My Review of Final Destination 5 (2011)

Written by Eric Heisserer

Directed by Steven Quale

Sam: "Are you saying we can't stop this?"

Bludworth: "You were supposed to die on that bridge. You're not supposed to be here. You shorted death. So you let death have somebody else in your place, and you take their spot in the realm of the living. All the days and years that they have yet to live. And they take *your* place in death. Then the books are balanced."

I didn't realise that back in 2011 this franchise had a moment that tried to tie events from the first movie into the ending of this one. I mean it kind of worked but how much better would it have been if certain cast members had properly reprised their roles for this one.

Anyways, once again we've got a male protagonist who can see impending death coming a mile off. The guy in question being Sam Lawton (Nicholas D'Agosto). Sam's quick thinking saved the lives of his fellow co-workers, Peter Friedkin (Miles Fisher), Candice Hooper (Ellen Wroe), Dennis Lapman (David Koechner), Nathan Sears (Arlen Escarpeta), Olivia Castle (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) and Isaac Palmer (P.J. Byrne). He also saved his ex girlfriend Molly Harper (Emma Bell).

The disaster being a collapsed bridge. The survivors but specifically Sam attracted the attention of both sceptical Agent Jim Block (Courtney B. Vance) and coroner, William Bludworth (Tony Todd). I was happy to see the latter back to being his rather cryptic self. 

Of course death went out of its way to correct the timeline but the one death that stuck out was Olivia's. Now, I have a thing about eyes and watching Olivia being brutally killed after getting LASIK freaked me out big time. One of the most horrible deaths in this franchise and one of the few to make me visibly squirm.

Then there's the final three. Yes, everyone else died with only Sam, Molly and Peter initially surviving the events. Of course, Peter went mad and wanted to kill Molly in order to prolong his own life. Needless to say, it didn't work out that well for him.

Now going back to the first ever movie. I was surprised that Sam and Molly were on that ill fated Flight 180. I just wished they had actually gotten Devon Sawa back for that one scene but I'll admit, it was a great way to end this one.

- Did they intend this to be the last movie in the franchise? The way it linked back to the first movie and the montage to the previous movie kills.

- This was the first movie not to feature female nudity. 

- Standout music: Kansas's Dust In The Wind.

- Chronology: It took place two weeks before the opening scene of the first movie.

Final Destination 5 was the best movie since the first one with some very strong kills and various nods to past movies. If anything, it would've made a good ending to this franchise but horror franchises never truly die.

Rating: 7 out of 10