positive).[4] James Berardinelli gave the film 1 out of 4 stars, heavily criticizing all aspects of the film, concluding "the deserved final destination for this movie is a reserved plot in the cinematic graveyard, but, based on the projected box office take, I have a sinking feeling it may cheat that fate."[5] Ben Falk from the BBC gave the film 4 out of 5 stars, stating that while the film was "not exactly ground-breaking" it did have a "constant sense of humour and some clever twists".[6] Roger Ebert from the Chicago Sun Times gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, stating "Final Destination will no doubt be a hit and inspire the obligatory sequels. Like the original "Scream," this movie is too good to be the end of the road. I have visions of my own."[7]
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Final Destination is a March 1980 film about a teenage boy who had a vision of a plane crashing and was able to get some of his friends off in time. However, the survivors start to die off one by one in mysterious ways.
Contents |
   | basic plot summary - Final Destination plot summary |
| | general location - FlickFilosopher.com: Final Destination and Final Destination 2 (review) |
| | rating of the film, 4 stars - BBC - Films - review - Final Destination |
| | Kerr's Secret -- A Kerr Smith Fansite - Kerr’s Secret | Kerr Smith | Life Unexpected, My Bloody Valentine 3D, Dawson’s Creek, CSI: NY, Final Destination, Charmed |
| | Death's Design - Final Destination forum - Death's Design |
| | IMDB Plot summary - Final Destination (2000) - Plot summary |
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