clay-8

"Final Destination 2" doesn't merely rehash the idea from the first film, it adds intriguing new ideas to it. The first film was very dark in tone and had subtle humor, which made it more of a chore to watch, but this film cranks up the laughs, possible to help us digest the more gruesome deaths.

Speaking of the death scenes, this movie goes all out, cranking up the violence with some of the most unpredictably clever deaths I've ever seen in a movie. The violence is disturbingly effective. "Final Destination 2" is definitely worth seeing, much better than the first film.

Without its sparkling humor, "Daredevil" would be an overly dark and depressing movie. It's not hard to believe the film was originally rated R, since the violence in it is very high. Given that I severely dislike Ben Affleck, I actually thought he gave a good performance, not as Daredevil himself, but as Matt Murdock. His scenes with Jennifer Garner are definitely worth watching, more so than the scenes with Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst in Spider-man.

In this movie, the director doesn't bore us with romantic scenes that go nowhere ala Spider-man. The look of the movie is also appealing and the visual effects, although sometimes distracting, are pretty good.

Next to "The Mummy Returns", "Harry Potter" is the second best film of the year. It's 2 1/2 hour running length didn't hinder my enjoyed in the slightest. This is a wonderfully imaginative film, which is scary in the just right places, but not too scary. It knows its limits, and that's what makes the film work.