Final Destination 2 (2003) – Review

24th October 2024

Final Destination 2 (2003) – Review

Two years later and Death decided to return with a vengeance in ‘Final Destination 2’.

‘Final Destination 2’ follows Kimberly (A.J. Cook – Criminal Minds) as she experiences a premonition on the motorway. But, this time, Death has a different design in mind.

Out of all the entries in the ‘Final Destination’ franchise, this is the one that is dubbed as being the cause of generational trauma. And that is because of the terrifying premonition, which is a motorway vehicle pile-up. Just like with the first film, the execution of this sequence is fantastic; the build-up leading up to the accident does a brilliant job at showing each driver that will be involved in the film, as well as the careless steps that will inevitably cause the characters’ possible deaths before being saved. Plus, this scene features no music, instead forcing the viewer to hear every gruesome sound uninterrupted; it adds to the realism of the situation to great effect. The only aspect of the sequence that made it a little unserious was the constant explosions, and how easily they started. It’s clear the sequel has been given a slightly bigger budget after the success of ‘Final Destination’, and the cause of each explosion is a sign of this and is akin to a Michael Bay film. But the scene’s impact throughout the years can’t be denied and, because of this film, drivers now think twice before being behind a log delivery truck.

The death sequences are also more elaborate and are toeing the line between realistic and unbelievable. But the film proves that it can give viewers unique and different scenarios to base its kills off, all of which are just as horrifying as the opening premonition and just as gory. The increased budget allows the film to be more experimental with its practical effects, as well as fully putting them on display. What also makes these deaths scary is that all of them occur during the day; around this timeframe, a lot of horror films were set at night, using the darkness as a scary backdrop and the shadows to hide any mistakes in the visual effects department. But, by having a daytime setting, ‘Final Destination 2’ is telling its audience that Death can visit anytime and anywhere; nowhere is safe. Plus, the effects are fantastically gruesome, with the stand outs being Timmy’s (James Kirk – X-Men 2, She’s The Man) shattering death and Rory’s (Jonathan Cherry – What If 2013, House of the Dead) death sequence.

‘Final Destination 2’ not only heightens the gore and kills, but it changes ‘Death’s design’ as Alex dubbed it in the first film – this was a way to explain the order in which each character would die. Here, however, the order is backwards with the characters’ later discovering that they’re all connected to the Flight180 survivors in some way. Not only that, but the way in which Kimberly is given clues about who’s next is through visions. These are very well executed as they’re intriguing and subtle enough to make the viewer guess the meaning of each one.

But Kimberly isn’t alone: she’s helped by police officer Thomas Burke (Michael Landes – Cruel Summer) and returning survivor Clear Rivers (Ali Larter – Final Destination). An aspect that I appreciate about ‘Final Destination 2’ is that it reveals that Clear isn’t mentally well after everything she’s experienced. While this should be obvious, some horror films tend to shy away from the mental effects that is thrust upon the final girl/boy after everything has calmed. So, this was not only interesting, but a great way to bring a previous character back, as Kimberly seeks her help in trying to beat Death’s design. The three lead actors have fantastic chemistry onscreen, and the writing in terms of its lead characters is really strong; they’re easy to sympathize with which means that each death is hard hitting purely because the reactions from the three leads are believable.

However, the writing in terms of its dialogue is occasionally clunky and cliché. While it could be argued that this is ‘Final Destination 2’s dark humour coming into play, it doesn’t work as well as in the first film. Furthermore, the editing is strange; some scenes felt too short, or it seemed like there were scenes missing entirely. While this doesn’t occur a lot throughout the film and doesn’t ruin the overall experience, it still felt jarring.

With this being a sequel, ‘Final Destination 2’ knows what to improve upon in terms of visuals and effects, and what to change to make it stand out from its predecessor. Despite the occasional flat writing and strange editing, the film takes a familiar concept and executes it in a way that makes it different and interesting. Overall, ‘Final Destination 2’ is a worthy sequel.

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