For the last week of Spooky Month, RFMC is looking back at the films of the “Final Destination” series. Our final destination: Halloween! Wrapping it up is “Final Destination 5” (2011):
The vision
Writer Eric Heisserer bounces back from his weak “Nightmare on Elm Street” remake (2010) in a big way, and he doesn’t even re-invent “Final Destination” all that much. He just creates good characters and gives them room to breathe.
The result is a rare case where a series’ last installment is also its best. It kicks off with a premonition of a bridge collapse by Sam (Nicholas D’Agosto, pictured with Emma Bell as girlfriend Molly) that takes out a busload of paper-company employees headed to a retreat. The sequence can stand next to most disaster-movie set pieces.
The relationship between Sam and Molly, in a first for this series, is thoroughly engaging. “FD5” actually gives us people worth rooting for.
SPOILERS FOLLOW as I take a closer look at “Final Destination 5”:
Good performances (?)
P.J. Byrne (pictured) adds a rare spice of outright comedy as Isaac, whose confidence in picking up women outstrips his looks. Because he’s a self-centered guy, we’re allowed to laugh a little bit as he’s offed in a massage parlor – having used a coupon taken from a dead colleague. The comedy-horror balance is on point throughout “FD5.”
Miles Fisher – the second-straight Tom Cruise-looking dude in the series, following part four’s Bobby Campo – is also quite good as Peter. Fisher balances sympathetic and unhinged, as Peter embraces the notion that taking a life will mean he gets the victim’s lifespan.
Oh yeah, he’s in this
I enjoyed Arlen Escarpeta on “American Dreams” back in the day, so it’s nice to see him here as put-upon factory-floor worker Nathan.
Tony Todd’s role
Rather than hanging out at the morgue, Todd’s Bludworth pops up at all the killing scenes now. His latest advice inspires the most major wrinkle in the mythology: that a life can be traded for a life.
Death becomes her
Heisserer doesn’t shy away from dangerous scenarios where we squirm even before the deadly events unfold. The laser-eye surgery center is the most wiggins-inducing.
But the most creative, and the one with the most shocking special effect, is the gymnastics practice sequence featuring poor Candice (Ellen Wroe, pictured). A leaky air conditioner, a loose screw and a cloud of chalk combine to prove that gymnastics can be a vicious sport.
Final thoughts
“FD5” is the best of the series at everything that matters: characters, comedy and suspense. Like Candice in the aforementioned sequence, these films have always struggled to stick their landings, as they have to kill off characters we’ve (theoretically) come to like. But this one finds a great final twist that ties together the whole saga. And what’s more, it plays fair, scattering clues throughout.
“Final Destination 5” (2011)
Director: Steven Quale
Writer: Eric Heisserer
Stars: Nicholas D’Agosto, Emma Bell, Arlen Escarpeta
Photo credits: New Line Cinema