"FINAL DESTINATION"
(2000) (Devon Sawa, Ali Larter) (R)

Alcohol/ Drugs	Blood/Gore	Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude	Frightening/ Tense Scenes	Guns/ Weapons
Minor	Extreme	Heavy	Extreme	Minor
Imitative Behavior	Jump Scenes	Music (Scary/Tense)	Music (Inappropriate)	Profanity
Moderate	Mild	Extreme	None	Extreme
Sex/ Nudity	Smoking	Tense Family Scenes	Topics To Talk About	Violence
Moderate	None	Mild	Moderate	Extreme

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QUICK TAKE:

Horror: After cheating death by disembarking a plane that later exploded in midair, members of a small group of students start dying one by one, giving the survivors the impression that Death still wants to settle its score with them.

PLOT:

Alex Browning (DEVON SAWA) is an everyday student who's arrived at JFK to fly off to Paris with his high school French class. Seeing all sorts of nebulous signs of pending doom and then experiencing a realistic vision of the plane crashing, Alex freaks out before the plane even leaves the gate.

When fellow student and resident jerk, Carter (KERR SMITH), suddenly goes after Alex for disrupting the beginning of their trip, the two of them, along with Alex's best friend Tod (CHAD E. DONELLA), Carter's girlfriend Terry (AMANDA DETMER), fellow students Billy (SEANN WILLIAM SCOTT) and Clear (ALI LARTER) and one of their teachers, Ms. Lewton (KRISTEN CLOKE) find themselves back at the gate watching their plane take off.

All of them are understandably mad or concerned about Alex's actions and their missing the flight, that is until the plane explodes in midair, killing everyone on board. While their immediate reaction is shock and grief over what's just transpired, arriving FBI agents Weine (DANIEL ROEBUCK) and Schreck (ROGER GUENVER SMITH) become suspicious of Alex's premonition of the explosion.

Even so, no charges are filed and time passes by. Back at school, the survivors dedicate a memorial to those who perished, but they've all been changed by the turn of events. That's particularly true for Alex since everyone now believes him to be a freak, especially when the ensuing deaths of those who survived causes him to come up with the theory that Death wants to settle the score for being cheated out of earlier taking their lives. As the group's numbers begin to diminish, the survivors do what they can to avoid Death once more.

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?

Since the film is aimed at the same teen audience that loved horror films like "Scream" and "I Know What You Did Last Summer," it's a likely bet that those in that age group will want to see this film (as might those who are fans of anyone in the cast).

WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: R

For violence and terror, and for language.

CAST AS ROLE MODELS:

DEVON SAWA plays a student whose premonition of pending doom saves his and a few other students' lives. After that, he becomes increasingly paranoid about Death hunting down those survivors and does what he can to protect them and himself. He also uses strong profanity.

ALI LARTER plays one of his classmates, a loner who sympathizes with Alex's plight. She also tries to save herself and uses some strong profanity.

KERR SMITH plays another student, a jerk who doesn't like Alex and constantly tries to beat him up or harass him. He also uses strong profanity.

CHAD E. DONELLA plays Alex's best friend who finds himself in the same situation as the others and also uses strong profanity.

AMANDA DETMER plays Carter's girlfriend in the same situation as the others.

SEANN WILLIAM SCOTT plays another student also in the same situation.

KRISTEN CLOKE plays the students' teacher who eventually decides to leave town after not being able to cope with the tragedy.

DANIEL ROEBUCK and ROGER GUENVER SMITH play two FBI agents who become suspicious of Alex, his premonition of the explosion, and subsequent and seemingly suspicious behavior.

CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO

HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE

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Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit?
Then read OUR TAKE of this film.

(Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below).

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OUR WORD TO PARENTS:

Here's a quick summary of the content found in this R-rated horror/suspense film. Violence is rated as extreme due to various people being killed, often with extremely bloody/gory results (including a decapitation).

Those scenes, others (including a realistic "vision" of passengers being torn from a plane during a crash and the old car stuck on the railroad tracks bit), and the overall supernatural tone of Death stalking these characters, may be disturbing, suspenseful or downright scary to viewers (all dependent, of course, on their age, level of maturity and tolerance for such material).

Profanity is also rated as heavy due to nearly 50 uses of the "f" word, while various other profanities and colorful phrases are also used. Some imitative behavior is present, as are some bad attitudes, and some brief drinking occurs. We briefly see a photo of a bare-breasted woman in a porno magazine and also briefly see a couple making out with the man groping the woman's clothed butt.

Should you still be concerned with the film's appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home after that summary, we suggest that you take a closer look at our more detailed content listings.

For those concerned with bright flashes of light onscreen, a few moments of that occur in several scenes here (although they're not of the quickly repetitive/strobe variety).

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ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE

Ms. Lewton pulls a bottle of vodka from her freezer and pours herself a glass of it (but doesn't drink any).

Clear has wine while Alex and Carter have beer.

BLOOD/GORE

Alex's friend tells him that they should use the bathroom before boarding the plane (due to not wanting to have some girl follow them into the airplane lavatory and then react to the subsequent smell). As such, we then see the two of them sitting on toilets in the terminal (from above and without any nudity or otherwise gross material).

In a vision, some people injured in an airplane incident are bloody and we then see a person's face engulfed and then burned by a fire.

We see Tod sitting on a toilet, but don't see or hear anything scatological based.

We see some blood on Tod's neck after he nicks himself shaving.

Blood vessels in a character's eyes appear to suddenly burst as the character is strangled to death.

We see some slender, needle-like objects in a cadaver's neck that are then pulled out (with a squirt of blood following the last one). In addition, some blood is on the table beneath the body.

Blood splatters onto people standing nearby as a person is struck and killed by a bus.

Another of Death's victims is very bloody after having their neck punctured (blood squirts out and falls to the floor and the person slips on it). After later being impaled in the chest by a large knife, this person's neck, chest and arm are extremely bloody.

A character has some blood from his lip after being hit there.

A character is decapitated and we see both his head roll across the ground as well as his headless body (with a bloody stump) fall to the ground.

A character's hand is all blackened/burnt after grabbing a "hot" power line.

DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE

Some may not like a student mentioning that it would take "a f*cked up God" to crash a plane that's carrying a baby or handicapped person.

Carter acts like a jerk and doesn't like Alex from the onset, a bad attitude that continues for much of the film.

After Alex's premonition of the airline disaster, nearly everyone treats him like some sort of freak.

After a student's death looks like a suicide, the father of the victim blames it on Alex.

Alex and Clear break into a morgue at night.

Thinking he has nothing to lose since he's presumably been targeted to die, a character races his car down the highway, through stop signs and nearly runs into other vehicles. He then stops on some railroad tracks and stays there, even when a train approaches (thus risking his, his passengers and others' lives).

FRIGHTENING SCENES

The overriding notion of Death coming after these students may be unnerving, suspenseful or downright frightening to some viewers, as might scenes listed under "Violence" as well as "Blood/Gore."

Some old drawings/paintings that briefly appear during the opening credits show unhappy/scared people apparently facing death (that may be unsettling to some viewers).

Although nothing happens, some scary music plays as we see Alex in his bedroom while some ominous wind blows through the room.

For those with a fear or apprehension of flying, Alex's realistic-looking vision of an airliner experiencing progressively worse problems (turbulence, then greater turbulence followed by fire and people being sucked from the plane in a several minute sequence that ends with fire engulfing his face) and then the later sight of the "real" thing exploding after take off, may be rather unsettling/disturbing.

Another nighttime scene features ominous music and a strange breeze blowing through a house. As a character goes about his daily routine, we believe something's going to happen to him.

A character slips in the bathroom and ends up with a shower cord wrapped around their neck. As they struggle to get free, the cord slowly strangles them until they're dead.

Alex and Clear sneak into a morgue at night where they view a body whose arm suddenly moves.

A person on a bicycle is almost run over by a car.

After we presumably know who the next victim will be, we follow them in their house at night as more suspenseful music plays and various things happen (an ominous reflection in a tea kettle, them lighting a gas burner, etc.) that we believe will lead to their demise (that does eventually come).

Thinking he has nothing to lose since he's presumably been targeted to die, a character races his car down the highway, through stop signs and nearly runs into other vehicles. He then stops on some railroad tracks and stays there, even when a train approaches. After his passengers get out, he eventually tries to as well, but then finds that he's stuck. Another character then tries to help him out as the train quickly approaches them.

A character is decapitated and we see both his head roll across the ground as well as his headless body (with a bloody stump) fall to the ground.

After being chased through the woods, a character falls down a hill and is nearly impaled on some sharp pieces of wood. Moments later, that same person nearly suffocates in some muck after a tree pins them there.

A character sees a downed, but still "hot" power line jumping and darting around the yard as well as her dog trying to get it. As such, she goes to help but then must avoid both a flood of pool water that approaches her and the power line, as well as the power line jumping and hopping around just below her.

A character finds herself stuck in a car with a power line flitting around on top of it, while some flammable liquid burns beneath it.

Some characters have close calls with various objects that nearly hit and kill them.

GUNS/WEAPONS

Switchblade: Briefly used by a character to try to etch a name onto a memorial.

Shotgun/Rifle: Carried by an FBI agent.

IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR

Phrases: "What's the f*cking point?" "F*ck you," "Why don't you get the f*ck out of here?" "Take a sh*t," "Shut up," "Jerk," "Freaking out," "Nuts" (crazy) and "Balls" (testicles).

An adult appears to mouth "f you" to someone else.

Clear wears a rather tight-fitting tank top that also shows off her midriff.

Alex and Clear break into a morgue at night.

A character tries to etch a name onto a memorial with a switchblade.

Thinking he has nothing to lose since he's presumably been targeted to die, a character races his car down the highway, through stop signs and nearly runs into other vehicles. He then stops on some railroad tracks and stays there, even when a train approaches.

A character grabs a "hot" power line (trying to save someone else). He gets shocked, but lives.

JUMP SCENES

An owl suddenly shows up at a window.

A cadaver's hand suddenly moves.

A bus suddenly hits and kills a person.

MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE)

An extreme amount of ominous, suspenseful and frightening music plays throughout the film.

MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE)

None.

PROFANITY

At least 47 "f" words, 13 "s" words, 2 slang terms using male genitals ("d*ck"), 3 damns, 2 asses, 1 hell, 2 uses of "God" and 1 use each of "G-damn," "Christ," "Oh God" and "Oh my God" as exclamations.

SEX/NUDITY

Some female students show a bit of cleavage, while Clear wears a rather tight-fitting tank top that also shows off her midriff.

We see a couple making out in the terminal where the girl is kneeling on the guy's lap while he runs his hands down along her clothed butt.

As we see Tod sitting on a toilet, we see the side of his upper thigh.

Alex pulls a Penthouse magazine from his drawer. We see the busty, but clothed woman on the cover, as well as an interior photo that shows a bare-breasted woman.

As a strange man rattles off behavior that may or may not eventually lead to one's death, he includes "the people we have sex with."

Thinking his time is nearly up, Billy states, "I knew I should have felt up Tammy in the pool."

SMOKING

None.

TENSE FAMILY SCENES

We see that Clear's parents are the only ones not to show up to greet and console her at the airport. She later tells Alex that after her father was murdered (when she was ten), her mother remarried and she and her new husband didn't want anything to do with Clear after that.

We learn that Tod's brother died in the plane explosion.

A father grieves over his son's death.

TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT

Death, and whether dying stems from a preordained list/schedule, or simply occurs as it does by chance.

Airline accidents (for those nervous about flying, this film won't calm any nerves).

Young people having to deal with death in their lives (of other students, friends, family members, etc.).

How various characters react to a fallen, but still "hot" power line (one tries to hit it with a shovel to get it off a car).

VIOLENCE

A student pushes another student.

In a vision, people are jostled about by turbulence in a plane and then struck by flying articles inside it. As the plane is then torn apart, various characters are injured and/or sucked from the plane and a huge fireball then races through the fuselage, finally engulfing and burning one character.

Carter comes after Alex and punches him, and the two are then escorted off the plane (where Carter still tries to come after him). Alex then rushes Carter and tackles him to the floor until the two are separated.

A plane explodes (seen from a distance), causing windows in the terminal to shatter and killing everyone (several hundred people) on board (not seen).

A character slips in the bathroom and ends up with a shower cord wrapped around their neck. As they struggle to get free, the cord slowly strangles them until they're dead.

Carter's girlfriend, who's upset at him, whacks him a few times.

A person is hit and killed by a bus (not entirely seen, but we do see blood splatter onto others standing nearby).

An FBI agent forcibly pushes Alex into the backseat of a car.

A computer monitor explodes and a large shard of glass flies out and hits a person in the neck, resulting in a lot of bleeding. As a flame races toward them and then causes an explosion, the person tries to reach a towel and causes a knife block to tip over, resulting in a large knife impaling them in the chest (by the end of this the person is rather bloody).

An explosion knocks a person off their feet.

An explosion rips apart a house.

One character hits another.

A train smashes into a car that then explodes.

A character is decapitated.

A tree falls on a person.

A character breaks a window to get inside a room.

A character is zapped and blown many feet away by a fallen, but still "hot" power line.

A bus crashes into various things.

A person is presumably killed when a falling and swinging sign hits them (the camera cuts to black just at the point of impact).

Reviewed March 13, 2000 / Posted March 17, 2000

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