Final Destination is a 2000 supernatural-thriller-horror, about a group of teenagers who cheat death only to find they must later pay up, big time.

Final Destination is a 2000 supernatural-thriller-horror, about a group of teenagers who cheat death by avoiding a plane crash when one of them, Alex, has a premonition of their deaths. Soon after their escape, they begin dying one-by-one in mysterious freak accidents.

General Summary: A group of teens on a school sponsored trip to France are saved when one of the group, Alex, has a preminition of the plane exploding. He causes an incident getting several students and a teacher removed from the plane just before take off. The plane does indeed explode killing all aboard. Over the course of the film, one by one, those who escaped begin to die anyway, in extraordinarily violent ways (I won't go into my favorite but just give you a 'heads up' that its pretty funky). Alex figures out that they were in fact supposed to die and that their escape has really pissed off the unseen entity of Death. Death is now taking them in the order they were meant to die on the plane. If you manage to avoid the order, death continues on to the next one. Also, the phrase, 'catch you later' is very applicable here. They also ultimately find out that the old adage that the only sure thing is death and taxes, and if you are really lucky, you can actually escape taxes. No so much so death.

Okay, here's my take on all this. Its fun, pure and simple. This is the first of four films in the Final Destination sequence and a very apt beginning for a fun series. Critics generally hated all of them. But I generally hate all critics (well, legitimate ones anyway) so it evens out. The best line any reviewer gave it was to call it 'death porn'. Oh yeah. Perfect description. Lots of nasty deaths that you see coming but like the fabled train wreck, just can't turn away from because its just so damn funny. That's not to say it isn't creepy. 'Death' is never 'seen' as an entity, but as a collectively mobile force. It influences the direction of nature and manipulates to get its direction. Ultimately, if one thinks about it, even in reality, Death is the ultimate serial killer. Here, it is personified by its invisibility and visible actions. And what we can't see is always more terrifying than what we can see, and what we imagine more horrifying than what we are shown. But this is a formula that also mixes in anticipation, so while we do know what is coming, and can see how it will likely turn out, we build it into so much more than it is, but are still not let down by what happens. Confused? Yeah. But it works and works well. Very well indeed. You just have to see it to understand it. And when something happens, it almost always happens big. Death, it would seem is a bit of a ham and definitely an extrovert.

So, overall, I give this a 5 out of 5 because it is both fun and chilling. It is also cheesy enough never to take itself to serious, even though filled with amazing violence. I even found myself kind of liking Death, giving it two thumbs up for its creativity, though personally, I'm hoping for a more painless form of exit. Acting is decent. Not award worth by any means, but relatively believable. Shot construction and editing was straight forward and effects were very well handled. My kudos goes to whomever come up with the various means of dying. Whomever they are, they are one (or more) sick puppy. I owe you a Coke.