The film is never dull and much of it is fun, suspenseful and creepy. Cook takes the reigns of the 'final girl. On the opposite side of the gender spectrum Michael Landes stars as a state trooper. Although there is a little too much of an over-reliance on gore, not all of it necessary, the death scenes are bolder, more elaborate and more creative. That didn't happen in his case. Like its predecessor it's patchy and uneven, but 'Final Destination 2' takes a bigger and bolder approach and executes it just as cleverly and effectively.
The film runs 1 hour, 30 minutes and was shot in the Vancouver, British Columbia, area, including Campbell River although the events take place around New York City. David R Ellis' direction shows a genuine understanding of the concept and the horror genre, breathing atmosphere, fun and freshness into a tried and tested formula. Liked the irony in some of the dialogue. One day, she is approached by a girl named Kimberly who believes she had a premonition similar to her friend Alex who died. For a sequel to truly work well it has to come up with something fresh, otherwise why do a sequel eh? The survivors mysteriously start dying and its up to Kimberly to stop it before she's next. Clear has to either risk her life helping others, or stay inside the hospital the rest of her life waiting for her death to come. It made me get the bus for the next few days! Horror sequels have a patchy history, 'Final Destination 2' is one of the better examples.
Structurally, the story is a re-tread basically except with cars rather than a plane but has enough freshness to stop it from being repetitive and the novelty from wearing off. Excepting some nice irony and that the exposition isn't as clumsy, the dialogue doesn't flow particularly well and reeks of cheese. The music has a suitable haunting eeriness. To me, he is second only to James Wong for the first film when it comes to ranking the 'Final Destination' films directors. Well the makers of Final Destination 2 choose to use the basic same formula of the hugely enjoyable first film, only adding more black humour into the crazy death design broth.
Kimberly Corman has a terrifying vision that a highway pile up will claim her life and that of her friends. What everyone was saying in the film was that if someone intervened in your death, Death skipped you and went to the next person. Other than that, the movie was good. Cook Michael Landes David Paetkau Release Date: 31 Jan 2003 Duration: 90 min Description: Filmyzilla- When Kimberly has a violent premonition of a highway pileup she blocks the freeway, keeping a few others meant to die, safe. The opening tragedy in the first film was a plane crash; in this second film from 2003 it's a horrible highway pile-up; in the third it's a roller-coaster mishap and so on. . Cuz it made me bust out laughing.
It is somehow more cohesive, more gripping and generally more thrilling then the first. Meanwhile Tony Todd makes his second of four appearances in the series as a mortician who curiously knows more than he should. The story remains the same as the first film, even though writers Bress and Gruber think they are being intricate by weaving this plot into the original story, but ultimately it's just a devilishly nonsense fun picture. The best performances come from returning Ali Larter, providing a nifty link to the first, and a creepy Tony Todd. The best in the series. Ali Larter returns for a second helping, and she in turn is joined by a bunch of no mark actors waiting for death, which is perfectly fine for the genre discerning fan. The highlight is the terrific opening car pile up, which is as high in the terror stakes as the opening plane sequence in the first.
The ending is contrived and illogical. While this is a quality assortment of women, the creators coulda done more with them. Michael Landes looks uncomfortable the entire time and Jonathan Cherry is irritating. Blocking the entrance with her car, Kimberly watches in horror as the crash unfolds, thus saving her life and that of the people in the queue behind her. Is the final scene supposed to be horrific? Again the characters are generally one-dimensional and not developed much beyond that which doesn't always make it easy to care for them.
A group of people, mostly youths, escape a great tragedy due to a premonition of one of them and the rest of the movie involves the Grim Reaper systematically slaying those who cheated Death in various creative ways, usually involving an unlikely chain reaction. Ali Larter returns as a secondary protagonist while A. The acting is very variable however. Also, according to Kimberly's vision, the police officer died in the car wreck, yet he didn't die or cheat Death at all. I didn't understand that either. Visually, 'Final Destination 2' may not be quite as stylish as its predecessor.
The writing is tight and imaginative, the production values are slick and well done, it's well acted, particularly Michael Landes, who is always great in whatever he does, I actually preferred Ali Larter's Clear in this then the first. It is all the same still as slick and atmospheric, with the special effects still being pretty good in particularly the opening sequence. Their importance to the story is in that order. But the grim reaper is not impressed and he's coming to claim the deaths of all those who should have died in the crash. This is a riot, and as long as you don't look too deep into it why would you really? I loved the first film, had a definite originality to it, if I'm honest the second instalment was always my favourite in the series.