Final Destination 5

The second ‘Final Destination’ movie to use 3D visuals makes far better use of the extra dimension, its eye-poking images and comically drawn-out death scenes inciting amused gasps of disbelief rather than screams of terror. The usual fatalistic events are set in motion by a bridge collapse, a spectacular set-piece featuring rippling tarmac, clanging girders and twanging wires. Foreseen by Sam (Nicholas D’Agosto), while en route to a corporate retreat, the disaster spares the ‘Lucky Eight’ survivors, whom Death then stalks for the rest of the movie. It sticks to gimmicky scenes in which twentysomethings are dispatched in ingenious ways, but first-time director Steven Quayle delivers cheap fun that will keep fans happy. It’s only when writer Eric Heisserer (who penned the remake of ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’) foolishly introduces the idea of the doomed being able to save themselves by killing others that the film veers towards superficial, unconvincing character motivation.