After getting a premonition about a plane crash on his school trip, Alex, a student, saves a few of his classmates. However, their situation gets complicated when death starts chasing them.After getting a premonition about a plane crash on his school trip, Alex, a student, saves a few of his classmates. However, their situation gets complicated when death starts chasing them.After getting a premonition about a plane crash on his school trip, Alex, a student, saves a few of his classmates. However, their situation gets complicated when death starts chasing them.
- Awards
- 3 wins & 5 nominations total
Chad Donella
- Tod Waggner
- (as Chad E. Donella)
Summary
Reviewers say 'Final Destination' is lauded for its inventive premise, creative death scenes, and tense atmosphere, offering a fresh take on horror with Death as the antagonist. However, it faces criticism for underdeveloped characters, uneven acting, and over-reliance on supernatural elements deemed absurd by some. The middle section is often viewed as repetitive, and the exploration of fate and mortality is seen as shallow. Despite these issues, the film's entertainment factor and striking deaths maintain its appeal for many audiences.
Featured reviews
The first Final Destination is recognized as somewhat of a classic in some circles, but for whatever reason doesn't seem to have been given its proper place in the pantheon. The idea for the story and the way it is executed, pun intended, is really clever, filled with diabolical humor and imagination. It's most ingenious device is making literally the entire world, from the most mundane object to the most innocuous event, into the "monster."
The one that started it all: a franchise of over-the-top "action," outrageous gore, and characters you often couldn't care less about. Yet in this one, none of those really apply. The death scenes are in ways subtle and clever, sometimes drawn out to exacerbate tension, while others are arguably very predictable, but nonetheless thrilling. The plane scene is chaotic and how it culminates, very intense. Aside from one decapitation, not much gore. Meanwhile the characters, in my opinion, are the best the series has had to offer, particularly thanks to Devon Sawa, and the personality he elicits in Alex Browning. Others satisfy, too, from Sean William Scott to Kerr Smith. There's some subtle humor, some drama, and some creativity to be had. As much praise as I have to offer the movie, it still has its many flaws and even silly moments. But for what it's worth, it was the beginning, and it remains a fun watch despite the slew of even more over-the-top installments that followed it.
LOVED IT.
Imagine any great slasher with no killer. No person to blame, nobody to see and NO IDEA HOW THAT PERSON WILL DIE. That's about the simple horror of Final Destination, and it was done in almost artistic ways.
While many movie-makers have been unwilling or unable to get into the meat & potatoes behind a good R-rated movie, the creators of Final Destination have no such restraint. In fact, the death scenes were so freakishly violent and intricate that they were interesting in and of themselves. Imagine the force of death (not the Grim Reaper, but the "phenomenon of accidents", if you will) being MAJORLY p***ed for having missed a few. Hence the plot.
To make matters worse, the director displayed "the little things" hyper-accurately. That alone made watching it really hard at times without wincing, flinching or screaming out loud. (*those who have seen this know EXACTLY what I'm talking about*)
As someone who goes to the movies every Friday, I have been waiting for this FOREVER!!
Oh, and by movie, I mean MOVIE... not FILM, not INDIE, not FLICK. A MOVIE is something that I first hear of through word of mouth, first see a glimpse of via previews of another MOVIE, and, after seeing it, leave the theater flashing back through great scenes and lines for the next few hours saying to myself "that was great!"
Final Destination was a great movie. They don't make them like this too often.
Don't get me wrong, I'm sure if you were looking for flaws you could find them (no movie is perfect), but I wasn't and enjoyed my ride thoroughly as a result. Personally, I think that if you had the time to pay attention to those flaws while watching it for the very first time, I've got news for you: you missed a great movie.
Imagine any great slasher with no killer. No person to blame, nobody to see and NO IDEA HOW THAT PERSON WILL DIE. That's about the simple horror of Final Destination, and it was done in almost artistic ways.
While many movie-makers have been unwilling or unable to get into the meat & potatoes behind a good R-rated movie, the creators of Final Destination have no such restraint. In fact, the death scenes were so freakishly violent and intricate that they were interesting in and of themselves. Imagine the force of death (not the Grim Reaper, but the "phenomenon of accidents", if you will) being MAJORLY p***ed for having missed a few. Hence the plot.
To make matters worse, the director displayed "the little things" hyper-accurately. That alone made watching it really hard at times without wincing, flinching or screaming out loud. (*those who have seen this know EXACTLY what I'm talking about*)
As someone who goes to the movies every Friday, I have been waiting for this FOREVER!!
Oh, and by movie, I mean MOVIE... not FILM, not INDIE, not FLICK. A MOVIE is something that I first hear of through word of mouth, first see a glimpse of via previews of another MOVIE, and, after seeing it, leave the theater flashing back through great scenes and lines for the next few hours saying to myself "that was great!"
Final Destination was a great movie. They don't make them like this too often.
Don't get me wrong, I'm sure if you were looking for flaws you could find them (no movie is perfect), but I wasn't and enjoyed my ride thoroughly as a result. Personally, I think that if you had the time to pay attention to those flaws while watching it for the very first time, I've got news for you: you missed a great movie.
I really liked this movie. It's probably one of the better teen slasher flicks to ever hit the screen.
Let's face it: teen slasher flicks are not outstanding cinema. The writing is always lame, the plots are even lamer, they're usually vehicles for the latest trends in fashion and music and showcases of the heartthrob and/or bombshell-of-the-month. They're really just vehicles for post-pubescent hormonal stimulation.
But "Final Destination" is different. First, it has real imagination going for it. The plot is unlike your typical "madman in the corn chases teenage bombshell through puddles," it actually took some thought to put this together. It's not just shock-factor movie-making, they actually sat down and outlines how all the deaths would work in a way that keeps the plot alive. A tale of kids trying to cheat death's design is much harder to write than a dude with a chainsaw.
Then there's the death scenes themselves. Outstanding! I love a clever death scene in movies like this ... it's why you pay the $8! And these are some doozies. You can tell the filmmakers sat around for hours simply trying to find the coolest way to kill people. And if you have a sick mind (like yours truly), you'll find these death scenes simply hysterical! A really good movie. 8 out of 10. I'm giving it a high score because it's outstanding within it's genre.
Barky
Let's face it: teen slasher flicks are not outstanding cinema. The writing is always lame, the plots are even lamer, they're usually vehicles for the latest trends in fashion and music and showcases of the heartthrob and/or bombshell-of-the-month. They're really just vehicles for post-pubescent hormonal stimulation.
But "Final Destination" is different. First, it has real imagination going for it. The plot is unlike your typical "madman in the corn chases teenage bombshell through puddles," it actually took some thought to put this together. It's not just shock-factor movie-making, they actually sat down and outlines how all the deaths would work in a way that keeps the plot alive. A tale of kids trying to cheat death's design is much harder to write than a dude with a chainsaw.
Then there's the death scenes themselves. Outstanding! I love a clever death scene in movies like this ... it's why you pay the $8! And these are some doozies. You can tell the filmmakers sat around for hours simply trying to find the coolest way to kill people. And if you have a sick mind (like yours truly), you'll find these death scenes simply hysterical! A really good movie. 8 out of 10. I'm giving it a high score because it's outstanding within it's genre.
Barky
Final Destination is an awesome movie full of fun jump scares and humourous 'accidents' which is exactly what you want in this type of movie.
As there are half a dozen of these movies it does become a challenge to separate what deaths happen in each movie as they all blend together somewhat.
Its targeted at a teen audience, in spite of that the film works for all age groups. Check it out :)
As there are half a dozen of these movies it does become a challenge to separate what deaths happen in each movie as they all blend together somewhat.
Its targeted at a teen audience, in spite of that the film works for all age groups. Check it out :)
Did you know
- TriviaThe story was originally going to be the concept for an episode of X-Files : Aux frontières du réel (1993), which was inspired by L'unique survivante (1984). In this movie, a woman who was the sole survivor of a plane crash starts to be haunted by dead people that Death uses temporarily as vessels trying to kill her to correct its plan, and killing everyone who suspect it.
- Goofs(at around 10 mins) When Alex pushes Tod shortly before boarding the plane, Tod says "Ow that hurt". But when he says "That hurt" his mouth is not moving.
- Crazy creditsThe opening credits are done in a ghosting format.
- Alternate versionsThe version aired on TV, in the U.S., on the Sci-FI channel, silences the profanity and cuts away right before the death sequences.
- SoundtracksRocky Mountain High
Written by John Denver and Mike Taylor
Performed by John Denver
By arrangement with The RCA Records Label of BMG Entertainment
- How long is Final Destination?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official sites
- Languages
- Also known as
- Destino final
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $23,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $53,331,147
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $10,015,822
- Mar 19, 2000
- Gross worldwide
- $112,880,294
- Runtime
- 1h 38m(98 min)
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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