For the last week of Spooky Month, RFMC is looking back at the films of the “Final Destination” series. Our final destination: Halloween! Next up is “Final Destination 2” (2003):
The vision
This plays like a sequel rushed into theaters a year after the original, but actually, three years went by before a new screenwriting duo and director took the reins of the Morgan-Wong franchise. After a reminder of the plane explosion one year prior, the familiar plot kicks in and “FD2” can’t be taken seriously for a moment.
Its entertainment value comes from creative, dark-comedy kills by Death, and main heroine Kimberly’s inciting vision of a massive highway pileup that led to a popular Facebook joke. It’s by far the most memorable part of the film.
SPOILERS FOLLOW as I take a closer look at “Final Destination 2”:
Good performances (?)
After “Higher Ground,” Hayden Christensen went to the “Star Wars” prequels, Jewel Staite went to “Firefly” and A.J. Cook (pictured) went to … record scratch … this movie. I loved her as damaged Shelby on “Higher Ground” and am happy for her racking up 302 episodes of “Criminal Minds.”
But Cook doesn’t have anything to work with here. As with the first film, there’s a small hint of romance for the lead — with a highway patrolman (Michael Landes, “Cruel Summer”), who refreshingly doesn’t question the vision. But Kimberly isn’t particularly troubled; she’s just a Girl Next Door who plays out the chaotic plot. Nonetheless, I’d rather watch Cook than a lesser actress.
“FD2” mixes things up by featuring a group of strangers, rather than classmates. In every case, the actor is better than the material.
Consider T.C. Carson, a charismatic actor known for voicing Mace Windu on “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” who plays Eugene. He recklessly weaves his motorcycle through traffic in the opening vision, then later announces he’s gonna go out on his own terms, then later we learn he is a school teacher. I know people can be complex, but damn. It’s like a bunch of screenplay drafts were mashed together.
He’s not in this, but she is
Devon Sawa isn’t back as Alex. Officially, it’s because of a narrative choice, but that seems suspicious. The saga’s original lead has the ignominious distinction of being dispatched in exposition dialog by “a falling brick.”
Ali Larter (pictured) is back, though, as Clear, who has lived in a padded room for a year by her own choice. She then decides to help Kimberly. There’s space here for an arc about embracing life even when it’s scary, but “FD2” isn’t up to the task.
Tony Todd’s role
In the first film, Todd’s mortician Bludworth suggests to the teens what might be happening, and he turns out to be right. Fair enough. In the sequel, Clear now takes for granted that Bludworth will know exactly what’s going on – one of several cases where characters surmise something and it’s coincidentally correct. This approach to screenwriting yanks a viewer from any sense of reality.
Death becomes him
The arc of Evan (David Paetkau) cribs from Alanis Morissette’s “Ironic”: He wins the lottery, and dies not long after. Evan is killed in dark-comedy fashion bookended by sidewalk spaghetti. Paetkau plays it amusingly, with bafflement at each bizarre thing that goes wrong as his apartment catches fire.
Final thoughts
The dark humor from Evan’s dispatching carries through the film with TV anchors bluntly describing each death in scene transitions. Meanwhile, the actors play it laser-straight – although, interestingly, we rarely get scenes of anyone reacting to a death.
Perhaps an unabashedly comedic riff on the material would’ve been the way to go. As it turns out, the schizophrenic mix of tones — capped by a coda that’s illogical on every level — makes a viewer want to join Clear in that padded cell.
“Final Destination 2” (2003)
Director: David R. Ellis
Writers: J. Mackye Gruber, Eric Bress (screenplay); Jeffrey Reddick (story)
Stars: A.J. Cook, Ali Larter, Tony Todd
Photo credits: New Line Cinema