Final Destination was released in March 2000. The film is about a teenager who gets a premotion of a plane crash while on a school trip. After several people are removed from the plane, death goes after them one by one. The film stars Devon Sawa, Ali Larter, Kerr Smith, Sean William Scott, Chad Donella, Amanda Detmer, Kristen Cloke, Daniel Roebuck, Roger Guenveur Smith, and Tony Todd. 

I never had interest in seeing Final Destination. I saw it in the library recently and decided to give it a try. I thought Final Destination was an interesting movie with an interesting concept. When the earlier films came out when I was younger, I always viewed them as the franchise that had the elaborate death scenes. Watching Final Destination made me realize there is more to it than just that. It is about cheating death but there is a lot of talk throughout the film about the Grand Design. Who would have thought there would be some spirituality in a horror franchise? I have only seen this movie. I have not seen the sequels, so I do not know how the franchise evolves over time. It is an interesting concept. 

The cast does a good job. Sean William Scott surprised me a lot. I have seen Sean William Scott in a few things including the American Pie movies. I am used to seeing him play Stifler. His character in this movie was different than Stifler. In fact, if their characters met, I feel Stifler would have bullied him in this movie. It was a nice surprise. The rest of the cast does a good job in their roles. Devon Sewa is a good lead. Ali Larter and Kerr Smith both do a good job as their characters. I am used to seeing Kerr Smith as Jack McPhee in Dawson’s Creek. I have seen him in other shows as well including Charmed and The Fosters. Kerr Smith played more of a jerk in this movie which took a little to get used to. I feel like it probably would have been a bit more jarring if I had watched this movie when it came out. At the time Dawson’s Creek was in season 3. Ali Larter played her part well. I have seen her in various roles including Legally Blonde, Heroes, and the later Resident Evil films. It was cool to see some of these actors in earlier roles. 

Since Final Destination is around twenty-six years old now, the movie felt tamer than it was at the time. This was also before the Saw franchise came as well as numerous other horror movies. The original movie came out when I was ten years old. It probably would have hit different if I had seen it then or even a few years later. Another thing the movie had was the sense of paranoia. As the movie progressed and the characters were getting picked off one by one, it was starting to get easy to feel a little paranoid about things and it definitely increased the anxiety levels especially by the end of the movie. For a film that is twenty-six years old now, I think it did a great job of hitting those emotions. I am curious how the sequels progress especially the most recent entries. 

Final Destination clocks in around a little over an hour and a half. I think that was long enough. It had a tight story, and it did not drag much. Once the plane crash happens at the beginning of the movie, it really kicks in from there. 

Final Destination is a solid horror movie that is more than just elaborate death scenes. It taps into anxiety and paranoia levels and has an interesting concept on what it means to cheat death and the grand design. I am very interested to check out the sequels to see how these concepts grow.